The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Put On A Happy Face

The song of the day for Wednesday, March 12, 2025, is “Put On A Happy Face.”

About Today

We want to wish James Taylor a very happy birthday. Taylor, Tony Bennett’s duet partner for today’s song, was born 77 years ago today on March 12, 1948.

About This Song

“Put On A Happy Face” was written by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams for the 1960 Broadway musical Bye, Bye Birdie, which was based loosely on the story of Elvis Presley being drafted into the Army in 1957.

About This Version

Tony Bennett and James Taylor recorded “Put On A Happy Face” on February 7, 2006 for the 2006 album Duets: An American Classic. Jorge Calandrelli wrote the arrangement.

“Put On A Happy Face,” as well as Duets: An American Classic, is available on Apple Music.

We are happy to include the official video for the recording, which includes an interview with Tony Bennett, James Taylor, and Phil Ramone, who produced the album.

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Song of the Day: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

he song of the day for Monday, June 4, 2018 is “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

About This Song

“I Left My Heart Francisco” was written in 1953 by George Cory and Douglass Cross. We’ve told the story of Ralph Sharon pulling this song out of a drawer as they were preparing to travel to the West Coast–they thought it would be a nice song for the “locals” and so it was sung for the first time in 1961 in the Venetian Room at The Fairmont Hotel on and the rest, as they say, is history. Bennett has been singing it every day since.

About This Version

Other than live performances at concerts, Tony Bennett had not recorded “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” since 1961. That changed in 2006 when Bennett and producer Phil Ramone decided to record a new version for the album Duets: An American Classic. Bennett chose pianist Bill Charlap and the result was this lovely recording. So, in honor the ceremony in San Francisco naming a portion of Mason Street as Tony Bennett Way, “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Listen to I Left My Heart in San Francisco on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2006


“I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” as well as Duets: An American Classic, is available from iTunes.

NPR did a great story about recording this song:

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R.I.P. Phil Ramone

The Year of Tony Bennett mourns the passing of noted record producer and sound engineer Phil Ramone. Mr. Ramone died today, March 30, 2013, at the age of 72.

Phil Ramone

Phil Ramone worked with great performers from the jazz and popular music worlds, including Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Ray Charles, Billy Joel, John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Joao Gilberto, Aretha Franklin, Barbra Stresiand and many more.

A musician himself, who was trained at Julliard, Ramone was noted for his ability to communicate musically with artists and creating environments that supported the musicians.

His work with Tony Bennett includes Playin’ With My Friends (2001), The Art of Romance (2004), Duets (2006), Duets II (2011) and Viva Duets (2012). He appeared in his role as producer of Duets II in the recent documentary film The Zen of Bennett.

We extend our condolences to his wife Karen and his sons Matthew, William and Simon.

The New York Times obituary may be read here.