The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Body and Soul

The Song of the Day for Wednesday, November 28, 2012 is Body and Soul.

About Body and Soul

Body and Soul was written in 1930 by Johnny Green, with lyrics by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour and Frank Eyton.  In its first year of publication, it was recorded by eleven different groups. Louis Armstrong was the first jazz artist to record the song in October 1930 with his Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra. It is thought to be the most often recorded jazz standard. Significant  recordings include those by Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and Dexter Gordon.

About This Version

This version of Body and Soul is the live recording from Tony Bennett’s Grammy-winning 1994 MTV Unplugged. The Year of Tony Bennett loves Mr. Bennett singing live and all of the songs on this album are wonderful to listen to. On this song, as well as the entire album,  he is backed by the Ralph Sharon Trio, with Mr. Sharon on piano, Doug Richeson on bass, and Clayton Cameron on drums.

This version of Body and Soul, as well as the entire MTV Unplugged album can be purchased at iTunes.

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Song of the Day: Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

We conclude Johnny Mercer Week at the Year of Tony Bennett with one of my favorite songs. The Song of the Day for Saturday, November 24, 2012, is Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive.

We have enjoyed featuring a few of the great Johnny Mercer songs performed by Tony Bennett this week. We hope you have enjoyed it as well.

About Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive

This wonderfully happy song was written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer and was published in 1944. The song immediately became popular and was heavily recorded in the first months after publication by artists including Bing Crosby with The Andrews Sisters, Kay Kyser and Artie Shaw.

I grew up hearing this song. I have memories of my Mom singing this song and have loved it for many decades now. I think it’s one of the happiest songs ever written.

About This Version

This version is from Tony Bennett’s delightful children’s album from 1998, The Playground.  Also featured on this album is Kermit the Frog and Elmo from Sesame Street.  Mr. Bennett recorded this song with the Ralph Sharon Trio, with Gray Sargent (guitar), Paul Langosch (bass) and Clayton Cameron (drums). As always, there is some wonderful guitar work by Gray Sargent.

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Fly Me To The Moon

Mr. Bennett has recorded only two versions of this song.

If I Ruled The World: Tony Bennett Sings For the Jet Set 1965 with The Ralph Sharon Trio. Featuring Al Cohn on saxophone. Produced by Ernie Altschuler. Also collected on The Essential Tony Bennett and Forty Years of Tony Bennett
MTV Unplugged 1994
The Ralph Sharon Trio

This song was originally called In Other Words, but the publishers later changed the title to Fly Me To The Moon. Mr. Bennett says in the booklet included in Forty Years of Tony Bennett that “composer extraordinaire Bart Howard always felt that this was the definitive performance of his song.” You’ll get no argument from me; this arrangement is exquisitely beautiful and haunting.

I think it’s interesting that other than the live MTV performance, Tony Bennett has not re-recorded the song with another arrangement. But how do you improve on perfection?

That said, my favorite version of this song has never been recorded. It was the version that Mr. Bennett sang at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, Washington on September 14, 2007. This was my first Tony Bennett performance. By the time I bought my tickets, there were no orchestra seats left and I could only get tickets in what was (optimistically) called the mezzanine. At that time, I didn’t know that at certain concert halls, Mr. Bennett sometimes sings this song a capella, without a microphone. Towards the end of the concert, he put down his microphone and started to sing Fly Me To The Moon. Even in back of the house, his voice filled the auditorium. All of us hung on every note, never wanting this beauty to ever end. I’ve since heard him do the song without a microphone, but nothing could have prepared me for that first moment. It was, and remains, a moment of pure magic.

Note:  While the versions of this song are the same on If I Ruled The World as it is on the two compilation albums, the time on If I Ruled The World is shorter by 11 seconds, as it omits a short piano-only introduction that is included later. But it is the same version, recorded on February 18, 1965.

Fly Me To The Moon

Music and Lyrics: Bart Howard
Written in 1954.

Poets often use many words
To say a simple thing
It takes thought and time and rhyme
To make a poem sing
With music and words I’ve been playing
For you I have written a song
To be sure that you know what I’m saying
I’ll translate as I go along

Fly me to the moon
And let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words
Hold my hand
In other words
Darling kiss me

Fill my heart with song
And let me sing forevermore
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words
Please be true
In other words
I love you.

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The Way You Look Tonight

Mr. Bennett has recorded (to my knowledge) three versions of this song. All vastly different from each other.

Long Ago and Far Away 1958 with Frank DeVol and his Orchestra
Recorded in 1997 with the Ralph Sharon Trio. Appears on Rarities, Outtakes and Other Delights, Vol. 2 and
Tony Bennett Sings the Ultimate American Songbook 2007
Duets II 2011
Sung with Faith Hill. With Lee Musiker, Gray Sargent, Marshall Wood, and Harold Jones
Arranged and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli

It’s no secret that I tend to prefer the  recordings by Mr. Bennett with a smaller group and that I often prefer the later recordings over the earlier recordings. Therefore, it’s no surprise that of these three versions, I most love the 1997 version where he’s accompanied by the Ralph Sharon Trio.

The original version and the Duets II version with Faith Hill are lovely, sweet and optimistic. Tony’s optimism is one of my favorite things about his singing. In both of these versions, I feel that these lovers will always be together and that they will always remember the way you look tonight.

In the 1997 version, there is a deep and profound sadness and this sweet and happy song is turned into a ballad.  This version makes me feel that the singer knows that the relationship may be ending and that this very moment and they way she looks tonight may be the last and and most important memory that he will have. It’s sad and moving and full of love. But love, as we know, isn’t always happy.

The Way You Look Tonight

Listen to The Way You Look Tonight on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 2010

The Way You Look Tonight

This song was originally written for 1936’s Swing Time and was sung (beautifully) by Fred Astaire. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Music: Jerome Kern
Lyrics: Dorothy Fields

Some day, when I’m awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you
And the way you look tonight.

Oh but  you’re lovely, with your smile so warm
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fear apart
And that laugh that wrinkles your nose,
Touches my foolish heart.

Lovely, never, never change.
Keep that breathless charm.
Won’t you please arrange it ?
Cause I love you, just the way you look tonight.
Just the way you look tonight.