The song of the day for Tuesday, October 8, 2013 is “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.”
About This Song
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” was written for the 1940 Broadway musical Pal Joey by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. The song was one of the big hits from this show, in addition to another Bennett favorite “I Could Write a Book.” Notable recordings are by Benny Goodman, Mel Tormé, Oscar Peterson, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. Alec Wilder admired the lyric and the verse, but found the song “notey.” In spite of being notey, it’s a cornerstone of the American Songbook.
About This Version
Today’s version is from Tony Bennett’s 1961 album Tony Sings For Two. This album is rather remarkable: at that time, and perhaps even today, it was practically unheard of for a very popular singer like Bennett to record an album with just piano accompaniment (from Ralph Sharon). Bennett and Sharon recorded sixteen songs in a single session, twelve of which made it onto the album, which is widely considered to be one of Bennett’s finest.
http://open.spotify.com/track/4Re3BBnTFrSppLM2M4iATX
“Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” as well as the album Tony Sings For Two, is available from iTunes and Amazon.