The song of the day for Friday, August 1, 2019, is “Being Alive.”

About This Song

“Being Alive” is the closing song in the 1970 Stephen Sondheim musical Company, which ran on Broadway for 705 performances. Company was nominated for fourteen Tony Awards and won six, including Best Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Hal Prince), Best Book of a Musical (George Furth), Best Original Music and Best Original Lyrics as well as Best Scenic Design (Boris Aronson). D.A. Pennebaker made a documentary of the recording of the original cast album, recorded by Columbia Records at the 30th Street Studio, that was released in 2006.

The Year of Tony Bennett is featuring this song today to honor the life of producer-director Hal Prince, who died yesterday at the age of 91. He won an unprecedented 21 Tony awards in his lifetime, one of which was for his direction of Company. Rest in peace, Hal. Broadway will never know another talent like his.

About This Version

Tony Bennett recorded “Being Alive” in 2004 for his wonderful album, The Art of Romance. Lee Musiker wrote the arrangement.

“Being Alive,” as well as The Art of Romance, is available from iTunes.