The Year of Tony Bennett

An Appreciation of the Art and Music of Tony Bennett

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Song of the Day: Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

On the fifth day of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Wednesday, December 18, 2013, the song of the day is “Santa Claus is Coming To Town.”

About This Song

Written by the songwriting team of J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, “Santa Claus is Coming To Town” had a spectacular debut. The song was first sung on Eddie Cantor’s radio show in November, 1934. On the day after the broadcast, there were 100,000 orders for the sheet music; by Christmas, over 400,000 copies of the sheet music had been sold.

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About This Version

Today’s version of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” is from Tony Bennett’s 2008 album A Swingin’ Christmas, featuring The Count Basie Big Band. This album is a favorite of ours, as it not only contains a number of great swinging Christmas songs, there are also some very nice ballad-type Christmas songs as well.

http://open.spotify.com/track/671M468ipiAqAX4FltIiv6http://open.spotify.com/track/671M468ipiAqAX4FltIiv6http://open.spotify.com/track/671M468ipiAqAX4FltIiv6
“Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” as well as the album A Swinging’ Christmas, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Song of the Day: Winter Wonderland

On the first day of a Tony Bennett Christmas, Saturday December 14, 2013, the song of the day is “Winter Wonderland.”

About This Song

“Winter Wonderland” was written in 1934 by Felix Barnard, with lyrics by Richard B. Smith. Smith wrote this song after a snowfall covered his home town of Honesdale, Pennsylvania. It is, of course, a beloved holiday song, even though the lyrics do not explicitly mention Christmas.

WinterWonderland

About This Version

Today’s version of “Winter Wonderland” is from Tony Bennett’s 2008 album, A Swingin’ Christmas. This album features The Count Basie Big Band and it really does swing. The album was produced by Phil Ramone and features the quartet of Monty Alexander (piano), Gray Sargent (guitar), Paul Langosch (bass) and Harold Jones (drums).

http://open.spotify.com/track/7dlLvLDyVH7D7wvoaMuHVE
“Winter Wonderland,” as well at the album A Swingin’ Christmas, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

And as the first day of a Tony Bennett Christmas coincides with YouTube Saturday, we’re pleased to present this video of Tony Bennett singing “Winter Wonderland” from the 2008 Christmas ceremonies at Rockefeller Center:

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Song of the Day: I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm

The song of the day for Wednesday, December 4, 2013 is “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm.”

About This Song

Today’s song is by the great composer Irving Berlin. It was written in 1937 for the movie On the Avenue, which starred Dick Powell and Alice Faye.

This song a classic Christmas favorite, with recordings by Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald (with and without Louis Armstrong), Frank Sinatra and Kay Starr, among many others.

I chose this song today as it seems that a great part of the U.S. is having very cold weather. Even here in usually mild Portland, Oregon, we’re going to be seeing temperatures in the teens and possibly even the single digits before it’s all over. So, bundle up everyone!

It also gives us a chance to remind our readers that The Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas will be starting on December 14. In the meantime, get your love to keep you warm or, lacking that, bring out the down jackets and gloves and remember to keep your head warm too.

About This Version

“I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” is from Bennett’s 2008 Christmas album A Swingin’ Christmas Featuring the Count Basie Big Band. I like the cover of the album, which does a very sweet nod to Norman Rockwell’s 1942 painting “Freedom From Want.” Rockwell created a series of four lithographs to help promote the sales of war bonds.

Freedom_from_want_1943-Norman_Rockwell

I also love hearing Antonia sing with her Dad; I always enjoy hearing them sing together at their concerts.

http://open.spotify.com/track/0oBudl7P9fqep8ghZpA6wH
“I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm,” as well as the album A Swingin’ Christmas, is available from iTunes and Amazon.

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Santa Claus Loves Tony Bennett

I have incontrovertible proof (more or less) that Santa Claus loves Tony Bennett. How do I know this?

Earlier today I was reviewing the statistics for The Interactive Tony Bennett Discography and found this engaging visitor:

santa

I’ve “smudged” Santa’s ISP and IP address to protect his privacy.

Seriously, though, I did find the page that Santa visited quite interesting. It’s one of Tony’s lesser known recordings, I’m Comin’ Virginia, recorded in 1961 for the album My Heart Sings.

Then I was reminded of the story of the little girl who, in 1897, wrote the New York Sun to inquire of the editor if it was true what her friends had told her, that there was no Santa Claus. A Sun newsman named Francis Pharcellus Church wrote the now-famous column “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.” You can read Virginia’s letter and the column at the Newseum website.

And, while we’re on the subject, once again The Year of Tony Bennett will help celebrate the Christmas season with another edition of The Twelve Days of a Tony Bennett Christmas. The statistics for both this blog and the discography show us that there is a lot of interest in Tony Bennett’s Christmas music and we are delighted to do this again. We’ll be kicking off our celebration on December 14.