The Song of the Day for September 5, 2012 is Just In Time.

About Just In Time

Written by Jule Styne (music) and Betty Comden and Adolph Green (lyrics), Just In Time is just one the great hits from the 1956 Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing.  The stars of the show, Judy Holliday and Sydney Chaplin introduced the song. Tony Bennett recorded the song in the same year, and it was a big hit for Mr. Bennett. The Party’s Over, another song recorded by Mr Bennett (Hometown, My Town in 1959) was the other major hit song from this wonderful score.

About This Version

Mr. Bennett has sung this song over his career, including his duet with Michael Bublé in the 2006 Duets album. But perhaps his most significant performance was never recorded. Starting on March 21, 1965, Tony Bennett marched with Martin Luther King, now-Congressman John Lewis, Ralph Bunche, Billy Eckstine, Leonard Bernstein and many, many others on the Third March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. On the evening of March 24, 1965 on a makeshift stage (created with coffins loaned by a local mortuary), a Stars for Freedom rally and concert was held. In addition to Mr. Bennett, the performers included Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter, Paul and Mary.

The documentary film Tony Bennett: The Music Never Ends, contains a short clip from this concert (approximately 21:28 in). You can easily see how completely and totally exhausted Mr. Bennett was at this rally. He got up and sang Just In Time and for the American civil rights movement, it was just in time. As a result of the marches from Selma to Montgomery, President Johnson introduced and Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, major battle in the Civil Rights movement.

For today, we present Mr. Bennett’s original recording of Just in Time, released as single and compiled here on the first CD of the Fifty Years of Tony Bennett box set.

As I write this topic, the First Lady of the United States of America, Michelle Obama, just finished addressing the delegates to the 2012 Democratic Convention. To have such a moment in our history, we owe thanks to many brave Americans who have fought racism all their lives, including Tony Bennett. Thank you, Mr. Bennett.