I left my heart...

One of a kind...

 Tony Bennett was the fourteenth artist I devoted a post to on Friday Night Jukebox (Vol. XIV), and seven years later I wrote a second one (Vol. CCCLXXXIX) for one of the finest singers this world has ever seen.  Sadly, Bennett passed away today at the age of ninety-six, leaving us his wonderful legacy of over seventy years in the music business.

Bennett is the last of his generation--Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Perry Como, Johnny Mathis, among many others--of male crooners, artists who interpreted songs written by others and left their own indelible mark on those songs.  While the bulk of its success was before my time (and I freely admit to not being an expert), it was a gift that so, so many of us will be able to enjoy for the rest of our lives--and for generations to come.

For me, Bennett will always hold a special place in my heart for "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" his paean to my forever home and my city by the bay.  This December will mark fifty years since my family left the Bay Area, and lo these many years the sentiments in Bennett's signature tune resonate as much today as they did on a cold winter's day in 1973 when our plane landed in our new home of Indiana.  Just a beautiful tribute from a one-of-a-kind singer to a one-of-a-kind city.

Godspeed, Mr. Bennett, Godspeed.

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol XIV--Tony Bennett: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Old fart alert!

Actually, baseball season starts Monday and as such, this is the time of year when I become most homesick for "my city by the bay"--San Francisco.  I've been a Giants fan since 1967, and my family left the Bay Area for the heartland in 1973.  As you might have surmised, there have been an awful lot of homesick Opening Days over the course of my life.

Arguably the most beautiful city in America (the world?), San Francisco didn't really need to be immortalized with a song, but Tony Bennett sure added a little luster with this gorgeous ballad (written by, oddly enough, a couple of San Franciscans living in New York and missing their home).  The songwriting duo, George Cory and Douglass Cross, never had another hit but they didn't need one.  (There's a nice tour tutorial of their song here.)

"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was actually released in 1962 as the b-side to "Once Upon a Time" (no clue) which went nowhere fast but back in the day dee-jays would on occasion play a single's flip-side (you have to be of a certain age....)--and as they did with this one, turned it into Tony Bennett's signature song, which he's still singing to this day.  Released on his appropriately titled album, I Left My Heart in San Francisco, it reached #19 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100.  Featuring a twinkling piano and Bennett's heartfelt (not bad for a native New Yorker) vocals, the song manages to capture the essence of the city in just under three minutes--no easy task.

Just so you know, you don't have to be a native of San Francisco to appreciate it, but it probably helps.

And even after all these years, ..."high on a hill, it calls to me..."

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee