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. CCCLXXXIX--Tony Bennett: I Wanna Be Around

 During the pandemic, my youngest son and I became enamored with the movie The Freshman, starring Marlon Brando and Matthew Broderick.  In the movie there's a scene where Brando ice skates with a woman and while they're skating, this week's tune provides the background music.  Though I was vaguely familiar with the song (it's older than me), I became enamored of it as well because of the movie...and it's another example of the many different ways that a beloved song can be introduced to us.

I wrote about Tony Bennett's signature tune "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" way back in the fourteenth post for Friday Night Jukebox, but in the early days I didn't write bio recaps, so I'm going to give a brief (or as brief as one can for an artist who's been singing for over 70 years) one for this post, just to highlight what a stellar career Mr. Bennett has had.  He began singing after serving in World War II (Bennett served on the front lines in the European Theater and the horrors he saw led him to become a pacifist, which he still owns to this day) as a singing waiter, was discovered by Pearl Bailey in 1949, and by 1951 had his first hit.  Bennett was a huge success through the mid-sixties before rock and roll slowed his career to a halt.  By the late seventies he was broke and addicted to drugs; his sons helped him turn his life and career around.  Bennett had a massive renaissance in the 1990's (propelled by, of all things, an MTV Unplugged special), and has spent the last thirty years releasing hit album after hit album.  For his career, Bennett has released 61 albums with two #1's and five more that hit the top ten, and 83 singles with three #1's and two more that reached the top ten.  He's also won nineteen Grammy Awards and been inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame.  Bennet released his latest effort (a duets album-their second--with Lady Gaga) just last year, and in doing so became the oldest artist, at the age of 95, to release an album of new material in the history of the Billboard charts.  Due to the effects of Alzheimer's, Bennett has stopped touring but still sings in the studio regularly.

Fun Fact:  In an interview in 1965, no less an authority than Frank Sinatra declared that for him Tony Bennett was the best singer in the business at that time.  High praise indeed.

"I Wanna Be Around" was released by Bennett as a single in 1963 from his ever so craftily entitled LP I Wanna Be Around.  The single hit #14 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, while the album peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200.

At first listen, "I Wanna Be Around" seems to be like any other "My Baby Left Me" song, but by its close it's anything but.  Backed by a piano, a bass (I think), and a lightly tapped drum, Bennett begins by singing about how he wants to pick up the pieces when his love gets her heart broken, and by the end he's joyfully crooning about how sweet revenge will be when she suffers like he did.  The song could easily have turned into a bitter diatribe, but thanks to Bennett's anticipatory gusto (and his vocals--Mr. Bennett can flat out sing) it leaves us with a knowing smile and an understanding heart.  

Lyric Sheet:  "And that's when I'll discover that revenge is sweet/As I sit there applaudin' from a front-row seat/When somebody breaks your heart/Like you, like you broke mine..."

Enjoy:

Republican = Traitor

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