TONY BENNETT – Yesterday I Heard the Rain – (Columbia) – 1968

Here I will just be a little more random with my thoughts.

Bennett, born 1926, is the last of the great male trad pop singers.

As a kid, Elvis led me to Bobby Darin and Bobby led me to trad pop. I was naturally not adverse to trad pop anyway because I was an avid “old movie on TV” watcher. As a kid in the 70s I was forever watching movies from the 40s and 50s. Sinatra and Dean Martin (with or without Jerry) were devoured and watched over and over.

At the age of fifteen I came to op shopping age with my first money earnt as a Woolworths casual. To buy Sinatra and Martin, which was abundant in op shots, was a no brainer.

Did it sit well next to the paisley underground, California hardcore, cowpunk, garage, indie pop and other contemporary sounds of the time that I was into?

Perhaps not but it was played regularly. My “mix tapes” would often feature a trad pop number which had caught my ear.

Was I trying to be different?

Fuck yes.

Always trying to carve out a little identity that distinguishes you from your peers.

But I was also genuinely enthusiastic about the music and I could see how the trad white male pop of pre rock had influence on the world of rock and roll in a way black music never did.

The more I listened the more I realised there was a lot more to trad pop. On one side you had Frank Sinatra who was white and black jazz based, ambitious in his recordings and extended himself whilst on the other you had Dean Martin who was straight white tin pan alley pop, laid back and never really extended himself. God Bless Dean Martin but Dean’s music is about the force of his laidback personality (if that makes any sense). Sinatra, with persona to spare himself, is also about the interpretation of the lyric. In the middle somewhere is Bing Crosby leaning to Sinatra and Guy Mitchell leaning to Dean.

Tony Bennett is on Frank Sinatra’s side of the fence…..and well over.

I first bought a Bennett record in an op shop in the late 80s but never really got into him until the late 90s.

His LPs aren’t as common as Martin, Sinatra, Crosby, Martino, Como or any number of other male singers but his records continually throw up surprises.

He tackles standards, new songs, obscure songs. Anything and everything. But, he is committed to the songs and to the lyric and tries to interpret and find his own personal meaning in each of the songs.

That’s what singers do.

The trad pop sounds that surround the singer throw a lot of people off but I’ve never had a problem with the sound generally, as long as it’s done well and tastefully.

Could this music make a comeback?

Maybe.

For years, rock audiences had problems listening to Johnny Cash in the 70s and 80s and his (slicker) country sounds. Once his cultural capital kicked in with the younger, urban kids there didn’t seem to be a problem with those same sounds.

Of course it would be good if Rick Rubin did an album with Bennett but there are treasures enough to be re-discovered or heard for the first time.

With that in mind I always look forward to a new Tony Bennett album.

Tracks (best in italics)

• Yesterday I Heard The Rain (esta tarde vi Llover) – (G.Lees, A,Manzanero) – Written by Mexican Legend Armando Manzanero this is a good translation into English which captures a melancholic Latin romance. Bennett is in magnificent voice which controls the songs which others would have turned into romantic mush. It’s dramatic with every word deliberate. He shows that singers are more than just voices. I think Bennett was the first to do the English version.
• Hi-Ho – (Gershwin, Gershwin) – George and Ira Gershwin wrote this for “Shall We Dance” in 1937 but it was never used and remained dormant. Tony had the first commercial recording of it on this record. It’s a little twee and a throwback to Mitch Miller frolics of the 50s.
• Hushabye Mountain – (Sherman, Sherman) – (from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang )- Sung by Dick Van Dyke and Sally Ann Howes in the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" (1968). I don’t remember the song being this melancholy and, even, dark. It works though.Ernie Calabria does the guitar solo.
• Home Is The Place – (Sondheim, Styne) –  A random, non-show song by the great Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) with music by Jule Styne. A solemn number which is, not surprisingly, quite Broadway.
• Love Is Here To Stay – (Gershwin, Gershwin) – From the movie “The Goldwyn Follies. “ (1938). The song became better known as "Our Love Is Here to Stay" probably after its appearance under that title in the movie "An American in Paris" (1951). Done by everyone including Bennett under the original title in 1959. The way Bennett sings it implies he doesn’t seem too convinced with the concept. Well sung with typically perceptive lyrics by the Gershwin brothers.
• Get Happy – (Koehler, Arlen) – This song has been done by everyone also – Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Roy Hamilton and others in the 50s. More recently Rufus Wainwright has tackled it. It is most associated with Judy Garland, who performed it in her last MGM film "Summer Stock" (1950) though, it’s also from the "Nine Fifteen Revue". It was the first song Arlen and Koehler wrote together (they wrote "Stormy Weather" and many others), and was introduced by Ruth Etting in The Nine-Fifteen Revue in 1930. Tony captures the right happy bounce on this one
• Fool Of Fools – (Curtis, Meyer) – Curtis and Meyer had song writing careers dating back to the 20s and 30s. I’m not sure if this was ever recorded commercially before this. It’s a bouncy mid tempo ballad in the Sinatra style. And there is nothing wrong with that.
• I Only Have Eyes For You – (Dubin, Warren) – This may be standard, but this one more so and dates to the 30s (it’s from "Dames"). A magnificent song with many great versions: Dick Powell, Maureen O"Hara, the Flamingos. Ella Fitzgerald, Art Garfunkel, Johnny Mathis, Mercury Rev (!), Mark Eitzel, Rod Stewart, Harry Connick Jr as well as many jazz versions. Bennett is deliberate and precise in his vocals.
• Sweet Georgie Fame – (Dearie, Harris) – The song was written by Blossom Dearie who was an American Jazz singer, who had long stints in Europe and who was very popular in the jazz clubs of London, where no doubt she met the then very hip and popular Georgie Fame. It was on her "That’s Just the Way I Want to Be" album from 1970. I’m not sure how Tony got it first.
• Only The Young – (Ahlert, Fisher) – Another standard, Scott Walker did it in 1969 and Nancy Wilson in 1967.
• There Will Never Be Another You – (Gordon, Warren) – Another standard standard. First sung by John Payne (a great film star) & Joan Merrill in movie "Iceland" (1942). Subsequently it was done by Frank Sinatra, Chris Montez, Alex Chilton, Jerry Jeff Walker, Harry Nilsson and many jazz dudes. The song transcends genres. Fark, it would be good (royalty wise) to write one standard.

And …

I love a standard and Bennett does them in his own style. But he has done this before, on many occasions. Still there are so many good songs done well… I’m keeping it.
 
Chart Action
 
Nothing, no where.
 
Sounds
 
Yesterday I Heard the Rain
live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozj1HSw-l8A
live, recently
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TA0pNZcBo2Q
MP3 attached: Tony Bennett – Yesterday I Heard The Rain

Hi-Ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlzGyD3xBgI

Hushabye Mountain
MP3 attcahed: Tony Bennett – Hushabye Mountain

Fool of Fools
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZMsqdD7FpM

There Will Never Be Another You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOG-llopdGc

Others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0WbQkJYKdE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTPpe64jlWQ

Review
—
 
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Bennett_discography
 
Website
https://tonybennett.com/
 
Trivia
I finally got to see him live in 2003, age 86, and he went off.