Destination Jam: Celebrating Tony Bennett on his 94th birthday with five of his evergreen songs
It's Tony Bennett's birthday on August 3 and as the beloved and veteran big band singer turns 94 years old, we want to honor him with our Destination Jam playlist featuring five of his best songs. Check out the list below.
'Rags to Riches'
We've all been there — searching for an escape from our financial limitations and moving on to bigger things as we hope to see our lifelong dreams come true. It is a common occurrence in modern-day music for artists to capture the transition from "rags to riches", yet their interpretation of it often comes off as just a boast fest without the depth or inspiration of how to got there. In his rendition of "rags to riches", Bennett deems the love of a woman as his wealth. The best-known version of the song, recorded by Tony Bennett with Percy Faith and his orchestra, was No. 1 for eight weeks on the Billboard chart in 1953 and became a gold record.
Listen to the song here.
'Body and Soul'
Originally written by Edward Heyman, Robert Sour, Frank Eyton and John Green in 1930, Bennett's version is notably stunning. Bennett's music is testimony to the fact that he can capture a sense of depth and intimacy with his songs while retaining the joyful sounds of big band and jazz. Even late British singer Amy Winehouse was drawn to Bennett's take on the track and teamed up with him to record a jazzy duet version of this song. Their collaboration was released as the first single from Bennett's 'Duets II' album, a follow-up to his 2006 release 'Duets: An American Classic'. Listen to and watch their duet below.
'Stranger in Paradise'
With several versions of this track (originally from the 1953 musical 'Kismet') the most popular version of 'Stranger in Paradise' was sung by Bennett. His rendition reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1955 and his debut hit record in the United Kingdom. Listen to Bennett's classic version here.
'Just in Time'
Another beautiful Bennett rendition on a popular track to have got the attention of a modern-day artist is 'Just in Time', which is Michael Bublé. Initially recorded by Bennett in 1956, he recorded the song again decades later with Bublé as part of his 2006 album 'Duets: An American Classic'. The back-and-forth peppy juggle makes for some memorable moments and their harmonies are a match made in heaven. Watch behind-the-scenes footage of their collaboration below and the song (starts at 1:23) below.
'The Best is Yet to Come'
Although the song was made popular by Frank Sinatra, it was originally written for and introduced by Bennett. The song sees Bennett backed by a snappy rhythm and various layers of cheeky brass with lyrics such as: "Out of the tree of life I just picked me a plum. You came along and everything started to hum. Still it's a real good, bet the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come and, babe, won't it be fine?"
Listen to 'The Best is Yet to Come' here.
Destination Jam is a daily list of songs that will keep you entertained and grooving up top in lieu of feeling drained and losing the plot. Look out for a fresh selection of great tunes from MEAWW to refresh your mood every day!