Prelude To A Kiss

Part prelude fr
PROFILE
Composer Duke Ellington
Lyricist Irving Gordon, Irving Mills
Year Written 1938
About Prelude to a Kiss
Ted Gioia in The Jazz Standards notes that in the late 1930s, having practically invented swing music, “… at this juncture he does the exact opposite. The Duke uses his fame and great artistic freedom to become more ambitious, more experimental, less beholden to the formulas of swing music. … ‘Prelude To A Kiss’ from 1938 is a case in point.”

Lyrics

If you hear a song in blue
Like a flower crying for the dew
That was my heart serenading you
My prelude to a kiss

And if you hear a song that grows
From my tender sentimental woes
That was my heart trying to compose
A prelude to a kiss

Though it’s just a simple melody
With nothing fancy, nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Schubert tune with a Gershwin touch

Oh, how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
A prelude to a kiss

Though it’s just a simple melody
With nothing fancy, nothing much
You could turn it to a symphony
A Schubert tune with a Gershwin touch

Oh, how my love song gently cries
For the tenderness within your eyes
My love is a prelude that never dies
My prelude to a kiss

Session / Album Information

1999

“Prelude to a Kiss” was recorded in May 1999 and released that same year on the album Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool. It was arranged by Jorge Calandrelli.

Prelude To A Kiss

Tony Bennett · Bennett Sings Ellington / Hot And Cool · Song · 1999

This recording released on:

  • 1998: Columbia CD: CK 63668 — Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool
  • 2011: Disc #65 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection (88697874602-JK63) Bennett Sings Ellington: Hot & Cool

Now It Can Be Told

NowItCanBeTold
PROFILE
Composer and Lyricist Irving Berlin
Year Written 1938
About Now It Can Be Told
“Now It Can Be Told” was written for the 1938 film Alexander’s Ragtime Band, where it was introduced by Don Ameche and Alice Faye. It was nominated for an Academy Award for best song (it lost to “Thanks For the Memory”), though the score for the film won the Academy Award. In addition to Tony Bennett’s recording, it has been recorded by Bing Crosby, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, The Ray Noble Orchestra with Frankie Laine and Teddy Wilson.

Lyrics

All the world’s great lovers have been glorified
History placed them in a romantic set
In between book covers they are side by side
But the real thing hasn’t been written yet

Now it can be told
Told in all it’s glory
Now that we have met
The world may know the sentimental story

The greatest romance they ever knew
Is waiting to
Unfold

Now it can be told
As an inspiration
Every other tale
Of boy meets girl is just an imitation

The great love story
Has never been told before
But now
Now it can be told

Session / Album Information

1987

“Now It Can Be Told” was recorded in May 1987 and was released that year on Bennett/Berlin. This song was arranged by Tony Bennett.

Now It Can Be Told

Listen to Now It Can Be Told on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1987

This recording released on:

  • 1987: Columbia LP 12″: FC 44029 — Bennett/Berlin
  • 1987: Columbia LP 12″: C 44029 — Bennett/Berlin
  • 1987: CBS LP 12″: 4604501 — Bennett/Berlin (Neth.)
  • 1987: CBS LP 12″: 4604501 — Bennett/Berlin (UK)
  • 1987: Columbia CD: CK 44029 — Bennett/Berlin
  • 1988: CBS/Sony CD: 32DP-893 — Bennett/Berlin [Japan]
  • 1994: Columbia CD: CK 66184 — It Could Happen To You – Soundtrack
  • 2011: Disc #56 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection (88697874602-JK55) Bennett/Berlin

My Reverie

My Reverie
Composer Claude Debussy
Lyricist Larry Clinton
Year Written 1890 (composition) 1938 (lyrics)

Lyrics

Our love is a dream
But in my reverie
I can see that this love
Was meant for me

Only a poor fool
Never schooled in the whirlpool
Of romance could be so cruel
As you are to me

My dreams
Are as worthless as tin to me
Without you
Life will never begin to be

So love me
As I love you in my reverie
Make my dream a reality
Let’s dispense with formality
Come to me in my reverie

Session / Album Information

1954

My Reverie was recorded on December 22, 1954 and released in 1955 on the album Cloud 7. A version of this song was recorded on August 11, 1954 but was not used.

My Reverie

Listen to My Reverie on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1955

This recording also released on:

  • 2004: Columbia CD: CK 85806 — Cloud 7
  • 2004: Jazz CD: 5060392000 — Cloud 7
  • 2008: Not Now Music CD: NOT3CD010 — Three Original Hit Albums [UK]
  • 2011: Disc #9 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection (88697874602-JK9) Cloud 7

Moments Like This

college-swing
PROFILE
Composer Burton Lane
Lyricist Frank Loesser
Year Written 1938
About Moments Like This
“Moments Like This” was written for a 1938 movie called College Swing and was introduced by Florence George. Early recordings include those by Maxine Sullivan, Teddy Wilson and Dick Stabile and His Orchestra. Later recordings include those by Peggy Lee, Bobby Short and Michael Feinstein.

Lyrics

Here is my casual smile, playing its part
Keeping the two of us good friends
I’ll find a new secret way, hiding my heart
Here is where the masquerade ends

Moments like this make me thrill through and through
Careless moments like this close to you
Nonchalantly we’d dine and we’d dance
Yet my heart seems to melt in your grace

Sweet moments like this with the soft lights aglow
Make me long for your kiss though I know
I’d be just one of all your affairs
But at moments like this, who cares

I’d be just one of all your affairs
But at moments like this, who cares.

Session / Album Information

1986

“Moments Like This” was recorded in January, 1986 and was released that year on The Art of Excellence. The album was orchestrated and conducted by Jorge Calandrelli.

Moments Like This

Listen to Moments Like This on Spotify. Song · Tony Bennett · 1986

This recording released on:

  • 1986: Columbia LP 12″: FC 40344 — The Art Of Excellence
  • 1986: CBS LP 12″: 26990 — The Art Of Excellence (UK)
  • 1986: Columbia CD: CK 40344 — The Art Of Excellence
  • 2011: Disc #55 in The Tony Bennett Complete Collection (88697874602-JK54) The Art of Excellence

Lush Life

Billy Strayhorn

Billy Strayhorn

PROFILE
Composer and Lyricist Billy Strayhorn
Year Written 1938
About Lush Life
Though written between 1936 and 1938, “Lush Life” was not performed publicly until 1948, when Strayhorn and vocalist Kay Davis performed it with the Duke Ellington Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1948. It’s rather amazing to realize that Strayhdorn was only a teenager when he started writing this song. It has had several notable recordings, including those by Nat “King” Cole, Billy Ekstine and Johnny Hartman.

Lyrics

I used to visit all the very gay places
Those come what may places
Where one relaxes on the axis of the wheel of life
To get the feel of life
From jazz and cocktails.

The girls I knew had sad and sullen gray faces
With distingué traces
That used to be there you could see where they’d been washed away
By too many through the day
Twelve o’clock tales.

Then you came along with your siren song
To tempt me to madness!
I thought for a while that your poignant smile was tinged with the sadness
Of a great love for me.

Ah yes! I was wrong
Again,
I was wrong.

Life is lonely again,
And only last year everything seemed so sure.
Now life is awful again,
A trough-full of hearts could only be a bore.

A week in Paris will ease the bite of it,
All I care is to smile in spite of it.

I’ll forget you, I will
While yet you are still burning inside my brain.

Romance is mush,
Stifling those who strive.
I’ll live a lush life in some small dive

And there I’ll be, while I rot
With the rest of those whose lives are lonely, too.

Session / Album Information

2014

“Lush Life” was recorded in 2014 as a solo by Lady Gaga and released that year on Cheek To Cheek. It was arranged by Jorge Calandrelli.

This recording released on:

  • 2014: Columbia/RPM/Streamline/Intercept Records: B0021493-02 – Cheek To Cheek (standard edition)
  • 2014: Columbia/RPM/Streamline/Intercept Records: B0021494-02 – Cheek To Cheek (deluxe edition)
  • 2014: Columbia/RPM/Streamline/Intercept Records: B0021861-03 – Cheek To Cheek (Target edition)
  • 2014: Columbia/RPM/Streamline/Intercept Records: B0021688-02 – Cheek To Cheek (HSN edition)
  • 2014: Columbia/RPM/Streamline/Intercept Records: Cheek To Cheek (iTunes edition)

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