ONE FOR MY BABY (AND ONE MORE FOR THE ROAD)
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"'One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)'" is a popular song written by Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer for the musical ''The Sky's the Limit'' (1943) and first performed by Fred Astaire. It was popularized by the American singer Frank Sinatra.
Harold Arlen described the song as "another typical Arlen tapeworm" - a "tapeworm" being the trade slang for any song which went over the conventional 32 bar length. He called it "a wandering song. Johnny (lyricist Mercer) took it and wrote it exactly the way it fell. Not only is it long - forty-eight bars - but it also changes key. Johnny made it work."[1] In the opinion of Arlen's biographer, Edward Jablonski, the song is "musically inevitable, rhythmically insistent, and in that mood of 'metropolitan melancholic beauty' that writer John O'Hara finds in all of Arlen's music."
Sinatra recorded the song several times during his career: In 1947 with Columbia Records, in 1958 for ''Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely'', in 1962 for Sinatra and Sextet Live in Paris, in 1966 for ''Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie'' and finally, in 1993, for his ''Duets'' album. The latter, featuring Kenny G., might have been the last song that Sinatra commercially recorded. It closes the album and critics have noted that Sinatra almost seems to cry the final words "It's a long, long... man, it's long... road."
A famous and acclaimed performance of the song was by Bette Midler, sung to Johnny Carson on the penultimate night of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Both Midler and Carson got caught up in the emotion of the song, and a heretofore unused camera angle on the set framed the two and the performance. It earned Midler that year's Emmy Award (1992) for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. The lyrics were adapted to suit the occasion - such as "And John I know you're getting anxious to close".[2]
Countless renditions of '"One For My Baby..."' have been performed, the following is a list of notable/well-known versions which have been recorded thus far:
★ Perry Como - 3:45 - Available on the Long Play Record ''So Smooth''
★ Billie Holiday - 5:42 - Available on "The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959"
★ Ella Fitzgerald - 4:18 - Available on ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"''
★ Etta James - 3:27 - Available on "The Essential Etta James"
★ Frank Sinatra - 3:07 (1947) - Available on "The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years"
★ Frank Sinatra - 4:04 (1958) - Available on ''Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely''
★ Frank Stallone - 4:31 - Available on "Soft And Low"
★ Frankie Laine - 3:39 - Available on "The Legend at His Best"
★ Fred Astaire - 4:59 - Available on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals" and "Hollywood's Best: The 40's"
★ Harold Arlen - 4:15 - Available on "Too Marvelous For Words • Capitol Sings Johnny Mercer"
★ Iggy Pop - 4:05 - Available on "Party"
★ Iggy Pop - 6:04 (live version) - Available on "Heroin Hates You"
★ Johnny Mercer - 3:09 - Available on "Capitol Collector's Series"
★ Laura Fygi - 5:59 (live version) - Available on "Laura Fygi's Tunes of Passion"
★ Lena Horne - 3:24 - Available on "Bluebird's Best: The Young Star"
★ Lou Rawls - 4:25 - Available on "Great Gentlemen of Song: Spotlight on Lou Rawls"
★ Marlene Dietrich - 4:07 - Available on "Love Songs"
★ Marvin Gaye - 4:30 - Available on "Moods of Marvin Gaye"
★ Rosemary Clooney - 3:50 - Available on "Ballad Essentials"
★ Jula de Palma - 3:24 - Available on "Jula in Jazz 2"
★ Tony Bennett - 3:26 - Available on ''Perfectly Frank''
★ Willie Nelson - 2:36 - Available on "Willie & Leon: One For the Road"
★ Robbie Williams - 4:18 - Available on "Swing When You're Winning"
★ Bette Midler - 4:06 - Available on "Experience The Divine: Greatest Hits (1993)"
★ Dianne Reeves rendition of the song is featured throughout the closing credits of George Clooney's ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (2005), and is available on the film's official soundtrack album.
1. Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography, , Larry, Billman, Greenwood Press, , ISBN 0-313-29010-5
2. Shaiman, Marc. "Someone in a Tree: My View of Johnny Carson's Last Night." The Film Music Society. 24 January 2005.
Fred Astaire dancing on a bar counter in "One for My Baby" from ''The Sky's the Limit'' (1943) (RKO)
Harold Arlen described the song as "another typical Arlen tapeworm" - a "tapeworm" being the trade slang for any song which went over the conventional 32 bar length. He called it "a wandering song. Johnny (lyricist Mercer) took it and wrote it exactly the way it fell. Not only is it long - forty-eight bars - but it also changes key. Johnny made it work."[1] In the opinion of Arlen's biographer, Edward Jablonski, the song is "musically inevitable, rhythmically insistent, and in that mood of 'metropolitan melancholic beauty' that writer John O'Hara finds in all of Arlen's music."
Sinatra recorded the song several times during his career: In 1947 with Columbia Records, in 1958 for ''Frank Sinatra Sings For Only The Lonely'', in 1962 for Sinatra and Sextet Live in Paris, in 1966 for ''Sinatra at the Sands with Count Basie'' and finally, in 1993, for his ''Duets'' album. The latter, featuring Kenny G., might have been the last song that Sinatra commercially recorded. It closes the album and critics have noted that Sinatra almost seems to cry the final words "It's a long, long... man, it's long... road."
| Contents |
| Performances |
| Recordings |
| Modern film references |
| References |
Performances
A famous and acclaimed performance of the song was by Bette Midler, sung to Johnny Carson on the penultimate night of ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Both Midler and Carson got caught up in the emotion of the song, and a heretofore unused camera angle on the set framed the two and the performance. It earned Midler that year's Emmy Award (1992) for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program. The lyrics were adapted to suit the occasion - such as "And John I know you're getting anxious to close".[2]
Recordings
Countless renditions of '"One For My Baby..."' have been performed, the following is a list of notable/well-known versions which have been recorded thus far:
★ Perry Como - 3:45 - Available on the Long Play Record ''So Smooth''
★ Billie Holiday - 5:42 - Available on "The Complete Billie Holiday on Verve 1945-1959"
★ Ella Fitzgerald - 4:18 - Available on ''Ella Fitzgerald Sings Songs from "Let No Man Write My Epitaph"''
★ Etta James - 3:27 - Available on "The Essential Etta James"
★ Frank Sinatra - 3:07 (1947) - Available on "The Essential Frank Sinatra: The Columbia Years"
★ Frank Sinatra - 4:04 (1958) - Available on ''Frank Sinatra Sings for Only the Lonely''
★ Frank Stallone - 4:31 - Available on "Soft And Low"
★ Frankie Laine - 3:39 - Available on "The Legend at His Best"
★ Fred Astaire - 4:59 - Available on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals" and "Hollywood's Best: The 40's"
★ Harold Arlen - 4:15 - Available on "Too Marvelous For Words • Capitol Sings Johnny Mercer"
★ Iggy Pop - 4:05 - Available on "Party"
★ Iggy Pop - 6:04 (live version) - Available on "Heroin Hates You"
★ Johnny Mercer - 3:09 - Available on "Capitol Collector's Series"
★ Laura Fygi - 5:59 (live version) - Available on "Laura Fygi's Tunes of Passion"
★ Lena Horne - 3:24 - Available on "Bluebird's Best: The Young Star"
★ Lou Rawls - 4:25 - Available on "Great Gentlemen of Song: Spotlight on Lou Rawls"
★ Marlene Dietrich - 4:07 - Available on "Love Songs"
★ Marvin Gaye - 4:30 - Available on "Moods of Marvin Gaye"
★ Rosemary Clooney - 3:50 - Available on "Ballad Essentials"
★ Jula de Palma - 3:24 - Available on "Jula in Jazz 2"
★ Tony Bennett - 3:26 - Available on ''Perfectly Frank''
★ Willie Nelson - 2:36 - Available on "Willie & Leon: One For the Road"
★ Robbie Williams - 4:18 - Available on "Swing When You're Winning"
★ Bette Midler - 4:06 - Available on "Experience The Divine: Greatest Hits (1993)"
Modern film references
★ Dianne Reeves rendition of the song is featured throughout the closing credits of George Clooney's ''Good Night, and Good Luck'' (2005), and is available on the film's official soundtrack album.
References
1. Fred Astaire - A Bio-bibliography, , Larry, Billman, Greenwood Press, , ISBN 0-313-29010-5
2. Shaiman, Marc. "Someone in a Tree: My View of Johnny Carson's Last Night." The Film Music Society. 24 January 2005.
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