Maps of Music

The Movie Song Album (1966)

Where the lyrics of The Movie Song Album take you, and where it was really made.

Tony Bennett later called this album his 'all time favorite record,' and every track on it is a song from a film.

Key places

CBS 30th Street Studio, New York (1966)

Recording site Columbia 30th Street Studio — Recording of the album is linked to this CBS studio at 30th Street in New York. The point is shown at city-level accuracy. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

CBS Studio A, Los Angeles (1966)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The album's recording is credited to CBS Studio A in Los Angeles. The point is shown at city-level accuracy. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• The Movie Song Album: 1966 studio album by Tony Bennett
• Twelve songs taken from films, opening with the theme from The Oscar
• Released 31 January 1966
• Bennett had recently appeared in The Oscar, the film whose theme opens the album
• Bennett later described the album in his autobiography as his all-time favorite record

Background

• Source films range from Harlow, The Pawnbroker and Black Orpheus to The Sandpiper, Days of Wine and Roses and Meet Me in St. Louis
• Songs include Maybe September, The Shadow of Your Smile, The Gentle Rain, Smile and The Trolley Song
• The collection pairs film-song material with a group of high-profile collaborators

Recording

• Johnny Mandel served as musical director
• Mandel, Neal Hefti and Quincy Jones arranged and conducted their own compositions on the album
• Luiz Bonfa played guitar on his two songs, Samba de Orfeu and The Gentle Rain
• Pianists Tommy Flanagan, Jimmy Rowles and Lou Levy each worked on one song
• Zoot Sims played tenor sax on track 12
• Recording credited to CBS Studio A in Los Angeles and to a CBS studio at 30th Street in New York

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born Anthony Dominick Benedetto on August 3, 1926, in Long Island City, Queens, New York City.
• Grew up in poverty after his father, a grocer, became unable to work and died when Tony was ten.
• Sang for money from age 13 as a singing waiter in Italian restaurants in Queens.
• Attended New York's School of Industrial Art but dropped out at 16 to help support his family.

Military service

• Drafted into the U.S. Army in November 1944 and fought as an infantryman in the final stages of World War II.
• Stayed in Germany with the occupying force and sang with an Army Special Services band under the name Joe Bari.

Career

• Studied bel canto at the American Theatre Wing on the GI Bill; Pearl Bailey and Bob Hope helped launch him, and Hope shortened his name to Tony Bennett.
• Signed with Columbia Records in 1950; first number-one hit "Because of You" in 1951.
• Shifted toward jazz singing in the late 1950s; "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" (1962) became his signature song.
• Declined commercially during the rock era and struggled with addiction and debt until a comeback in the late 1980s, managed by his son Danny.
• The 1994 MTV Unplugged album won the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Later career

• Collaborated with Lady Gaga from Cheek to Cheek (2014) through Love for Sale (2021).
• Won 20 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and sold more than 50 million records worldwide.
• Received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2005 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• Co-founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens with Susan Crow.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• AllMusic: William Ruhlmann gave four stars out of five and wrote that Bennett devoted himself exclusively to movie themes
• Ruhlmann found some tunes not first-rate but judged The Shadow of Your Smile and The Second Time Around as material worthy of Bennett
• Billboard described the album as a guaranteed chartbusting LP and praised the outstanding movie songs with exceptional Bennett vocals
• Cashbox believed it typical of Bennett to draw from the Hollywood scene a complete round-up of sensitive and winning songs
• Variety said Bennett's vocalistic dramatics got a first-rate workout on this repertoire
• Record World reported that the album underscored Bennett's debut as a movie actor
• American Record Guide said the album was sensitively and forcefully sung
• Record Mirror gave it four stars and called it tremendously warm, swinging, sentimental and sensitive
• Disc and Music Echo said the album turned his relaxed but overrated vocal talents

Reappraisal

• Reviews of the period mostly praised Bennett's vocals while questioning the quality of some song material

Records

• Billboard Top LPs: debuted in the issue dated 12 March 1966, stayed on the chart 29 weeks, peaked at No. 18
• Cashbox albums chart: debuted in the issue dated 12 March 1966, stayed 23 weeks, peaked at No. 26
• The Shadow of Your Smile: Billboard Hot 100 peak No. 95 over three weeks, Easy Listening No. 8 over 13 weeks
• Maybe September: Bubbling Under Hot 100 for four weeks, peaked No. 104, Easy Listening No. 10 over ten weeks
• Grammy Award for Song of the Year at the 1966 Grammy Awards for The Shadow of Your Smile, won by Mandel and Paul Francis Webster
• Bennett performed The Shadow of Your Smile at the 38th Academy Awards, where it won Best Original Song
• 8 November 2011: Sony Music Distribution included the CD in the box set The Complete Collection

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Bennett's autobiography calls this album his all-time favorite record
• The opening track Maybe September comes from the film The Oscar, in which Bennett had recently appeared
• Bennett performed The Shadow of Your Smile at the 38th Academy Awards, the ceremony where the song won Best Original Song
• Zoot Sims is credited on track 12, The Trolley Song, from Meet Me in St. Louis
• The album was included on CD in the 2011 box set The Complete Collection

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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