Frank Sinatra’s Revelatory, 1962 Performance of Kern and Fields’ The Way You Look Tonight

Re-posted by Nicholas Stix

Jerome Kern (1885-1945) and Dorothy Fields (1905–1974) wrote “The Way You Look Tonight” for Swing Time (1936), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Astaire sang it, made it an instant classic, and it won the Oscar for Best Original Song. However, in 1962, Sinatra—though about three years past his prime (though some would say more)—performed this version, with a Nelson Riddle (1921-1985) arrangement, and it was as if it were a new song that no one had ever heard before.

The Way You Look Tonight
Music by Jerome Kern
Words by Dorothy Fields

Some day, when I'm awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you...
And the way you look tonight.

Yes, you're lovely, with your smile so warm,
And your cheeks so soft,
There is nothing for me but to love you,
And the way you look tonight.

With each word, your tenderness grows,
Tearing my fears apart...
And that laugh, that wrinkles your nose,
It touches my foolish heart.

Lovely ... never, ever change,
Keep that breathless charm,
Won't you please arrange it,
'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.

[Bridge]

Lovely ... never, ever change,
Keep that breathless charm,
Won't you please arrange it,
'Cause I love you ... Just the way you look tonight.

Mm, Mm, Mm, Mm,
Just the way you look tonight.
 


 

Uploaded on Oct 28, 2009 by Mr. Lider87.

[Previously, in this series:

“Frank Sinatra: My Shining Hour (Video, from Trilogy: Past Present Future)”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing Arlen & Mercer’s Come Rain or Shine”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing the Quintessential Version of Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer’s ‘One for My Baby (and One More, for the Road)’”;

“Hear Frank Sinatra Sing the Classic Harold Arlen/Johnny Mercer Torch Song, ‘Blues in the Night’”;

“Frank Sinatra: Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s Stormy Weather (Video)”;

“Frank Sinatra Live! Medley of The Gal That Got Away and It Never Entered My Mind, Performed in 1980 at Carnegie Hall (Great Quality Video of a Grand Performance!)”; and

“Frank Sinatra: Here's That Rainy Day (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke).”