The Way You Look Tonight

Composition and publication

The song was sung by Fred Astaire in the 1936 film Swing Time in the key of D major, but it is typically performed in E-flat major with a modulation to G-flat major.

It was first copyrighted on March 17, 1936 as "Way (The) you look to-night; song from I won't dance", and was unpublished ("I Won't Dance" was a song from the 1935 film Roberta by Kern and Fields). The next copyright on July 24, 1936 was from Swing Time and was published. Both were renewed in 1963.

Contemporary recordings

Fred Astaire recorded "The Way You Look To-night" in Los Angeles on July 26, 1936. Bing Crosby and his wife Dixie Lee recorded the song as a duet on August 19.

To take advantage of the song's success, pianist Teddy Wilson brought Billie Holiday into a studio 10 weeks after the film Swing Time was released. Holiday was 21 when she recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" with a small group led by Wilson in October 1936.

A number of British dance bands also made contemporary cover recordings of the song: Ambrose (with vocals by Sam Browne), Roy Fox (with vocals by Denny Dennis), Tommy Kinsman, Harry Roy, Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Hotel Orpheans (vocal by George Melachrino) and Jay Wilbur (with vocals by Sam Costa).

Cover versions

• Six years passed before the song appeared on the charts again, this time in a version by Benny Goodman with Peggy Lee on vocals and Mel Powell on celeste.
• The most popular and imitated version was recorded by Frank Sinatra with the Nelson Riddle orchestra in 1964.
• The Lettermen found their first hit when their version reached No. 13 on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 singles chart in 1961, No. 14 in Canada, and No. 36 on the UK Singles Chart that same year.
• Tony Bennett recorded the song on his album Long Ago and Far Away in 1958, and then again with the Ralph Sharon Trio for the film My Best Friend’s Wedding, released in 1997. The singer also recorded two duets of the song: with Faith Hill in 2011 on Duets II and one year later on his album Viva Duets with Thalía. A new version only accompanied by the piano of Bill Charlap was on the album The Silver Lining: The Songs of Jerome Kern in 2015.
• Rod Stewart included the song in his 2002 covers album It Had to Be You.

Charts

The Lettermen

Certifications

Frank Sinatra

References

References

1. "US Copyright Office Virtual Card Catalog".
2. (2021-07-09). "The way you look to-night / words by Dorothy Fields; music by Jerome Kern.".
3. "BRUNSWICK 78rpm numerical listing discography: 7500 - 8000".
4. Roberts, David. (2006). "British Hit Singles & Albums". Guinness World Records.
5. (2012). "The Jazz Standards: A Guide to the Repertoire". [[Oxford University Press]].
6. (1997). "They're Playing Our Song: Conversations with America's Classic Songwriters". Da Capo Press.
7. (1986). "Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories, 1890–1954". Record Research.
8. (7 May 2012). "The Way You Look Tonight". Musicnotes.com.
9. "The Way You Look Tonight". Jazzstandards.com.
10. Rust, Brian. (1973). "The complete entertainment discography, from the mid-1890s to 1942". Arlington House.
11. "A Bing Crosby Discography". International Club Crosby.
12. Rust, Brian. (1987). "British dance bands on record 1911 to 1945". General Gramaphone Publications.
13. "CHUM Hit Parade - September 25, 1969".
14. Whitburn, Joel. (2002). "Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001". Record Research.