Fred's original record still sounds pretty good almost eight decades later: The arranger and conductor was Johnny Green, a man of many accomplishments and sufficiently serious about the later ones that he changed his billing to "John Green". I wonder if, back in 1936, Fred Astaire, who introduced more great songs to the world than any other performer, knew that he was premiering not just a pop hit, not just an enduring standard, but one of the handful of iconic songs that represent the absolute heights of the American Songbook. It acknowledges impermanence even as it celebrates forever. As my old National Post colleague Robert Cushman wrote, it "jumps into sadness", which if anything understates the situation: "the world is cold." It's a song that accepts the inevitable - there will be days when you're "awf'lly low" - but there are no consolations to compare to the enduring "glow" of the way you look tonight. It comes in as naturally as walking and says it all:įor a song that makes so many people sigh with contentment, that's quite a bleak opening. This one came right at the top, tied with "It Had To Be You", and I'll bet it would have won if a few writers hadn't grumbled to me, "Shame it doesn't have a verse." It doesn't need one.
Many years ago - when a lot of the guys who wrote the American Songbook were still around - I started asking composers and lyricists to name their all-time favorite song.
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