Tony Sings at 80 and the World Loves Him

We’ve showered twice already today as the heat blazes down on us here on the island. Inside the house in the shade it’s not so bad, and we’ve got time to read the NY Times. A story today mentioned Tony Bennett’s 80th birthday tomorrow, and included these words about this true legend.

“A quintessential Tony Bennett moment comes at the end of “It’s a Wonderful World,” the tender duet he recorded with KD Lang for their 2002 Louis Armstrong tribute album.

After they swap greeting card doggerel celebrating “trees of green,” and “skies of blue” Bennett remarks with a boyish enthusiasm, “Don’t you think Satchmo was right?…later, in the quiet, choked-up voice of a man visiting the grave of a beloved father figure, declares, “You were right, Pops”

Mr Bennett, who turns 80 on Thursday, has steadfastly remained the embodiment of heart in popular music. He pours it into every note he sings and every phrase he swings with a sophistication that deepens his unguarded emotional directness. In the polluted sea of irony, bad faith and grotesque attitudinizing that pop music has become, he is a rock of integrity.”