"Duets: An American Classic" - Bennett, Tony
Album
U2 Related Content:
- "I Wanna Be Around" (Studio Version) - Bono and Tony Bennett (03:02)
Full Track Listing:
- Lullaby of Broadway (3:03) – Tony Bennett and the Dixie Chicks
- Smile (4:42) – Tony Bennett and Barbara Streisand
- Put on a Happy Face (3:16) – Tony Bennett and James Taylor
- The Very Thought of You (4:02) – Tony Bennett and Paul McCartney
- The Shadow of Your Smile (4:35) – Tony Bennett and Juanes
- Rags to Riches (2:41) – Tony Bennett and Elton John
- The Good Life (3:21) – Tony Bennett and Billy Joel
- Cold, Cold Heart (3:17) – Tony Bennett and Tim McGraw
- If I Ruled the World (2:56) – Tony Bennett and Celine Dion
- The Best is Yet to Come (3:40) – Tony Bennett with Diana Krall
- For Once in My Life (3:24) – Tony Bennett with Stevie Wonder
- Are You Havin’ Any Fun? (2:46) – Tony Bennett with Elvis Costello
- Because of You (4:05) – Tony Bennett with k.d. Lang
- Just in Time (2:18) – Tony Bennett with Michael Buble
- The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (3:24) – Tony Bennett with Sting
- I Wanna Be Around (3:02) – Tony Bennett with Bono
- Sing, You Sinners (2:19) – Tony Bennett with John Legend
- I Left My Heart in San Francisco (3:56) – Tony Bennett
- How Do You Keep the Music Playing? (5:23) – Tony Bennett with George Michael
Target Bonus Tracks: - I’ve Got the World on a String – Tony Bennett with Diana Krall
- Steppin’ Out with My Baby – Tony Bennett with Michael Buble
- I Left My Heart in San Francisco – Tony Bennett with Julie Garland
- The Lady is a Tramp – Tony Bennett with Frank Sinatra
Australia Bonus Track: - Steppin’ Out with My Baby – Tony Bennett with Delta Goodrem
Singapore Bonus Track: - If I Ruled the World – Tony Bennett with Leehorn Wang
Background Information
The “Duets: An American Classic” album was recorded and released in conjunction with Tony Bennett’s 80th birthday. Unlike some celebrity duets projects Tony Bennett and his collaborators recorded each duet on this album in the same studio. Bono records his song “I Wanna Be Around” in studio with Tony, and Tony’s touring band, the Tony Bennett Quartet. Recording sessions for the album took place in Abbey Road Studios, London, Bennett Studios, Englewood NJ, The Studio at the Palms, Las Vegas, and Capitol Studios, Hollywood. It is expected that the song with Bono was recorded at Abbey Road Studios.
The liner notes for the album contain the sheet music for each of the songs, with a picture of the duet partner at the top and a hand written note overtop of the sheet music. Bono draws his well known ‘self portrait’ and signs it “Bono 4 Tony”.
This recording of “I Wanna Be Around” with Bono was also featured on a promotional release in advance of the album called “Duets: An American Classic Sampler”. A DVD titled “Duets: The Making of An American Classic” was also released, and you can watch the recording session with Bono on this DVD.
Liner Notes
I Wanna Be Around – Tony Bennett and Bono. Written by Johnny Mercer, Sadie Vimmerstedt. Lee Musiker – Piano. Paul Langosch – Bass. Harold Jones – Drums. Gray Sargent – Guitar. Executive Producer: Danny Bennett. Produced by: Phil Ramone. Orchestrated and Conducted by: Torrie Zito. Music Director: Lee Musiker. Recorded and Mixed by: Dae Bennett. Production Coordinator: Vance Anderson.