Songs of the Day: Great Torch Songs

I was eating lunch today when I heard one of these songs; "torch songs", truly great love songs usually about someone who has gone, is leaving or is soon to return.  I have chosen two great performances to share.

The first is "To Each His Own", performed by Al Martino.  While this video is not the most scintillating, the vocal is flawless and the sound quality superb.  This was probably recorded when Al Martino had that great comeback role as Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather".  You will sometimes hear an upbeat version of this song, but for me the "torchy" ballad cannot be beaten.




The next song is "My One and Only Love", performed by Paula Cole.  While I think the definitive version of this ballad was done by the great jazz balladeer Johnny Hartman on his album with John Coltrane, Paula Cole's rendition is right up there.  This performance is from jazz trumpeter Chris Botti's PBS special which featured a host of guest vocalists.  Paula Cole had a couple of hits ("I Don't Wanna Wait", "Where Have All The Cowboys Gone") after performing as a backing vocalist with Peter Gabriel but I had no idea she had such range, tone or control.  She absolutely nails this song, live no less, and looks damn good in that black suit to boot.




Bonus:

Simply because it is too good to leave out, and because it was the next song she performed, here are Paula Cole, Chris Botti and Burt Bachrach performing, "The Look of Love", a torch song in it's own way.