The Way You Look Tonight

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“The Way You Look Tonight”
Single by The Lettermen from the album A Song for Young Love
B-side	"That's My Desire"
Released	1961
Format	7" single
Genre	Pop standard
Length	2:21
Label	Capitol
Writer(s)	Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern
The Lettermen singles chronology
"The Way You Look Tonight" (1961) "When I Fall in Love" (1961)

"The Way You Look Tonight" is a song featured in the film Swing Time, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. It was written by Jerome Kern with lyrics by Dorothy Fields. Dorothy Fields later remarked that the melody, upon first hearing it, moved her to tears and she was thrilled to provide the lyrics: "The first time Jerry played that melody for me I went out and started to cry. The release absolutely killed me. I couldn't stop, it was so beautiful." ^[1]

The song was sung by John "Lucky" Garnett (played by Fred Astaire) while sitting at the piano. Penelope "Penny" Carroll (played by Ginger Rogers) was busy washing her hair in an adjacent room, and feeling anything but beautiful at the time.

This song was also popularly performed by Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart, Andy Williams, Ray Quinn, Steve Tyrell and as a duet between Bing Crosby and his wife Dixie Lee. Jazz pianist Art Tatum has an instrumental recording in the collection The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces. The song was also performed by The Lettermen and became a hit for them in 1961 (Billboard #13 pop, #3 easy listening). Billie Holiday has also recorded this song, in 1936, and it can be found in "The Quintessential Billie Holiday, Vol.2". It was also covered by Chad & Jeremy and Bryan Ferry. The Lettermen's and Chad & Jeremy's versions were slowed-down more romantic-sounding crooning versions, rather than the original dance tempo number from the original film, "Swing Time". The Lettermen version is a(n) MOR modification of a doo-wop/R&B version of the late 1950s version by the Jaguars.

Pianist Bradley Joseph performs his arrangement of "The Way You Look Tonight" on his 2006 album, Piano Love Songs. Saxophonist Johnny Griffin covered this song in the hard bop jazz style on his 1957 A Blowing Session recording. The song also appears in the Kenneth Branagh film Peter's Friends. A cover performed by James Darren also forms the background music for the "Seven-year Montage" in the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "What You Leave Behind".

"The Way You Look Tonight" is referenced in Harold Pinter's play Old Times, in which two characters recite some of the lines. In the 1942 film Once Upon a Honeymoon, Cary Grant says to Ginger Rogers that he always wants to remember "you just the way you look tonight - er, today", referencing this song - Rogers appeared in the 1936 Swing Time, the film in which the song first appeared. It was featured in the movies Chinatown, My Best Friend's Wedding, Father of the Bride, Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, Peter's Friends and Kenneth Branagh's version of Love's Labour's Lost. It also was sung by Allison Munn in the WB show, What I Like About You, in the season finale.

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