When Harry Met Sally... (soundtrack)

The soundtrack for When Harry Met Sally... is an album by American singer and pianist Harry Connick, Jr., released in 1989 on Sony/Columbia (US). It is the official music soundtrack to the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally..., starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.

Background

Bobby Colomby, the drummer for Blood, Sweat & Tears and a friend of director Rob Reiner, recommended Harry Connick, Jr., as the musician to work with on the soundtrack. When Reiner listened to the tape Colomby gave him, he was struck by Connick's voice and how it sounded like a young Frank Sinatra.^[2] The movie's soundtrack album was released by Columbia Records in July 1989. The soundtrack consists of standards performed by Harry Connick, Jr., with a big band and orchestra arranged by Marc Shaiman. Connick won his first Grammy for Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.^[3]

Arrangements and orchestrations on "It Had to Be You", "Where or When", "I Could Write a Book", and "But Not for Me" are by Connick and Shaiman. Other songs were performed as piano/vocal solos, or with Connick's trio featuring Benjamin Jonah Wolfe on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums. Also appearing on the album are tenor saxophonist Frank Wess and guitarist Joy Berliner.

The soundtrack went to #1 on the Billboard Traditional Jazz Chart and was within the top 50 on the Billboard 200.^[4] Connick also toured North America in support of this album.^[5] It went on to reach double-platinum status.^[6]

Track listing

Performed by Harry Connick, Jr., and his trio

1. "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn)
2. "Love Is Here to Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin)
3. "Stompin' at the Savoy" (Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson, Andy Razaf)
4. "But Not for Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)
5. "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith)
6. "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell)
7. "Autumn in New York" (Vernon Duke)
8. "I Could Write a Book" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers)
9. "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin)
10. "It Had to Be You (Instrumental Trio)" (Jones, Kahn)
11. "Where or When" (Hart, Rodgers)

Music in the film

The music on the soundtrack is performed by Connick, while the music in the film features various artists:

• "It Had to Be You" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – Frank Sinatra
• "Our Love Is Here to Stay" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) – Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
• "Don't Pull Your Love" (Brian Potter, Dennis Lambert) – Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
• "Ramblin' Man" (Dickey Betts) – Allman Brothers Band
• "Right Time of the Night" (Peter McCann) – Jennifer Warnes
• "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
• "Where or When" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – Ella Fitzgerald
• "Lady's Lunch" (Marc Shaiman)
• "The Tables Have Turned" (Laura Kenyon, Marc Shaiman, Scott Wittman)
• "But Not for Me" (G. Gershwin, I. Gershwin) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "Plane Cue and La Marsellaise" (Max Steiner) (from Casablanca (1942))
• "La Marsellaise" (Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle)
• "Autumn in New York" (Vernon Duke) – Harry Connick, Jr. Trio
• "Winter Wonderland" (Felix Bernard, Richard B. Smith) – Ray Charles
• "I Could Write a Book" (Hart, Rodgers) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" (Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II) – Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan
• "Say It Isn't So" (Irving Berlin)
• "String Quartet No. 7 in E-flat major" (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
• "Stompin' at the Savoy" (Benny Goodman, Chick Webb, Edgar Sampson, Andy Razaf) – Harry Connick, Jr. Trio
• "Don't Be That Way" (Sampson, Goodman, Mitchell Parish)
• "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" (Ralph Blane, Hugh Martin) – Bing Crosby
• "Call Me" (Tony Hatch) – Billy Crystal
• "Don't Get Around Much Anymore" (Duke Ellington, Bob Russell) – Harry Connick Jr.
• "Isn't It Romantic" (Hart, Rodgers)
• "Auld Lang Syne" (Robert Burns) – Louis Armstrong

References