Saturday 9: I Left My Heart in San Francisco

Sam's Saturday 9: I Left My Heart in San Francisco (1962)

On Saturdays I take a break from the heavy stuff and have some fun…

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

1) This song is a valentine to the city of San Francisco. Songwriters George Cory and Douglas Cross moved to New York to find fame and fortune and found themselves homesick for the city by the bay. Have you ever been homesick? Or, in the parlance of the song, where have you left your heart?
Maybe my first couple of months in college.
I am a “homebody” I lived in the same town for close to 65 years, while my brother lived in seven places.

2) Cory and Cross were buddies with Ralph Sharon, a piano player who often worked with Tony Bennett. Ralph brought the song to Tony and the results were very happy for all involved. Have you more recently done, or been on the receiving end of, a favor?
I received more favors than doing favors. Note, this plague has kept me indoors so there less interaction with others.

3) The lyrics compare San Francisco to Paris, Rome and Manhattan. Have you visited those cities?
Yes, San Francisco and Manhattan.
San Francisco I visited in 1999 and Manhattan in 2016 to see Beautiful: The Carol King Story

4) This week's artist, Tony Bennett, sang professionally for the last time in August. He retired after performing at Radio City Music Hall with Lady Gaga. Their musical collaboration dates back to when they both performed at President Obama's inauguration. Though 60 years apart in age, they became fast friends based on their shared love of jazz. Do you find that most of your friends are older than you, younger than you, or within 5 years of you?
Younger. Not by much but all but one are younger than me, the “youngest” is 59.

5) While Lady Gaga grew up listening to Tony Bennett, as a young man Tony recalled listening to Bing Crosby, Judy Garland and Joe Venuti. Which singers did you enjoy during your teen years?
This is very, very hard because I grew up in the 60s and 70s with so many great artists, up near the top of the pack is Linda Ronstadt. Here she is with the Stone Poneys (not the greatest group but her voice surpasses the band.).

6) While he's famous for singing about San Francisco, Tony is a proud son of New York. Born in Queens, he chose to end his career at Radio City Music Hall and was excited to perform "New York State of Mind" with Billy Joel at Shea Stadium in 2008. Do you have a favorite Billy Joel song?
Captain Jack.
Did you know that his song River of Dreams was filmed in Connecticut, the bridge that they used I go by every time I go to my endo and once I went of a Connecticut river cruise and the captain pointed out all the locations where the video was filmed. The barn they filmed in is a tobacco barn where they dry out the tobacco leaves and the ferry I have been on many times, it is the one of two oldest ferry in the US

7) Tony Bennett and Frank Sinatra may have been competitors but they shared mutual admiration. Sinatra called Bennett "the best singer in the business," and Bennett did a Sinatra homage album called Perfectly Frank. Think of people you have worked with over the years. Tell us about someone who has impressed you, and why.
My boss at the second company that I worked at after college, he ran the engineer department and when he left I followed him to the new job where I worked for 28 years. I remember him telling us about his escape from Romania after WWII. One of the stories he told was when he came here he went to the Labor Department to get his new job, it blew him away that they didn’t assign him a job and that he had to find a job on his own.

8) The 1970s were a difficult period for Tony. During the days of disco and Studio 54, he said singing new songs made him feel like his mother, a talented seamstress, when she was forced to make a cheap dress. OK, so Tony doesn't like disco! Is there a genre of music you just don't care for?
I’m with Tony on disco, the other music that I don’t like is rap music… it is just that I tend to like the music of my generation.

9) Random question: Imagine you're the passenger in a long car ride. Are you more likely to be calm or fidgety?
Long car trips do not bother me (it is a 4 hour drive to the cottage on the Cape), the only time I get fidgety is when my bladder starts calling.

Thanks so much for joining us again at Saturday: 9. As always, feel free to come back, see who has participated and comment on their posts. In fact sometimes, if you want to read & comment on everyone's responses, you might want to check back again tomorrow. But it is not a rule. We haven’t any rules here. Join us on next Saturday for another version of Saturday: 9, "Just A Silly Meme on a Saturday!" Enjoy your weekend!