Cheek to Cheek
"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin,[1] for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat (1935).[2] In the movie, Astaire sings the song to Rogers as they dance. The song was nominated for the Best Song Academy Award for 1936, which it lost to "Lullaby of Broadway".[3] Astaire's recording of the song in 1935 spent five weeks at #1 on Your Hit Parade and was named the #1 song of 1935.[2] Astaire's 1935 recording with the Leo Reisman Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000.[4]
The song is probably most famous for its opening lines, "Heaven, I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak..." and quickly became a standard of the Great American Songbook. The lyrics were parodied by Berlin himself in his subsequent song He Ain't Got Rhythm, from the film On the Avenue (1937).
The song, as sung by Astaire, and separately by Ella Fitzgerald (see her 1956 album "Ella and Louis"), is featured in the movie The English Patient,[5] and the version by Glenn Miller in Les Misérables. It is sung by Kenneth Branagh in Love's Labour's Lost. The original Astaire version is also featured in The Green Mile, Rain Man, A.I. Artificial Intelligence and The Purple Rose of Cairo, when Top Hat is being viewed. It can also be heard briefly in the movie Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps during the evening dinner scene.
Recorded versions
Vorlage:Col-beginVorlage:Col-break
- Larry Adler
- Ambrose
- Julie Andrews
- Ray Anthony
- Louis Armstrong
- Desi Arnaz
- Fred Astaire (1935 #1 hit)[2]
- Chet Atkins
- Count Basie
- Tony Bennett
- Polly Bergen
- Irving Berlin
- Stanley Black
- Pat Boone
- Boswell Sisters
- Connee Boswell
- Sam Browne
- Charlie Byrd
- Carmen Cavallaro
- Eva Cassidy
- June Christy
- Rosemary Clooney
- Alma Cogan
- Ken Collyer
- Ray Conniff
- Bing Crosby
- Vic Damone
- Sammy Davis, Jr.
- Doris Day
- Buddy DeFranco
- Tommy Dorsey
- Eddie Duchin
- Roy Eldridge
- Ziggy Elman
- Eddie Fisher
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Erroll Garner
- Sara Gazarek
- Carroll Gibbons
- Benny Goodman
- Stephane Grappelli
- Buddy Greco
- Roy Hamilton
- Dick Haymes
- Billie Holiday
- Marilyn Horne
- Harry James
- Joni James
- Al Jolson
- Shirley Jones
- Jane Krakowski and Tony Sotos (in Gray Matters)
- Steve Lawrence
- Peggy Lee
- Guy Lombardo
- Machito
- Sanjaya Malakar
- Los Manolos
- Branford Marsalis
- Miki Matsubara (1984)
- Billy May
- Susannah McCorkle
- Robin McKelle
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Glenn Miller
- Jane Monheit
- Matt Monro
- Sara Montiel
- Red Norvo
- Lisa Ono
- Paper Lace
- Pasadena Roof Orchestra
- Joe Pass
- Donald Peers
- Oscar Peterson
- Louis Prima
- Max Raabe
- Ray Reach
- Rita Reys
- Regine
- Rosie Ribbons
- Buddy Rich
- Ginger Rogers
- George Shearing
- Frank Sinatra
- Rod Stewart
- Lew Stone
- Taco
- Mel Tormé
- Sarah Vaughan
- Teddy Wilson
References
- ↑ Irving Berlin Collection description from the Library of Congress's online Performing Arts Encyclopedia; retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ↑ a b c "Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Astaire, 1935; from the University of Virginia's American Studies website, subsection "Manufacturing Memory: 1935-1939"; retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ↑ The 8th Academy Awards (1936) Nominees and Winners, from the website of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (www.oscar.org); retrieved 2012-03-07.
- ↑ Grammy Hall of Fame page from www.grammy.org; retrieved 2012-04-07.
- ↑ Soundtracks for The English Patient; published by the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com); retrieved 2012-04-07.