On the Sunny Side Of The Street

Album: International Revue (1930)
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Songfacts®:

  • When an 85-year-old Tony Bennett appeared on the BBC's Later...With Jools Holland in October 2011, he said Jimmy McHugh wrote two great songs, and this was one of them.

    "On the Sunny Side Of The Street" was written in 1930 with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and was introduced in Lew Leslie's International Revue; its first public performance was at the Majestic Theater, New York City on February 25 that year wherein it was performed by Harry Richman, and though the show was a relative flop, closing after 95 performances, "On the Sunny Side Of The Street" became a jazz standard, and has been widely recorded by non-jazz artists. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England
  • Willie Nelson recorded this for his 1978 collection of pop standards, Stardust.
  • A version by Steve Tyrell is used in the 1995 comedy Father of the Bride Part II in a scene when George (Steve Martin) and Nina (Diane Keaton) are driving home from a doctor's appointment after finding out that Nina is pregnant. George, upset about being a dad again, watches the not-so-sunny side of the street where a child is throwing a tantrum as Nina watches the sunny side where a mother and daughter happily skip down the sidewalk.

Comments: 1

  • V. Nikki from Collingwood, AustraliaCyndi Lauper did a great version of this with Tony Bennett on her 2003 album 'At Last'.
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