MARK STEYN’S SONG OF THE WEEK: Cole Porter’s “Night and Day.”
Sinatra alone recorded the song a gazillion different ways: As a dreamy ballad in the bobbysoxer Forties. As a ring-a-ding-dinger in the swingin’ Fifties. He did it big and stately and formal with an army of strings. He did it with Latin bongos. He did it as a kick-around jump tune with trios and quartets. He sang it variously with the intro verse at the intro, and with the intro verse in the middle, and with the intro verse booted outro entirely. And, having exhausted all other options, in 1977 he did it as a disco number:
Finally, the long-awaited mashup of “Night and Day” and “The Theme from Shaft!”
Sinatra’s drummer and conductor hated the arrangement; read the whole thing.