FRED ASTAIRE - CHEEK TO CHEEK

CHEEK TO CHEEK

FRED ASTAIRE

COMPOSER: IRVING BERLIN

ALBUM: CHEEK TO CHEEK

LABEL: BURNSWICK RECORD CORPORATION

GENRE: JAZZ

YEAR: 1935

Fred Astaire (1899-1987) was an American dancer and singer famous for his numerous appearances in the 1920s and 1930s in Vaudeville, on Broadway and on the London stage with sister Adele Astaire; in musical films between the 1930s and 1960s; and on American TV in the 1950s and beyond. Although he teamed with many dancers, including Gene Kelly, his best known screen pairing was with Ginger Rogers, with whom he appeared in 10 films. He continued to act in non-dancing roles in films and TV in the 1960s through 1980s.

In part because of his expressive phrasing and graceful interpretation, Astaire was chosen to introduce many now-classic songs, including standards by Cole Porter (example, "Night and Day"), his friend Irving Berlin ("Let's Face the Music and Dance"), Jerome Kern ("The Way You Look Tonight"), Johnny Mercer ("One for My Baby") and George and Ira Gershwin ("They Can't Take That Away from Me").

"Cheek to Cheek" is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1935, for the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie Top Hat (1935). 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". 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. Astaire's 1935 recording with the Leo Reisman Orchestra was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2004, Astaire's version finished at #15 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema.

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.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven,

And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;

And I seem to find the happiness I seek

When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek.

Heaven, I'm in Heaven,

And the cares that hang around me thro' the week

Seem to vanish like a gambler's lucky streak

When we're out together dancing, cheek to cheek.

Oh! I love to climb a mountain,

And to reach the highest peak,

But it doesn't thrill me half as much

As dancing cheek to cheek.

Oh! I love to go out fishing

In a river or a creek,

But I don't enjoy it half as much

As dancing cheek to cheek.

Dance with me

I want my arm about you;

The charm about you

Will carry me thro' to Heaven

I'm in Heaven,

And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak;

And I seem to find the happiness I seek

When we're out together dancing cheek to cheek