Remembering Tony Bennett

by Ernie McCray

Tony Bennett,
a singer for the ages,
is gone
but not the memories
of what he,
with a delivery
that encompassed
an incomparable
style of grace and ease,
could do with a song,
making standards,
old show tunes,
his own,
in ways that made you hum
and sing a song
you just heard him sing’
all day long
something I’ve been doing
since a long time ago,
way before he lost his heart
in San Francisco,
as I remember
in junior high walking
down the street
belting out “Because of You,”
feeling his magic,
the smoothness
and lushness in his voice,
the wealth of music in his soul,
not knowing that
there were so many more great songs
on the way
some day
like “The Best Is Yet to Come,”
a rendition
I love to bob my head and snap my fingers to,
and “The Shadow of Your Smile”
which I sang to my all-time childhood crush,
Doris Jean,
who rejected my cooing and wooing,
leaving me to wonder
“Who Can I Turn to (When Nobody Needs Me),”
a Bennett classic
if there ever was one.

This man was one of a kind.
Down to Earth,
his feet planted solidly on the ground,
blessing the world
with not only his music
with all the joy therein,
but also with his art,
his water color drawings
and oil paintings of peaceful scenes,
be they of nature,
of wildlife,
or a portrait.
Tony’s intellect and respect
for the well being
of human beings
radiated through
the way he conducted himself
over his 96 years
as, after being in the hellish conditions
of war,
he denounced such conflicts
with passion and conviction
for generations,
and to harness his rage against racism
he sang at freedom rallies
and marched with
Martin Luther King.

On July 21, 2023
the world lost
a model human being.