This week’s Song of the Day selections come from the founders of Five Boroughs Music Festival Jesse Blumberg and Donna Breitzer. NYFOS is partnering with 5BMF in January to bring our NYFOS@Juilliard program Harry, Hoagy, and Harold to Flushing Town Hall.  Thanks, Jesse & Donna!

We’ve come to our final SOTD post for this week, and what fun it has been to share just a handful of our favorite NYC-themed songs – especially a couple from our own Five Borough Songbook. For our final song, we’ve gone to one of the most beloved and enduring musical tributes to New York City: Harry Warren’s classic “Lullaby of Broadway”, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936.

Written for the film Gold Diggers of 1935 – which is NOT, surprisingly, about rough-and-tumble prospectors in California, but in fact presents a convoluted storyline involving multiple money-grabbing manipulators – the song has remained popular and has been recorded by the likes of The Andrews Sisters, Ella Fitzgerald, Doris Day, Tony Bennett, Bette Midler, and more.

And of course (SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT), Harry Warren just happens to be one of the composers featured in Harry, Hoagy and Harold, the wonderful NYFOS@Juilliard show that we, 5BMF, have the honor of presenting at Flushing Town Hall on January 17! More info here.

Here’s the original clip of the song from Gold Diggers of 1935, with a very minimalistic and slightly spooky single shot of a face slowly coming into view:

Here what has to be the most chill version of the song ever, performed with ultimate hipness by the Mel-Tones (what, you don’t regularly lounge around your living room with friends, casually crooning out jazzy harmonies??)

And because she’s Donna’s favorite, here’s Doris Day:

Thanks again to NYFOS for letting us take over the blog this week! Signing off with all our best wishes for a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year!
Jesse Blumberg & Donna Breitzer
Five Boroughs Music Festival