"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, best known as the

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

of Tony Bennett. It was written in late-1953 in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, with music by George Cory (1920–1978) and lyrics by Douglass Cross (1920–1975). In 1962, the song was released as a single by Bennett on

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to "

Once Upon a Time "Once upon a time" is a stock phrase used to introduce a narrative of past events, typically in fairy tales and folk tales. It has been used in some form since at least 1380 (according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'') in storytelling in the ...

", which peaked at No. 19 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song was also included on the album ''

I Left My Heart in San Francisco "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, written in the fall of 1953 in Brooklyn, New York, with music by George Cory (1920–1978) and lyrics by Douglass Cross and best known as the signature song of Tony Bennett. In 1962, the s ...

''. It reached number seven on the Easy Listening chart. The song is one of the official anthems for the city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the

National Recording Registry The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservati ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Background

The music was written by George Cory, with lyrics by Douglass Cross, about two amateur writers nostalgic for San Francisco after moving to New York. It references the

San Francisco cable car system The San Francisco cable car system is the world's last manually operated cable car system and an icon of the city of San Francisco. The system forms part of the intermodal urban transport network operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway ...

and the

San Francisco fog Fog is a common weather phenomenon in the San Francisco Bay Area as well as along the entire coastline of California extending south to the northwest coast of the Baja California Peninsula. The frequency of fog and low-lying stratus clouds is ...

. Although the song was originally written for Claramae Turner, who often used it as an encore, she never got around to recording it. The song found its way to Tony Bennett through

Ralph Sharon Ralph Simon Sharon (September 17, 1923 – March 31, 2015) was a British-American jazz pianist and arranger. He is best known for working with Tony Bennett as his pianist on numerous recordings and live performances. Biography Ralph Sharon was bo ...

, Bennett's longtime accompanist and friends with the composers. Sharon brought the music along when he and Bennett were on tour and on their way to

's Fairmont Hotel. Before Tony Bennett heard it, the song was pitched to Tennessee Ernie Ford, whom Claramae Turner suggested Cross take it to. Ford turned the song down. In December 1961, in the famous Venetian Room at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Tony Bennett first sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco". In the audience that night were San Francisco mayor George Christopher and future mayor Joseph L. Alioto. From the 1960s through the 1980s, Bennett always sang the song at his appearances at the Venetian Room.

Recording history

Bennett first recorded the song at the CBS 30th Street Studio on January 23, 1962; CBS released it as the

of "Once Upon A Time"/ The A-side received no attention, and DJs began flipping the record over and playing "San Francisco". It became a hit on the pop singles chart in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

and spent close to a year on various other charts, achieving gold record status. It then won the top prize of

Grammy Award for Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

, as well as for Best Male Solo Vocal Performance. In 1994, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Legacy

In 2001 "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" was ranked 23rd on an

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

/ NEA list of the most historically significant Songs of the 20th Century. It was often performed in public by Bennett in concert as well as on special occasions. A statue of Tony Bennett was unveiled outside the Fairmont Hotel on 19 August 2016, in honor of his 90th birthday, the hotel performance, and the song's history with San Francisco. Two years later, the block of Mason Street was renamed Tony Bennett Way. The Songwriters Hall of Fame gave Bennett the Towering Performance Award for his vocal rendition of the song.

Rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

singer Bobby Womack released a version on Minit Records which peaked at No. 48 on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1969. On May 15, 1984, the song was adopted by the City and County of San Francisco as one of its two official anthems, the other being the title song from the 1936 film ''

''. A slower-paced piano only version of the song appears as the intro theme to the Canadian television show ''

Trailer Park Boys ''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer pa ...

''. The

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco, California. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1883 as the New Yor ...

play the song after each victory at their home field,

Oracle Park Oracle Park is a Major League Baseball stadium in the SoMa neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Since 2000, it has been the home of the San Francisco Giants. Previously named Pacific Bell Park, SBC Park, and AT&T Park, the stadium's curre ...

. Bennett has performed the song live at multiple Giants games, including the 1993 home opener at Candlestick Park and before games in the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2010 World Series The 2010 World Series was the championship series of Major League Baseball's (MLB) 2010 season. The 106th edition of the World Series, it was a best-of-seven playoff played between the American League (AL) champion Texas Rangers and the Nati ...

. At noon (PDT) on Saturday, April 25, 2020, in the midst of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the shelter-in-place orders for people across the United States, San Francisco residents sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" in unison from their residences and other places of sheltering as a tribute to the spirit of the city and its fight to keep the virus in check. Tony Bennett led the sing-along.

Notes

External links

San Francisco sing-along on April 25, 2020

I Left My Heart In San Francisco Songfacts

{{authority control 1954 songs 1962 singles Tony Bennett songs Andy Williams songs Jan and Dean songs Frank Sinatra songs Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Grammy Award for Record of the Year Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance Songs about San Francisco 1969 singles Minit Records singles Bobby Womack songs Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals United States National Recording Registry recordings 1961 in San Francisco San Francisco Giants Columbia Records singles