Song of the Day: Glengarry Glenn Ross (“Blue Skies”) features the words and music of the legendary Irving Berlin. Part of the Great American Songbook, this song was a late addition to the 1926 Rodgers and Hart musical, “Betsy”, sung by Belle Baker. It was also one of the first songs heard (literally) on screen in the 1927 talkie, “The Jazz Singer,” performed by Al Jolson (and its been recorded countless times since).
Source music has long been used in film soundtracks—hence its inclusion along with other standards in the 1992 film adaptation of the 1983 play, written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning David Mamet. The film has a powerhouse ensemble cast that includes Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, and Al Pacino, who was Oscar-nominated in the category of “Best Supporting Actor“.
The dialogue is laced with so much profanity that when I first watched it at home with my family, our landlord called us from downstairs to tell us to lower the volume: “We got kids down here!” Indeed, the cast itself jokingly referred to the film as a take on “Death of a F*ckin’ Salesman“.
This song is delivered to ironic effect in the closing scene and end credits of the film in a blazing jazz rendition by the late, great Al Jarreau (with a terrific sax solo by Bob Sheppard). Check it out here [YouTube link].
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