The Good Life (1962 song)

"The Good Life" (originally "La Belle Vie" in French) is a song by Sacha Distel with French lyrics by Jean Broussolle, published in 1962. It was featured in the movie The Seven Deadly Sins.

"The Good Life"
Single by Tony Bennett
from the album I Wanna Be Around...
B-side"Spring in Manhattan"
ReleasedApril 1963
RecordedDecember 19, 1962[1]
StudioColumbia 30th Street Studio, New York City[2]
GenreJazz
Length2:14
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Sacha Distel, Jack Reardon[3]
Producer(s)Ernest Altschuler
Tony Bennett singles chronology
"I Wanna Be Around"
(1962)
"The Good Life"
(1963)
"True Blue Lou"
(1963)

Tony Bennett recording

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The song is best known in the English-speaking world via a 1963 recording by Tony Bennett with English lyrics by Jack Reardon. In the US, it was a number 18 hit on the U.S. pop singles chart, and number 7 on the Middle-Road Singles chart.[4] Outside the US, "The Good Life" rose to number 27 on the UK Singles Chart.[5] "The Good Life" became one of Bennett's staple songs, and was featured on four of his top-selling albums, including 1994's MTV Unplugged: Tony Bennett and 2006's Duets: An American Classic, the latter featuring Billy Joel. Bennett also named his 1998 autobiography after the song. He continued to perform the song live and did so at his final concerts, at Radio City Music Hall, aged 95.

Chart performance

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Chart (1963) Peak
position
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company) 27
US Billboard Easy Listening 7
US Billboard Hot 100 18

Other recorded versions

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[6] Gold 500,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Tony Bennett - 1960-1964".
  2. ^ The Good Life at AllMusic
  3. ^ The Good Life at AllMusic
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 31.
  5. ^ "officialcharts.com". officialcharts.com. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
  6. ^ "American single certifications – Tony Bennett – The Good Life". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved February 17, 2021.