The Good Life (1962 song)

"The Good Life" (originally "La Belle Vie" in French) is a popular song by Sacha Distel and 1934 born composer Jack Reardon, published in 1962. It was featured in the movie Seven Capital Sins.

The song is best known in the English-speaking world as a 1963 recording by Tony Bennett. He gained a number 18 hit on the U.S. pop singles chart with it; it also became one of his rarer UK Singles Chart hits, making it to number 27 there. "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. As of 2009, he still performs the song live and often jokingly dedicates it to Britney Spears.

The song, sung by Tony Orlando, was used as the theme song of the short lived sitcom of the same name, starring Larry Hagman. Orlando's version was subsequently released on Bell Records.

"The Good Life" was the theme song of the 2000 British gangster film, Gangster No. 1, and it was also employed as a 2007 jingle for a line of pet foods of the same name. A Julie London rendition was used by British Airways in its 2008 promotion of the new London Heathrow Terminal 5 facility.

Recorded versions

• Tony Bennett (1963)
• Betty Carter (1963)
• Blossom Dearie (1963) for the album "Blossom Dearie Sings Rootin' Songs"
• Buddy Greco (1963)
• Sarah Vaughan (1963)
• Frank Sinatra (1964)
• Gary McFarland (1964)
• Nancy Wilson (1964)
• Bobby Darin (1965)
• The Drifters (1965)
• Sammy Davis, Jr. (1966)
• Ann-Margret (1966)
• Connie Francis (1966)
• Lou Donaldson (1967)
• Petula Clark (1968)
• Carmen McRae (1972)
• Dionne Warwick (1973)
• Joey Defrancesco (1999)
• Sacha Distel and Dionne Warwick (2004)
• Marie Fredriksson (2004)
• Rick Braun (2011)
• Michael Feinstein (2011)
• Ray Charles
• Ray Brown
• Duke Ellington
• Sergio Franchi (1963)
• Stephane Grappelli
• Jack Jones
• Kevin Hays
• Shirley Horn
• Ahmad Jamal
• Joe Locke
• Julie London
• Charles McPherson
• Matt Monro
• Don Patterson
• Oscar Peterson
• Sonny Stitt
• Dena DeRose 2002
• Chie Ayado (2009)