San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
S.F. sings its heart out for frontline heroes
Singer Mark Robinson belts out “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” Saturday as part of a citywide celebration of frontline workers, led remotely by Tony Bennett.
San Francisco put on its face masks and belted out, as best it could, that famed Tony Bennett tune about the city by the bay.
At high noon Saturday, the sound of “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” filled many city streets — and social media feeds — for the first livefromeveryplace pandemic feelgood singalong.
It came from the bell tower of Grace Cathedral, it came from loudspeakers in front of the de Young Museum, it came from the giant screen at Chase Center.
The cathedral, the museum and the arena remained closed, of course, but all over town, windows opened. Instead of the night wolf howls and pot banging, this time people actually sang a recognizable melody — at least from some sets of vocal cords. #SingOutSF continued to trend on social media even well into the afternoon as Bay Area residents and others shared video of themselves singing while abiding by shelterinplace orders as a tribute to the frontline essential workers battling the coronavirus.
The singalong was the idea of San Francisco Chief of Protocol Charlotte Shultz and the 93yearold crooner, who kicked off the celebration online from his New York home. Bennett first belted out his signature tune in 1961 at the Fairmont Hotel’s Venetian Room, a venue appropriately located halfway to the stars at the junction of all three cable car lines.
“I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was originally written for San Francisco Opera singer Claramae Turner, with the lyrics by Douglass Cross and music by George Cory. Turner performed it for the first time in 1953 and continued to sing it, often during encores, well before Bennett made it world famous. She sang it for the last time in San Francisco in 1972.
Two blocks from the hotel, in the bell tower at Grace Cathedral, Music Director Ben Bachmann played the tune on a carillon, an instrument that can be heard for a mile in any direction and that does not forgive mistakes.
“Everybody can hear everything,” Bachmann said. “You’ve got to get it right the first time.”
Because it takes about half a second for the mechanism to ring the bells after Bachmann hits the key on his keyboard, playing the carillon and listening to yourself at the same time involves just as much lag time as a Zoom conference call. Bachmann said he adapted Bennett’s tune by playing the melody on the lower bells and improvising a harmony line on the higher bells.
“I feel so happy to do this,” he said. “Actually, I feel so happy to be out of the house.”
In Hayes Valley, resident Justine Fox opened her window and did her best to do justice to the civic anthem.
“I set my alarm, so I wouldn’t miss it,” she said. “It’s such a great way to bring community and unity to the city. The song is a little sad, about leaving your heart behind, but that’s all right. It’s a little bit of a sad time right now.”
The song was everywhere, all at once. Near Glen Park, a 68yearold man played it on his high school trumpet and some neighbors’ windows, not all, remained open. In Precita Park, singersongwriter Paul Griffiths played the tune on his front porch. In Miraloma Park, Sean Elsbernd, Mayor
London Breed’s chief of staff, played the tune out his front window on his cell phone speaker.
But it was in Union Square where veteran San Francisco saloon singer Mark Robinson borrowed a green face mask from a nearby San Francisco cop, stood beside the giant heart sculpture and sang to perhaps a dozen people spread throughout the plaza.
Singing behind him were a handful of Union Square ambassadors in their red outfits.
“It was weird,” Robinson said. “You could hear the birds singing.”
The challenging part was taking a deep breath through the face mask. “You get a little less air than usual,” he said.
At the east end of Golden Gate Park, workers set up speakers near the museums and the Conservatory of Flowers and Kezar Stadium, while at Chase Center, it was on the giant screen where the Golden State Warriors can usually be seen playing basketball.
In San Francisco, the tune is perhaps best known for being played at the Giants’ ballpark immediately after a win. There may be no baseball right now, but San Franciscans from bay to breakers seemed to hope that the civic singalong might be accompanied soon by an even bigger victory.
Steve Rubenstein is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: srubenstein@sfchronicle. com Twitter: @SteveRubeSF