I Left My Heart in San Francisco

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"I Left My Heart in San Francisco" is a popular song, written in 1954. The music was written by George Cory, the lyrics by Douglas Cross. The song was written especially for Claramae Turner, who often used it as an encore, but never got around to recording it.

The first recording of the song, by Tony Bennett, became a chart hit in 1962 and was adopted by the City and County of San Francisco as one of its two official anthems (the other being the song San Francisco, from the 1936 movie of the same name). It has often been performed in public by Bennett on special occasions as well as in concert, most notably in the final National Football League game at Kezar Stadium featuring the San Francisco 49ers and at the reopening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge after sections of the bridge were damaged by the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

Bennett's recording of the song is also played over the public address system at AT&T Park after all San Francisco Giants home game victories. Also, it is reported that it takes exactly as much time to play the recording (version unspecified) as it does to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.

The song was also recorded by Frank Sinatra.

On November 8, 2006, Bennett performed "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. He stated that his first performance of that song was also on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when the song was first released in 1962, on Johnny Carson's first night on the show.