The Good Life (2:14)

“The Good Life” (originally “La Belle Vie” in French) is a popular song by Sacha Distel and Jack Reardon, published in 1962.

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 two of his top-selling albums, 1994’s MTV UNPLUGGED 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 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.