Lady Gaga actually scats on her duet with Tony Bennett

No one seemed all that thrilled about the prospect of Lady Gaga signing on for a duet with Tony Bennett, least of all Gay Talese, who wrote a pretty unflattering profile of their time in the studio together. 

But the actual recording is out now, and though it pains me to admit it, it's good! Paired up with Bennett on "The Lady is a Tramp," Lady Gaga's voice turns out to be perfectly suited to the material, and most of the ad libs she throws in are unexpectedly appropriate, even when she dabbles in scatting. Sure, it's not as heart-rending as Bennett's recently released duet with the late Amy Winehouse, but all in all it's a pretty tasteful and entertaining reboot of a classic song.

So there you have it: Lady Gaga's years as a musical-theater geek seem to have paid off, and my streak of having nothing good to say about Lady Gaga seems to have been broken.