Someone to Watch Over Me

By George and Ira Gershwin
1926

For this, the momentous 500th post here at Standard of the Day, let's fondly recall one of the absolutely unparalleled gems of the Great American Songbook, from the incomparable brothers Gershwin. George originally envisioned the melody as uptempo, but after playing around with it, he thankfully realized it would work much better as a ballad (to say the least!) Ira's lyric is an anthem of longing and fragility, traditionally associated with a female voice ever since being introduced by Gertrude Lawrence in the Broadway musical, Oh, Kay!

Lyrics:

There's a saying old, says that love is blind
Still we're often told, seek and ye shall find
So I'm going to seek a certain lad I've had in mind

Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet
He's the big affair I cannot forget
Only man I ever think of with regret

I'd like to add his initial to my monogram
Tell me, where is the shepherd for this lost lamb

There's a somebody I'm longin' to see
I hope that he turns out to be
Someone who'll watch over me

I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood
I know I could, always be good
To one who'll watch over me

Although he may not be the man

Some girls think of as handsome
To my heart he carries the key

Won't you tell him please to put on some speed
Follow my lead, oh, how I need
Someone to watch over me.

Recorded By:
Frank Sinatra
Chris Connor
Sarah Vaughan
Sammy Davis Jr.
Ray Coniff

What Can I Say After I Say I'm Sorry?

By Walter Donaldson & Abe Lyman
1926

Popular 1920s bandleader Lyman (pictured) wrote the lyrics to this tune by vastly underrated songwriter Donaldson, and introduced the song with his orchestra. It became one of the most popular songs of the decade, and an emblem of the Jazz Age. It was featured to great effect in the 1971 horror comedy The Abominable Dr. Phibes, which includes a plethora of great '20s songs.

Lyrics:

What can I say, dear, after I say I'm sorry?
What can I do to prove it to you that I'm sorry?
I didn't mean to ever be mean to you.
If I didn't care I wouldn't feel like I do.

I was all wrong, but right or wrong I don't blame you.
Why should I take somebody like you and shame you?
I know that I made you cry and I'm so sorry dear,
So what can I say, dear, after I say I'm sorry?

Recorded By:

Ella Fitzgerald
Josephine Baker
King Cole Trio
Carmen McRae
Keely Smith

'Deed I Do

By Fred Rose & Walter Hirsch
1926

An old vaudeville tune, introduced on stage by S.L. Stambaugh, but popularized in later recordings by Ben Bernie and Ruth Etting. It is also notable for being the very first song recorded by the young Benny Goodman in late 1926.

Lyrics:

Do I want you?
Oh my do I
Honey, indeed I do

Do I need you?
Oh my do I
Honey, a-deed I do

I'm glad that I'm the one who found you
That's why I'm always hangin' around you

Do I love you?
Oh my do I
Honey, deed I do

Recorded By:

Diana Krall
Ella Fitzgerald
Perry Como
Blossom Dearie
Billie Holiday

Blue Skies

By Irving Berlin
1926

This classic was written at the last minute by Berlin as an addition to Rodgers' & Hart's musical Betsy, in which it was introduced by Belle Baker. The following year, it became one of the first songs featured in a talkie, when Al Jolson sang it in The Jazz Singer. More than 75 years later, it would even be sung by the character of Data in one of the Star Trek movies.

Lyrics:

I was blue, just as blue as I could be
Evry day was a cloudy day for me
Then good luck came a-knocking at my door
Skies were gray but theyre not gray anymore

Blue skies
Smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies
Do I see

Bluebirds
Singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds
All day long

Never saw the sun shining so bright
Never saw things going so right
Noticing the days hurrying by
When youre in love, my how they fly

Blue days
All of them gone
Nothing but blue skies
From now on

Recorded By:

Judy Garland
Josephine Baker
Bing Crosby
Willie Nelson
Dinah Washington

If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)

By James P. Johnson & Henry Creamer
1926

Some songs are just very much of their era, and this is one of them. A festive melody with a melancholy lyrics, this infectious number was introduced by Clarence Williams' Blue Five, with vocalist Eva Taylor. But the 1930 recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers really popularized it, with the group using it as their theme song. It resurfaced in a big way when Frank Sinatra performed it in his 1957 film The Joker Is Wild.

Lyrics:

If I could be with you, I'd love you strong.
If I could be with you, I'd love you long.
I want you to know that I wouldn't go,
Until I told you honey why I love you so.

If I could be with you, one hour tonight,
If I was free to do the things I might,
I'm telling you true, I'd be anything but blue.
If I could be with you.

Recorded By:

Kay Starr
Louis Armstrong
Tony Bennett
Bing Crosby
Doris Day

Bye, Bye Blackbird

By Ray Henderson & Mort Dixon
1926

A true anthem of the Roaring '20s, this tune was introduced by Gene Austin, but perhaps the most famous rendition was Josephine Baker's. Ironically, given the Nazi party's disdain for jazz, it was even adopted as part of Joseph Goebbel's propaganda campaign, given new words intended to demoralize Allied troops. It failed.

Lyrics:

Pack up all my cares and woes,
Feeling low, here I go.
Bye, bye blackbird.

Where somebody waits for me.
Sugar's sweet--so is she.
Bye, bye blackbird.

No one seems to love or understand me,
And all the hard luck stories they keep handing me.
Where somebody shines the light,
I'll be coming home tonight.
Blackbird, bye bye.

Recorded By:

Nina Simone
Joe Cocker
John Coltrane
Liza Minelli
Peggy Lee

Looking at the World Through Rose-Colored Glasses

By Jimmy Steiger & Tommy Malle
1926

The epitome of the carefree Roaring '20s, this irresistible little tune was introduced by Jack Osterman in the theatre revue A Night in Paris. It would be popularized soon after thanks to a hit recording by Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians. Definitely an attractive mantra for these trying times!

Lyrics:

Lookin' at the world through rose-colored glasses,
Everything is rosy now.
Lookin' at the world, and everything that passes
Seems a rosy hue somehow.

Why do I feel so spry? Don't blink your eye.
Needn't guess, I'll confess.
Certain someone just said 'yes'.

In a bungalow all covered with roses,
I will settle down, I vow.
That's why I'm lookin' at the world through rose-colored glasses,
Everything is rosy now.

Recorded By:

Frank Sinatra & Count Basie
Arthur Fields
Nick Lucas (below--priceless)
Richard Manning Band
Danny Kaye

Are You Lonesome Tonight?

By Lou Handman & Roy Turk
1926

It's a common misconception that Elvis Presley's famous 1960 recording was the introduction of this song, but it was actually a standard decades before the King took a crack at it. Handman and his sister Edith were the first to record the tune in 1927. Blue Barron had the first charted hit with it in 1950, and it's believed that it was Jaye P. Morgan's 1959 rendition, heard by Presley in the army, that inspired him to make the record. His spoken-word portion was taken from Al Jolson's 1950 version. The Presley record spent six weeks at the number-one spot.

Lyrics:

Are you lonesome tonight?
Do you miss me tonight?
Are you sorry we drifted apart?

Does your memory stray
To a bright summer day
When I kissed you and called you sweetheart?

Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare?
Do you gaze at your doorstep, and picture me there?

Is your heart filled with pain?
Shall I come back again?
Tell me, dear,
Are you lonesome tonight?

Recorded By:

The Lettermen
Doris Day
Merle Haggard
Al Martino
Frank Sinatra