I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)

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I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes) , dt. I get along very well without your way around (except sometimes ), is a pop song by Hoagy Carmichael , published in 1938, on a poem by Jane Brown Thompson (1868-1939) builds up.

History of origin

The lyrics are based on the poem Except Sometimes , published in Life magazine in 1922 with the initials JB . Hoagy Carmichael received it (cut from the magazine) in January 1937 while visiting Indiana University from a friend who said he might like it; Carmichael actually liked it and took it off. In 1938 he found the poem again, rewrote it and composed the song; At the time of publication, the problem arose that Carmichael had stated that the text was based on the poem by JB and thus a copyright conflict was to be feared, which was initially resolved by the publisher being given a share of the royalties by Life . Thompson's identity as the author of the poem was not revealed until 1938 as the search for the original author continued; she died the night before the song was first introduced on the radio by Dick Powell on January 20, 1939 .

Against this background, the song is described by many composers as the saddest song that was ever written. It ends with the lines:

Hoagy Carmichael
I get along without you very well
Except, of course, in spring,
But l will never think of spring,
For that would surely break my heart into two .

The song is performed like a lawsuit:

I get along without you very well,
Of course I do,
Except when soft rains fall and drip from leaves,
Then I recall the thrill of being sheltered in your arms,
Of course I do,
But I get along without ...

The refrain I get along without you very well actually implies the statement How I wish I could get along with you .

First recordings and reception history

The Charlie Barnet Orchestra recorded I Get Along Without You Very Well on January 20, 1939; The band vocalist was Judy Ellington. In the same year recordings of the orchestras of Larry Clinton , Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller followed ; the greatest success in the US charts recorded in 1939 the version of Red Norvo and his orchestra (vocals: Terry Allen, # 3). From March 18, 1939, the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra came with the song in the American charts. Numerous other cover versions made it a popular song in the Great American Songbook from the 1940s onwards .

It is also considered the jazz standard ; the discographer Tom Lord lists 161 versions of the song. In 1952 Carmichael sang him with Jane Russell in the film Las Vegas Story . He took u. a. Frank Sinatra ( In the Wee Small Hours , 1955), Chet Baker , Billie Holiday ( Lady in Satin , 1958), Rosemary Clooney , Helen Ward , The Four Freshmen , Sammy Davis Jr. , Stan Kenton , Margaret Whiting , Matt Monro , Carly Simon and Adelaide Hall . In later years the song was u. a. also interpreted by Kurt Elling , Diana Krall , Gary Bartz , Franck Amsallem , Molly Ringwald and Alan Ferber .

Web links

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ a b c Song portrait by Tony Thornton and lyrics in Openwriting Web Magazine
  2. ^ Richard Sudhalter : Star Dust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael. Oxford University Press 2002, pp. 207f., 210ff.
  3. ↑ Ron Marasco, Brian Shuff: About Grief: Insights, Setbacks, Grace Notes, Taboos . P. 72
  4. ↑ Entry at jazzstandards.com
  5. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed December 12, 2013)