SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

Created on 02/08/2006
Latest update on 29/04/2019

Artist: George Gershwin
Author: George Gershwin
Label: Columbia
Year: 1926

Piano solo; slow version of what was conceived to become a rhythmic dance piece. Sheet music bestseller. Title suggested by Howard Dietz, lyricist replacing Ira Gershwin, hospitalized for an urgent appendix operation.

Covers:

1926:

Gertrude Lawrence [first vocal version in musical Oh, Kay! as a serenade to a doll]

1944:

Margaret Whiting

1945:

Frank Sinatra [and in film Young At Heart]

1955:

Chet Baker

1955:

Art Tatum

1957:

Sarah Vaughan

1959:

Blossom Dearie

1959:

Ella Fitzgerald

1962:

Etta James

1969:

Mary Hopkin

1972:

Ray Charles

1984:

Linda Ronstadt [with the Nelson Riddle Orch.]

1987:

Lena Horne & Sting [in film of the same name]

1989:

Don McLean

1991:

Jimmy Scott [at Doc Pomus' funeral, landing him a recording contract with Sire; this was Doc's favorite song]

1993:

Charlie Watts

1994:

Chick Corea

1994:

Elton John

1995:

Dusty Springfield [her last recording, alone with piano; her mother's name was Kay]

1998:

Susannah McCorkle

1998:

Sinéad O'Connor [on Red Hot + Rhapsody]

2000:

Rickie Lee Jones

2001:

John Boutté

2002:

Victoria Williams

2003:

Rod Stewart [with Queen Latifah]

2003:

Amy Winehouse [outtake Frank]

2009:

Hot Club Of Cowtown

2010:

Brian Wilson

2011:

Susan Boyle [album title track]

2011:

Twiggy

2016:

Willie Nelson

Following the success of Rhapsody In Blue, Broadway thought they'd lost George Gershwin forever as their main composer of down to earth show tunes. They were wrong. George wasn't foolish: these show tunes were his main income. Besides, he never considered them to be less important than his symphonic work. A Gershwin never makes any difference between so called high & low forms of art: both need quality standards to stand out. And so, right after Rhapsody In Blue, Gershwin wrote a light musical with equal enthusiasm: Oh Kay!, best known for this Someone To Watch Over Me, a melancholic ballad that works best when a woman sings it, be it Gertrude Lawrence, Blossom Deary, Linda Ronstadt, Lena Horne, Dusty Springfield, Ricky Lee Jones or Sinead O'Connor, as it's supposed to be a serenade to a doll.

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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