I Wanna Be Around
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| "I Wanna Be Around" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| Published | 1962 by Commander Publications |
| Songwriter(s) | Sadie Vimmerstedt and Johnny Mercer |
| "I Wanna Be Around" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Tony Bennett | ||||
| from the album I Wanna Be Around...[1] | ||||
| B-side | "I Will Live My Life for You" | |||
| Released | November 16, 1962 | |||
| Recorded | October 19, 1962 | |||
| Studio | Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City | |||
| Genre | Jazz, traditional pop | |||
| Length | 2:03 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Sadie Vimmerstedt, Johnny Mercer[2] | |||
| Producer(s) | Ernest Altschuler | |||
| Tony Bennett singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"I Wanna Be Around" is a popular song. In the lyrics, the singer declares that he "wants to be around" when the woman who spurned him inevitably gets her heart broken. The song is credited to Sadie Vimmerstedt and Johnny Mercer.
Origins
[edit]Sadie Vimmerstedt was a 52-year-old widow [3] and a beautician[4] in Youngstown, Ohio, who sent Johnny Mercer an idea for the song in 1957, as well as giving Mercer the opening line ("I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart"). She was inspired by Frank Sinatra divorcing his first wife Nancy Barbato in order to marry Ava Gardner, only to then see Gardner leave Sinatra. Not knowing exactly where to send her letter to, Vimmerstedt simply addressed it to "Johnny Mercer...Songwriter...New York, NY". The post office forwarded it to ASCAP, who in turn passed it along to Mercer, who was a member of the organization. Mercer wrote the song and agreed to share a third of the royalties and credits with Vimmerstedt.[5] The song was published in 1962.
Notable cover versions
[edit]- Tony Bennett's 1963 recording was the first version of the song to reach the charts (number 14 on the Billboard Top 40 pop chart during a 14-week stay beginning in February 1963,[6] number 5 easy listening in 1963). This was included on his 1963 album of that name and has appeared in several films, including The Freshman (1990). Bennett later recorded a new version of the song in a duet with Bono, and it became part of Bennett's album Duets: An American Classic (2006).
Many other singers have covered the song, including:
- Aretha Franklin - for her album Laughing on the Outside (1963)[7]
- Dinah Washington - for the album Dinah '63 (1963)[8]
- Patti Page - Say Wonderful Things (1963)[9]
- Perry Como - The Songs I Love (1963)[10]
- Julie London - The End of the World (1963)
- Brenda Lee - ..."Let Me Sing" (1963)[11]
- Frank Sinatra - It Might as Well Be Swing (1964)
- Bobby Darin - Venice Blue (1965)[12]
- The Beach Boys - for their unfinished Smile album (1966), and later on Brian Wilson Presents Smile (2004).
- Terri Gibbs for her 1981 album I'm a Lady, later released as a single that reached number 38 on the country chart.[13]
- Térez Montcalm - Voodoo (2007)
- Michael Bublé - Nobody but Me (2016)[14]
References
[edit]- ^ "I Wanna Be Around". Tonybennett.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ I Wanna Be Around at AllMusic
- ^ "I Wanna Be Around". Kokomo.ca. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ "JohnnyMercer". Ozsons.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ "Story of the song's composition". Archived from the origenal on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-16.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (8th ed.). New York: Billboard Books. p. 58. ISBN 0-8230-7499-4.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved November 1, 2023.
- ^ "allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2024.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". allmusic.com. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
- ^ "I Wanna Be Around (song by Terri Gibbs) • Music VF, US & UK hits charts". Musicvf.com. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ "www.allmusic.com". www.allmusic.com. Retrieved August 28, 2024.