Somebody To Watch Over Me was written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1926. Described by Gershwin biographer Deena Rosenberg as “the second in a series of great Gershwin ballads about looking for an elusive companion,” the standard “Someone To Watch Over Me” is “about a particular someone, an actual love that may be lost.”
Written for the 1926 musical Oh, Kay!, it was introduced by Noël Coward’s friend and contemporary Gertrude Lawrence, who sang it to a doll, of which George Gershwin said: “This doll was a strange looking object I found in a Philadelphia toy store and gave to Miss Lawrence with the suggestion that she use it in the number. That doll stayed in the show for the entire run.”
Lawrence released the song as a medium-tempo single which rose to number 2 on the charts in 1927. In the 1930’s and 40’s singers began singing it as a ballad, which became the standard way it was performed.
Here is the great Ella Fitzgerald
Early Frank Sinatra
The Lovely Sarah Vaughn
Barbra Streisand
Ray Charles
Willie Nelson
Amy Winehouse
Keely Smith
And Linda Ronstadt
Lovely!
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