"I'll Be Around" is a popular song written by Alec Wilder and published in 1942. It was first recorded by Cab Calloway and his Orchestra in 1942[1] and the first hit version was by The Mills Brothers in 1943 when it reached No. 17 in the Billboard pop charts. [2] The song has become a well-known standard, recorded by many artists.
Background
Wilder said, in an interview with music critic Jay Nordlinger,[3] that the song came to him in a taxi cab in Baltimore. Just the title. "I spotted [the title] as I was crumpling up the envelope some days later. Since I was near a piano, I wrote a tune, using the title as the first phrase of the melody. I remember it only took about 20 minutes. The lyric took much longer to write."
Recorded versions
- Mildred Bailey (1942)
- Tony Bennett
- Brook Benton (1960)
- Eve Boswell (1951)
- Ruby Braff
- Les Brown and his Band of Renown (1959)
- Cab Calloway and his orchestra (1942)
- Diahann Carroll
- Don Cherry (1956)
- Rosemary Clooney (1951)
- Randy Crawford (1995)
- Vic Damone (1959)
- Bobby Darin (1960)
- Doris Day (1950)
- Eileen Farrell
- Tiziana Ghiglioni
- Eydie Gorme (1966)
- Al Hibbler (1958)
- Billie Holiday Lady in Satin (1958)
- Lena Horne (1944)
- Engelbert Humperdinck (1985)
- Frank Ifield - included in his album Blue Skies (1964)
- Harry James and Helen Ward
- Salena Jones (2002)
- Chaka Khan with Miles Davis, CK (album) (1988) - Arranged by Dave Grusin.
- Rebecca Kilgore (1994)
- Cleo Laine and Dudley Moore (1982)
- Peggy Lee (1962)
- Gloria Lynne (1965)
- Seth MacFarlane - (2019) Once in a While
- Marian McPartland (1955) - Live at Maybeck Recital Hall (1991), Marian Mcpartland Plays the Music of Alec Wilder (1992)
- Helen Merrill - Merrill at Midnight (1957)
- Glenn Miller and the Army Air Force Band (1944)
- Mitch Miller, Percy Faith Orchestra, and Chorus (1956)
- The Mills Brothers (1943)
- Jane Monheit (2010)
- Red Norvo and his orchestra (1943)
- Jackie Paris
- Tony Pastor and his orchestra
- Arthur Prysock
- Linda Purl (1998)
- Johnnie Ray
- George Shearing - The Definitive George Shearing (2002)
- Don Shirley
- Dinah Shore
- Frank Sinatra - (1943) for Columbia Records, In the Wee Small Hours (1955)
- Carly Simon (1981)
- Carol Sloane (1996)
- Johnny Smith - Moonlight In Vermont (1952)
- Hank Thompson (1961)
- The Three Sounds (1962)
- Mel Tormé
- Sarah Vaughan (1963)
- Marlene VerPlanck (1986)
- Dinah Washington (1962)
- Jackie Wilson (1962)
- Bobby Caldwell - Come Rain or Come Shine (1999)