masterwordsmith-unplugged

One of George Gershwin's compositions which I truly love is SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME. George Gershwin wrote the music while the lyrics were written by Ira Gershwin from the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), where it was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence. It has been performed by numerous artists since its debut and is a jazz standard as well as a key work in the Great American Songbook.

It has been recorded by so many artistes!!! According to Wikipedia:


Gertrude Lawrence - rec. October 29, 1926 - released as Victor 20331, matrix 36654-3
George Gershwin - rec. November 12, 1926 - released as Columbia 812-D, matrix W 142925-3
Gertrude Lawrence - rec. October 25, 1927 - released as Columbia 4618, matrix WA 6326
Lee Wiley - rec. November 15, 1939 - with Fats Waller on pipe organ, from Lee Wiley Sings The Songs Of George And Ira Gershwin
Margaret Whiting - A Time To Remember-1944 (1944)
Lee Wiley - rec. December 14, 1944 - released as Decca 23422, matrix 72630
Frank Sinatra - The Voice of Frank Sinatra (1946); Young at Heart (1954); Live at the Meadowlands (1986/2009)
Ella Fitzgerald - Ella Sings Gershwin (1950); Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (1959); Nice Work If You Can Get It (1983)
Art Tatum - 20th century Piano Genius (recorded 1955)[1]
Chet Baker - Chet Baker Sings (1956)
Joni James - In the Still of the Night (1956)
Ray Conniff - Marvelous (1957)
Gene Ammons - Nice An' Cool (1961)[2]
Blossom Dearie - My Gentleman Friend (1961)
Rosemary Clooney - Love (1963)
Barbra Streisand - My Name Is Barbra (1965)
Johnny Hodges - with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra (1966)
Oscar Peterson - My Favorite Instrument(1968)
Willie Nelson - Stardust (1978)
Nikka Costa - (1981)
Melissa Manchester - Hey Ricky (1982)
Roberta Flack - Someone to Watch Over Me (1987);[3] played over the end credits and remains unreleased
Linda Ronstadt - What's New (1983)
Sting - At the Movies (1987); recorded in 1987 for the soundtrack of Someone to Watch Over Me[3]
Maria del Mar Bonet - Ben a prop" "En algun lloc del meu cor" (1989)
Sheena Easton - No Strings (1993)
Dennis DeYoung - 10 on Broadway (1994)
Dusty Springfield recorded a truncated version for a PPP Healthcare commercial. It was the final recording of her career. (1995)[4]
Stéphane Grappelli - Crazy Rhythm (1996)
Keith Jarrett - The Melody at Night, With You (1998)
Sinéad O'Connor- Red Hot + Rhapsody (1998)
Rod Stewart - As Time Goes By: The Great American Songbook 2(2003)
Chris Botti - When I Fall In Love (2004)[5][6]
Chelsea Krombach - Profile (2004)
Brad Mehldau - "Live in Tokyo" (2004)
Renee Olstead - Renee Olstead (2004)
Sue Raney - Sue Raney Volume II (2004)
Lea Salonga - Lea Salonga The Broadway Concert (2004)
The Conglomerate - Go to the Beach (2005)
Lena Horne - A New Album (2007)
Gladys Knight - We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song (2007)
Gary Tole - Gary Tole and Legends of Swing, One Kettle for Count (2007)
Amy Winehouse - Frank (Deluxe Edition) (2008)
Asher Book and Kay Panabaker - Fame (2009)
Coeur de Pirate & Ben Charest - Nos Stars célèbrent le jazz a Montréal" (2009)
Kim Burrell - No Ways Tired (2009)
The Hot Club of Cowtown - Wishful Thinking (2009)
Brian Wilson - Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010)
Alfie Boe - Alfie (2010)
Sarah Caroline Billings - "IU Theater Circle Gala" (2011)
Susan Boyle - Someone to Watch Over Me (2011)
Ayaka Hirahara - "Wakare no Kyoku"/"Someone to Watch Over Me" (2011)

My personal preference:

Ladies' Version

#1 Ella Fitzgerald's version
#2 Renee Olstead's version I think she was 15 when she recorded this song.
#3 Jean Louisa Kelly's version in Mr Holland's Opus
#4 Barbara Streisand's version
#4 Sheena Easton's sultry version
#5 Amy Winehouse's version

Men's version:

#1 Frank Sinatra's version
#2 Rod Stewart's version *I have the whole collection of his Great American Song Book!! :-)
#3 Sting's version
#4 Willie Nelson's version

You can read more about this song AT THIS LINK.

I just love this song cos of the lyrics, music and so much more...





I took such a long time to write this post because I listened to more than ten versions of this song. Please share your views. Which one do you prefer? Do check out the different versions in this post. Take care and may you find that someone who loves you, for always! Yes, I know - I am a hopeless die-hard romantic!

*This post was written as the result of a thread of discussion in my Facebook wall post of Renee Olstead's version of this song.