Song Lyric Sunday: Billie Holiday, “Embraceable You”

Song Lyric Sunday, Song of the Day 1 Minute
Source: Melanie

Jim’s prompt for today is "embrace, hug, kiss." I’ve done blues a lot lately, so let’s go to the Great American Songbook and pull a song out by George and Ira Gershwin, "Embraceable You." They had written it for an unpublished operetta called East Is West (so saith the blogger’s best friend) in 1928. They published it in 1930 and included it in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy, where it was first sung by Ginger Rogers.

Billie Holiday’s 1944 cover of the song has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, but I’m going to use this 1957 cover. My original inclination was to use the cover by Ella Fitzgerald, who did it for her 1959 album Ella Fitzgerald Sings The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook. No one does the standards like Ella, or for that matter Frank Sinatra. I found covers by Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole, Doris Day, and Johnny Mathis. Judy Garland sang it in the 1943 film adaptation of the musical. And those are just the start…

Lady Day is backed by Ben Webster, Tenor Sax; Barney Kessel, Guitar; Harry "Sweets" Edison, Trumpet; Jimmy Rowles, Piano; Red Mitchell, Bass; and Larry Bunker, Drums.

Embrace me
My sweet embraceable you
Embrace me
My irreplaceable you
Just to look at you
My heart grows tipsy in me
You and you alone
Bring out the gypsy in me

I love all
The many charms about you
Above all
I want my arms about you
Don’t be naughty baby
Come to me
Come to me do
My sweet embraceable you

I love all
The many charms about you
Above all
I want my arms about you
Don’t be naughty baby
Come to me
Come to me do
My sweet embraceable you

Source: Genius

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for October 30, 2022.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

18 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Billie Holiday, “Embraceable You””

  1. Pingback: The Post-Halloween Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing
  2. Pingback: BATTLE OF THE BANDS: “Embraceable You” – The Sound of One Hand Typing

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