"I Want to Be Happy" is a song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Irving Caesar written for the 1925 musical No, No, Nanette.

Musical

The song is used several times throughout the musical as a running theme representing the attempts of various people to please others.

It is first sung by the character Jimmy to his ward Nanette.

Film appearances

• 1930 No, No, Nanette
• 1940 No, No, Nanette - sung by Anna Neagle and Richard Carlson
• 1950 Tea for Two - sung by Doris Day, and also sung by Doris Day and Gordon MacRae
• 1988 Torch Song Trilogy - performed by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra
• 1995 Stuart Saves His Family - performed by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra starring Warren Covington
• 1999 Entrapment - performed by Ted Heath and His Orchestra
• 2015 Joy - performed by Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb and His Orchestra

Recordings

“I Want to Be Happy” charted several times over thirteen years:[1]

• Carl Fenton and His Orchestra (1924, Billy Jones, Ernest Hare, Wilfred Glenn, Elliot Shaw, vocal, peaking at #5 over three weeks)
• Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra (1925, seven weeks, two of them at #2)
• Jan Garber and His Orchestra (1925, 5 weeks, peaking at #5)
• Shannon Four composed of Charles Hart, Lewis James, Elliot Shaw, Wilfred Glenn (1925, one week, peaking at #13). In 1926 this group became the Revelers.
• Red Nichols (cornet) and Adrian Rollini (baritone sax) (1930, one week, peaking at #19)
• Benny Goodman and His Orchestra (1937, one week, peaking at #17).

Other recordings include:

• Ella Fitzgerald - recorded December 17, 1937 with Chick Webb and His Orchestra for Decca Records, catalog No. 15039A.[2]
• Glenn Miller and His Orchestra recorded the song in 1939 and released it as the b--side to their hit single "In the Mood".[3]
• Lester Young, Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich recorded the song in 1946, which was released in 1953 on the Clef Records 10-inch LP The Lester Young Trio No.2
• Doris Day on the album Tea for Two (1950)
• Bing Crosby recorded the song in 1954[4] for use on his radio show and it was subsequently included in the box set The Bing Crosby CBS Radio Recordings (1954-56) issued by Mosaic Records (catalog MD7-245) in 2009.[5]
• Tony Bennett - included in his album Love Story (1971).
• Sammy Davis, Jr. included a version of the song on his 1972 album Sammy Davis Jr. Now.
• The Alan Baylock Jazz Orchestra released a recording of the song on their 2014 studio album Prime Time with Doc Severinsen.

Other Versions

• Florence Henderson and Robert Reed performed the song during a medley on a 1977 episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.
• The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
• A version of the song was sometimes used as the closing theme for The Goon Show

See also

• List of 1920s jazz standards

References

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