"I Wanna Be Around" is a popular song. In the lyrics, the singer declares that he "wants to be around" when the woman who spurned him inevitably gets her heart broken.
The song is credited to Sadie Vimmerstedt and Johnny Mercer. Vimmerstedt was a housewife [1] (or a beautician)[2] in Youngstown, Ohio, who sent Mercer an idea for the song, as well as giving Mercer the title. Mercer wrote the song and agreed to share royalties and credits with Vimmerstedt. [3] The song was published in 1959.
Aretha Franklin recorded the song for her album Laughing on the Outside (1962).
Tony Bennett's 1963 recording remains the best known version of the song, (#14 pop, #5 easy listening); however, it has been recorded by many other artists, including Patti Page, James Brown, Buddy Greco, Dinah Washington (for her final album Dinah '63), Frank Sinatra (for his 1964 album with Count Basie & Quincy Jones, It Might As Well Be Swing), and John Cale (for the 2002 album Jools Holland's Big Band Rhythm & Blues)[4]
The song was to be included as a part of The Beach Boys project Smile, but the project was scrapped, only to later be finished in 2004 by Brian Wilson.
The song was also sung by Sally (Rose Marie) on an episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show, "The Sam Pomerantz Scandals".