Someone to Watch Over Me (song)

"Someone to Watch Over Me"
Song
Language English
Published 1926
Genre Jazz
Songwriter(s) Ira Gershwin
Composer(s) George Gershwin

"Someone to Watch Over Me" is a song composed by George Gershwin with lyrics by Ira Gershwin from the musical Oh, Kay! (1926), where it was introduced by Gertrude Lawrence. Gershwin originally approached the song as an uptempo jazz tune, but his brother Ira suggested that it might work much better as a ballad, and George ultimately agreed. It has been performed by many artists since its debut and is a jazz standard as well as a key work in the Great American Songbook. It is also referenced in the Frank McGuinness play Someone Who'll Watch Over Me.

Recorded versions

In chronological order:

Sung in the movies

It was performed by Julie Andrews in the 1968 movie Star! about the life of the actress Gertrude Lawrence. The movie was directed by Robert Wise.

Frank Sinatra performs the song at a bar, while being ignored by the crowd but heard intensively by Doris Day in the 1954 film Young at Heart.

Marge Champion performs the song in the movie Three for the Show in 1955.

An instrumental version was played in Woody Allen's 1979 film Manhattan during the famous Queensboro Bridge scene.

The 1983 movie Deal of the Century opens with a promotional video for a military plane featuring "Someone to Watch Over Me", sung by Nikka Costa.

The 1987 movie Someone To Watch Over Me, directed by Ridley Scott, takes its title from this song. The soundtrack features three versions of "Someone to Watch Over Me", two of which were new renditions by Sting and Roberta Flack. The third version used was the 1961 recording by Gene Ammons. A soundtrack album was never issued and so the Roberta Flack performance (produced by Michael Kamen) remains unreleased. Sting included his version as a b-side for the "Englishman in New York" single, and on the compilation At The Movies, released in 1999.

Another 1987 film, Beyond Therapy, used the tune, sung by Yves Montand, in its opening sequence.[9]

This song was made famous to another generation in the 1995 American movie Mr. Holland's Opus. Jean Louisa Kelly played the part of Rowena, who sang "Someone to Watch Over Me" in this movie; however, a different version of the song sung by Julia Fordham was included on the movie soundtrack.

In 2001, the song was included in the original movie soundtrack of a Filipino movie entitled Pangako Ikaw Lang which stars Regine Velasquez and Aga Muhlach. The song was sung by Velasquez' character and her father, played by veteran actor Robert Arevalo, in a certain movie sequence.

Asher Book also sings it in the 2009 remake of Fame.


Notes

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.