It Had to Be You

#55 / Video Extra!

It was a fun and silly night when we started noodling with this great tune that comes from the 1920s when that wild child, Jazz, was just taking his first sassy steps. We love how Veezy always finds brilliant new turns and twists in these old standards. Smiles abound all around. And we were so glad that Pamela had her camera handy to grab this video:

About the Song

“It Had to Be You” was written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn, in 1924, shortly after Jones’ wife bought him a baby grand piano for his 30th birthday and he stayed up all night stirring up new melodies.

Composer Johnny Mercer, no slouch himself in the songwriting thing (“Blues in the Night,” “Satin Doll,” “Autumn Leaves,” “Moon River”) called “It Had to Be You” the “greatest popular song ever written.” It was first recorded 98 years ago this month by Sam Lanin & His Roseland Orchestra. Jones’ own recording, a month later, became a 1924 No. 1 hit. The song charted again 20 years later, recorded by Dick Haymes and Helen Forrest with the Victor Young orchestra.

In the Movies

“It Had to Be You” also has had a notable film presence, appearing on many soundtracks. The song was performed by Ruth Etting in the 1936 short Melody in May, by Priscilla Lane in the 1939 film The Roaring Twenties, by Ginger Rogers and Cornel Wilde in the 1947 film It Had to Be You, in the 1944 film Mr. Skeffington and by Danny Thomas in the 1951 film I’ll See You in My Dreams (based loosely upon the lives of lyricist Gus Kahn and his wife, Grace LeBoy Kahn).

It also was performed by Dooley Wilson in 1942 ‘s Casablanca, by George Murphy in Show Business (1944) and by Betty Hutton in the 1945 film Incendiary Blonde. And for the grandchildren of those first generations of fans, the song perhaps is best known for Diane Keaton’s torch song rendition in the 1977 film Annie Hall and as the theme song of the 1989 motion picture When Harry Met Sally… In the latter, Harry Connick Jr.’s cover of the tune earned him the 1990 Grammy Award for “Best Jazz Male Vocal Performance.”