I'm Glad There Is You

"I'm Glad There Is You (In This World of Ordinary People)" is a song written by Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira (sometimes credited as Paul Mertz) first published in 1941. It has become a jazz and pop standard.

The song was originally released by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra in 1942 as Decca 4197B, Matrix # 70088A, backed with "Tomorrow's Sunrise" featuring Bob Eberly on vocals. The song was recorded on December 22, 1941, in New York City. The recording was reviewed in Billboard: "With the customary Dorsey eclat, Jimmy enters two new ballads in this couplet....Maestro Jimmy had a hand in writing the plattermate. It's a love song, with the story steeped in philosophical thoughts rather than June-moon wordage. Eberly sings it from edge, saxophones and Jimmy's clarinet carving a half chorus for themselves before Bob is brought back to finish it out." The song was also released as a Decca 78, 18799A, Matrix # 73348, in 1946, recorded on February 6, 1946 by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra with Dee Parker on vocals. The B side was "Ain't Misbehavin".

The 1941 original Decca recording by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Bob Eberly on vocals appears on the 2011 various artists compilation album 100 Swing Jazz Classics by Masters Classics Records. The 1946 Decca re-recording by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra featuring Dee Parker on vocals appears on the 2011 collection Jazz Compilation, Vol. 1 by Digital Natives.

Jimmy Dorsey and Paul Madeira Mertz collaborated on the lyrics and the music. Paul Madeira, who is also known as Paul Madeira Mertz, was a jazz pianist and arranger who had first worked with Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey in 1922 in their first orchestra The Wild Canaries. Mertz had been a pianist in the Bix Beiderbecke band The Rhythm Jugglers in the 1920s and had worked in Hollywood on film music from the 1930s to the 1960s. He had played on the 1925 jazz classic "Davenport Blues" in 1925 released on Gennett Records. Mertz also played piano on the 1927 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee "Singin' the Blues" by Frankie Trumbauer and his Orchestra featuring Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Lang, and Jimmy Dorsey.

The song has since been recorded by numerous artists. "I'm Glad There is You" has been covered by Frank Sinatra, Carmen McRae, Ella Fitzgerald, Lena Horne, Ginny Simms, Adam Jackson, Mel Tormé, Tony Bennett, Grover Washington, Jr., Paul Anka, Polly Bergen, Gene Ammons, Alvino Rey, Chris Connor, Jamie Cullum, Anita Kerr Singers, Arthur Prysock, Lillie Kae, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, Mildred Bailey, Ray Anthony, Shirley Bassey, Jack Jones, Smokey Robinson, Johnny Mathis, Robert Goulet, Meredith MacRae, Joe Pass, the New Glenn Miller Orchestra under Ray McKinley, Connie Francis, Natalie Cole, Julie London, Jackie Gleason, Cannonball Adderley, Rosemary Clooney, The Temptations, Toni Tennille, The Lettermen, Dick Hyman, Chris Montez, Boots Randolph, Nancy LaMott, June Christy, Duke Pearson Trio, Wesla Whitfield, Helen Carr, Sheila Guyse, Don Cherry, Jane Monheit, Randy Crawford, Matt Monro, The Four Freshmen, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dorothy Dandridge, Hazel Scott, Art Garfunkel, Stan Kenton, Oscar Peterson, Barney Kessel, Kenny Burrell, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Stan Getz, Peggy Lee, Gloria Lynne, Vic Damone, Freddy Cole, Jean Laughlin, Tommy Joy, Jamie Cullum, Charlie Watts, Beyoncé Knowles, Rachael MacFarlane, and Eugene Chadbourne with Paul Lovens.

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