"Someone to Watch over Me" was written by George and Ira Gershwin in 1926 for the now forgotten musical Oh, Kay! starring Gertrude Lawrence. It has been covered over 1800 times -- almost always as a slow ballad, although George Gershwin's original music was more up-tempo (which you can hear at the bottom of this post).
With the seldom heard prologue, as the Gershwin brothers originally wrote it:
Sinatra recorded "Someone to Watch over Me" for his first album in 1946, and again for the 1954 film Young at Heart. The volume is a little low in this clip, but it is worth turning up.
Audio only
Audio only
Music begins at 1:35
Gershwin's original scherzando melody (audio)
Note that the record label calls Gertrude Lawrence a "Comedienne" (French for actress).
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