If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)

By James P. Johnson & Henry Creamer
1926

Some songs are just very much of their era, and this is one of them. A festive melody with a melancholy lyrics, this infectious number was introduced by Clarence Williams' Blue Five, with vocalist Eva Taylor. But the 1930 recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers really popularized it, with the group using it as their theme song. It resurfaced in a big way when Frank Sinatra performed it in his 1957 film The Joker Is Wild.

Lyrics:

If I could be with you, I'd love you strong.
If I could be with you, I'd love you long.
I want you to know that I wouldn't go,
Until I told you honey why I love you so.

If I could be with you, one hour tonight,
If I was free to do the things I might,
I'm telling you true, I'd be anything but blue.
If I could be with you.

Recorded By:

Kay Starr
Louis Armstrong
Tony Bennett
Bing Crosby
Doris Day