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Call Me Irresponsible

Song by Jackie Gleason

"Call Me Irresponsible" is a 1962 song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1963.

01Background

According to the Mel Tormé book The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol, Van Heusen originally wrote the song for Garland to sing at a CBS dinner. At that time, Garland had just signed to do The Judy Garland Show on CBS, and the intent of the song was to parody her well-known problems. Garland later sang the song on the seventh episode of the show.

However, in 1988, Sammy Cahn said during an interview with freelance writer Harlan Conti, in San Francisco, that the song was originally written for Fred Astaire to sing in the film Papa's Delicate Condition in which Astaire was to star. Cahn personally auditioned the song for Astaire's approval, which was given. However, Astaire's contractual obligations prevented him from making the film and the role went to Jackie Gleason, who introduced the song. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 36th Academy Awards held in 1964.

Cahn is said to have had a particular satisfaction in the number of five-syllable words in the lyrics of "Call Me Irresponsible".

02Notable renditions

Watch videos about Call Me IrresponsibleExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Call Me Irresponsible, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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