IT HAD TO BE YOU-ISHAM JONES & GUS KAHN

It Had To Be You-Isham Jones & Gus Kahn:  When the great songwriter Johnny Mercer was asked to select his favourite pop song , he said " It Had To Be You". High praise from the most purely American songwriter. Mercer's collaborations with Harold Arlen and Hoagy Carmichael united 3 of the most jazz influenced songwriters whose songs that only could have sprung from American soil without a trace of the European style of early Jerome Kern, Victor Herbert and Sigmund Romberg.
The song was written in 1924, music by bandleader and composer Isham Jones with words by Gus Kahn. It also happens to be the favourite song of Tom, a Michigan acqaintance who is also a devotee of the Great American Songbook.
Listening to the song, it has such a natural step-by-step progression that is so inevitable that it keeps on building until it end with a gentle and satisfying resolution.
In the delightful version by Tony Bennett, a rarely heard verse sets the mood for the main theme which is very well known.
Isham Jones also wrote Swinging Down The Lane ( Sinatra version is very dynamic) See You In My Dreams, There Is No Greater Love and and The One I Love Belongs To Somebody Else.

In Bennett's live performance, he even refers to Mercer's selection of this song as his own favourite.

LINK http://youtu.be/vSgsMFpb0kc