If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)

"If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)" is a popular song, with music by James P. Johnson and lyrics by Henry Creamer. Published in 1926, the song was first recorded by Clarence Williams' Blue Five with vocalist Eva Taylor in 1927.^[1] It was popularized by the 1930 recording by McKinney's Cotton Pickers, who used it as their theme song^[2] and by Louis Armstrong's record for Okeh Records (catalogue No.41448), both of which featured in the charts of 1930.^[3] Armstrong's recording of "If I Could Be with You" is defined by his sparse vocal style and ornamental virtuosic trumpet-playing.^[4]

"If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)"
Sheet music cover, 1926
Song
Published	1926
Composer(s)	James P. Johnson
Lyricist(s)	Henry Creamer

References

1. "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)". JazzStandards.com. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
2. Driggs, Frank; Haddix, Chuck (2006). Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop—A History. Oxford University Press US. p. 89. ISBN 0-19-530712-7.
3. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Joel Whitburn's Pop Memories 1890-1954. Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 33. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
4. Brothers, Thomas (2014). Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 401–2. ISBN 978-0-393-06582-4.

See also

• List of 1920s jazz standards