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"Something to Live For" is a 1939jazz composition byBilly Strayhorn. It was the first collaboration between Strayhorn andDuke Ellington and became the first of many Strayhorn compositions to be recorded by Ellington's orchestra.[1] The song was based on a poem Strayhorn had written as a teenager.[2] According to an all-day tribute to Strayhorn onKCSM radio on 29 November 2008—Strayhorn's birthday—Strayhorn began working on this tune in 1933 when he was 18.
The song has been recorded many times, by Ellington,Lena Horne,Ella Fitzgerald,Nina Simone,Carmen McRae,Tony Bennett,Johnny Mathis,Mel Torme and many others. Fitzgerald has called it her favorite song.[3]
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