Song Lyric Sunday — Orchestral Accompaniment

Fandango

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams has asked us to find a song that is performed with orchestras and/or choirs, suggested yet again by Nancy aka The Sicilian Storyteller.  My first inclination was to go with the Moody Blues’ “Nights in White Satin,” that was performed with the London Festival Orchestra, but I figured a lot of others might go with that song. Then I thought about Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall,” in which the children’s Chorus at Islington Green School sang part of the song’s lyrics. But again, I thought this would be a popular choice.

So, I decided to go way back to 1963 when Ben E. King released the song, “I Who Have Nothing.”

“I Who Have Nothing” is an English language cover of the Italian song “Uno dei Tanti” (English: “One of Many”), with music by Carlo Donida and lyrics by Giulio “Mogol” Rapetti. The initial version was performed by Joe Sentieri in 1961. The song was first recorded in English by Ben E. King in 1963 with new lyrics by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. This song about unrequited love.

The title is a translation of a line in the Italian lyrics “Io, che non ho niente,” but otherwise the English lyrics were written afresh by Leiber and Stoller. The record used the same arrangement from Joe Sentieri’s record (orchestra conducted by Luis Enriquez Bacalov).
In the U.S., the Ben E. King version reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts and number 16 on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

In addition to Ben E. King’s original English language recording, Shirley Bassey recorded the song with producer George Martin shortly after the Ben E. King was rising in the chart in the U.S., and released the song in the UK in September 1963. Her version reached number 6 on UK charts.

Tom Jones recorded a cover which was released in 1970. The song was the title track of his album I Who Have Nothing, and became the most popular version of the song in the U.S., peaking at number 14 in 1970 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Easy Listening chart.

Interestingly, some critics believe that part of the song’s melody was later copied for the Moody Blues’ 1967 hit “Nights In White Satin.”

Here are the lyrics to “I Who Have Nothing.”

I, I who have nothing
I, I who have no one
Adore you and want you so
I'm just a no one with nothing to give you but, oh
I love you
He, he buys you diamonds
Bright, sparkling diamonds
But, believe me, dear, when I say
That he can give you the world but he'll never love the way
I love you
He can take you any place he wants
To fancy clubs and restaurants
But I can only watch you with
My nose pressed up against the window pane
I, I who have nothing
I, I who have no one
Must watch you go dancing by
Wrapped in the arms of somebody else when, darling, it's I
Who loves you
I love you
I love you
I love you

And for those of you who are Tom Jones fans, here is his 1970 cover.

13 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday — Orchestral Accompaniment”

  2. Ruth April 28, 2024 / 4:14 am

    You can’t go wrong with a bit of Tom Jones! 🙂

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  3. The Sicilian Storyteller April 28, 2024 / 6:05 am

    There are definite similarities, no doubt. It also sound like the theme from “Exodus” and almost anything written for Sergio Leone movies. There are basic chords in epic pieces such as this that have that same sound to them …. and what a sound it is!

    No one sang this song like Tom Jones.

    Thanks for a great post, Fan.

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  4. newepicauthor April 28, 2024 / 9:07 am

    You reached into the way back machine for this classic, Fandango and I am glad you did.

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  6. leigha66 April 28, 2024 / 2:20 pm

    Mom loved Tom so I grew up with that version, but the other is good too. Interesting that it has ties to Nights in White Satin.

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  7. Michael B. Fishman April 30, 2024 / 11:37 am

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard the Ben E. King version before but I’ve always liked the Tom Jones version. Actually, I like anything by Tom Jones.

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  8. Marleen May 6, 2024 / 8:08 pm

    Interestingly, some critics believe that part of the song’s melody was later copied for the Moody Blues’ 1967 hit “Nights In White Satin.”

    Absolutely!

    I was just now listening to the Ben E. King version, and I hadn’t read that part of your post and I haven’t heard this version before, and THAT’S WHAT I WAS THINKING — so much so that I was going to comment about that. Also interestingly, maybe, the Moody Blues led to me considering for a little while (when I was like nine) whether I could be a composer.

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