I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes) is a popular song composed by Hoagy Carmichael in 1939, with words by Jane Brown Thompson (1868-1939), based on her poem "Except Sometimes". The poem had appeared anonymously in Life magazine in 1924. Carmichael received it anonymously at an event at Indiana University, signed only "J.B.", and printed Thompson's name on the sheet music as the poem's author. Thompson died the night before Dick Powell introduced the song on radio. Early recordings from January and February 1939 include versions by Larry Clinton with a Bea Wain vocal, Charlie Barnet and Dick Todd, and the best seller was Red Norvo with a vocal by Terry Allen. Later versions include those by Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra, The Four Freshmen, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Linda Ronstadt. Carmichael and Jane Russell performed it in the 1952 film noir The Las Vegas Story. It became a jazz standard, and its main melodic theme is said to be based on Chopin's Fantaisie-Impromptu.
