"Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe" is a song with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg. It was written for the 1943 MGM musical film Cabin in the Sky, directed by Vincente Minnelli, an all-Black cast adaptation of the 1940 Broadway musical. In the film, the MGM Studio Orchestra accompanied Ethel Waters, who reprised her Broadway role as Petunia and sang the number. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1943, losing to "You'll Never Know". It is an English-language song in the jazz and swing repertoire and is regarded as a pop and theatre standard.
Later recordings include versions by Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Judy Garland, Nancy Wilson, Carol Burnett and Bette Midler, as well as a 1944-45 version by Woody Herman's orchestra with Frances Wayne. In October 2020, Cher released a version rewritten as a campaign song for Joe Biden.
