"Without a Song" is a 1929 song with music by Vincent Youmans and lyrics by Billy Rose and Edward Eliscu, the lyrics added later. It was published for the musical play Great Day, which ran for only 36 performances. The show's two songs that became famous were this one and "Great Day". The Canadian singer Gilbert Burgess Holland introduced it in the show, accompanied by Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra at the Park Theatre in New York.
Early recordings include one by Paul Whiteman's orchestra with Bing Crosby, made on 9 October 1929. SecondHandSongs credits Lois Deppe & Russell Woodling's Jubilee Singers with the original performance, though that recording is undated. Later versions were made by Billy Eckstine (1946), Perry Como (1951), Frank Sinatra, Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, Billy Preston (1971), The Supremes and George Benson. Instrumental versions were recorded by Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Louis Armstrong and Art Tatum. Sinatra later changed a racial slur in the original lyric. The song is a pop standard in the vein of 1920s Broadway and later became part of the jazz and vocal repertoire.
