Glad to Be Unhappy is a popular torch song written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart for the 1936 musical On Your Toes. It was introduced on stage by Doris Carson and David Morris, and though not an immediate hit, it later gained fame with various revivals and recordings. In 1937, the London production featured Gina Malo and Eddie Pola, and a 1954 Broadway revival had Kay Coulter and Joshua Shelley performing it. The tune found renewed popularity when The Mamas & the Papas released a 1967 single for ABC Stage 67, which reached #26 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was issued on Dunhill, produced by Lou Adler, runs 1:40, and features Hey Girl on the B-side. The song has been recorded by many artists across genres, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Barbra Streisand, Nancy Wilson, and Paul Desmond, whose 1965 album Glad to Be Unhappy takes its title from the tune. Overall, it remains a standard and a poignant lament about unrequited love.
