I Hear a Rhapsody is a 1940 composition written by George Fragos, Jack Baker, and Dick Gasparre that began as a pop tune and later became a jazz standard. The first recording was by Mary Healy in October 1940, and it was released as a single in April 1941, with early big band treatments by Charlie Barnet and Jimmy Dorsey helping it reach the Top 10 in 1941; Dinah Shore also had a hit with the song that year. The track topped Your Hit Parade in 1941. The piece is versatile in performance, often delivered as a romantic ballad, a medium swing, or an up-tempo number, and it has inspired countless instrumental and vocal readings. The song later appeared in the 1952 Fritz Lang film Clash by Night sung by Tony Martin, and famous jazz interpretations by John Coltrane and Bill Evans among many others helped cement its status as a standard.
