I Love You is a Cole Porter song written in 1944 for the Broadway musical Mexican Hayride - Porter reportedly accepted a bet to write a hit with the banal title I Love You and a memorable melody, and the song quickly became a hit despite its simple lyrics. It was first performed by Wilbur Evans in January 1944, with the first recording by Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra in early 1944 (released that April), and Bing Crosby recording it on February 11, 1944 whose version topped the charts for five weeks. The tune, a show tune at its heart, has since become a jazz standard heavily covered in both pop and jazz contexts by artists such as Perry Como, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Anita ODay, John Coltrane and many others. It has appeared on albums like Bing Crosby Sings Cole Porter Songs (1949) and Oscar Peterson Plays Cole Porter (1953). The Mexican Hayride show itself ran 481 performances - a notable debut that helped cement the song’s lasting popularity. Note that an earlier, unrelated 1923 song also called I Love You exists.
