Lover Man (Oh, Where Can You Be?) is a jazz and pop standard written in 1941 by Jimmy Davis, Roger Ramirez, and James Sherman. It is best known for Billie Holiday, whose 1944 recording with a string arrangement was released as a Decca single in 1945, with That Ole Devil Called Love on the B-side. Holiday’s version reached No. 5 on the R&B chart and No. 16 on the pop chart, and the recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1989. The song has been widely covered by artists such as Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, and Barbra Streisand, among many others; Parker’s 1946 Dial take is famous for its emotional intensity despite Parker’s troubled state during the session. The lyrics express loneliness and longing as the singer waits for a lover to return, and the tune is praised for its simple yet rich harmony that heightens the feeling of the words.
