This Is All I Ask is a classic American pop standard written by Gordon Jenkins in 1958. The original recording was Nat King Cole with an orchestra conducted by Jenkins, made in May 1958 and released on Cole’s The Very Thought of You album later that year. Jenkins considered the tune his finest composition, and it has been recorded by many great artists, including Tony Bennett in 1960 on Alone Together and again as a 1963 single, and Frank Sinatra on the 1965 album September of My Years which won the Grammy for Album of the Year. The lyric reportedly grew from a graffiti line about beautiful girls and centers on aging, nostalgia, and the simple pleasures of life, with the title coming from the verse line This Is All I Ask. The song is typically classified as traditional pop or a ballad and has become a long standing standard with numerous covers across decades.
