Why Do I Love You? is a song from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Show Boat. It features music by Jerome Kern and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and it expresses Magnolia Hawks and Gaylord Ravenal's enduring love despite Ravenal's gambling troubles. The piece was first performed on stage in 1927 by Norma Terris, Howard Marsh, Charles Winninger and Edna May Oliver, and Nat Shilkret and The Victor Orchestra made the first recording in December 1927, with a 1928 release on a Show Boat medley by Paul Whiteman and His Concert Orchestra. In the 1951 MGM film Show Boat, Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel perform the song on the Show Boat soundtrack. The tune is a classic show tune / musical theatre ballad and has been recorded and performed in many versions since its Broadway debut.
