They Say It's Wonderful

"They Say It's Wonderful" is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1946), where it was introduced by Ethel Merman and Ray Middleton.^[1] A film version in 1950 again featured the song when it was performed by Howard Keel and Betty Hutton.

Recordings

• Ethel Merman recorded it for the original Decca Records cast album of Annie Get Your Gun (1946).^[2] In 1979, she recorded a "camp" version for The Ethel Merman Disco Album, but it was not released on the original vinyl record. It was issued as a bonus track on the CD reissue in 2002.^[3]
• Andy Russell – single (1946; Billboard No. 10)^[4]
• Perry Como with Russ Case and His Orchestra – single (1946; Billboard No. 27)^[2]
• Bing Crosby recorded the song on January 22, 1946^[5] - single (1946; Billboard No. 12)
• Frank Sinatra – single (1946; "Billboard" No. 11)
• Betty Hutton & Howard Keel – Annie Get Your Gun film and soundtrack (1950)
• Modern Jazz Quartet – The Modern Jazz Quartet (1957)^[6]
• Dave Brubeck – Plays and Plays and... (1957)^[7]
• Sarah Vaughan – Sarah Vaughan Sings Broadway: Great Songs from Hit Shows (1958)^[8]
• Johnny Mathis – Heavenly (1959)^[9]
• Doris Day – Show Time (1960)^[10]
• John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman - John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)^[11]
• Jimmy Scott – Falling in Love Is Wonderful (1963)^[12]
• Hampton Hawes – Blues for Bud (1968)^[13]
• Suzi Quatro & Eric Flynn – Annie Get Your Gun – 1986 London Cast (1986)^[14]
• Tony Bennett – Bennett/Berlin (1987)^[15]
• Stacey Kent – Love Is...The Tender Trap (1998)^[16]
• Bernadette Peters – Annie Get Your Gun Broadway revival cast recording (1999)
• Eliane Elias – Everything I Love (2000)^[17]
• Michael Poss recorded the song, combined with "I Need to Be in Love", for his album Silver Screen Serenades (2000)
• Judy Garland & Howard Keel recorded the song when Garland was originally slated to star in the film. It was released on the Annie Get Your Gun film soundtrack reissue CD (2000).
• Todd Murray – When I Sing Low (2002)^[18]
• Sathima Bea Benjamin – Musical Echoes (2002)
• Beegie Adair – The Great American Songbook Collection (2002)^[19]
• Kirsten Dunst – Spider-Man 3 (2007)
• Susan Lucci – ABC Presents: Love Affair (2008)
• Seth MacFarlane – Once in a While (2019)^[20]

Popular culture

• More recently it was performed in an episode of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel by Darius de Haas.^[21]