This song was sung by Aida Ward and Willard McLean in the Broadway musical comedy, Blackbirds of 1928. The show featured a cast consisting of some of the best African-American entertainers, including Florence Mills, Ethel Waters, and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Blackbirds ran for 518 performances, and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love” was the hit from the show.

The tune’s popularity can easily be determined from the chart information, especially from 1928. But the chart also establishes the tune’s continued popularity:

• Cliff Edwards (1928, vocal, #1)
• Ben Selvin and His Orchestra (1928, #2)
• Johnny Hamp’s Kentucky Serenaders (1928, Hal White, vocal, #4)
• Segar Ellis (1928, vocal, #19)
• Gene Austin (1929, vocal, #12)
• Nat Shilkret Rhyth-Melodists (1929, #12)
• Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra (1936, Billie Holiday, vocal, #5)
• Rose Murphy (1948, vocal, #13)

Mystery now surrounds the composition credits given to “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” The melody, reputedly written by Jimmy McHugh, made its first appearance as “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Lindy,” a dedication to transatlantic flyer Charles Lindberg which was slated for the show Harry Delmar’s Revels. The tune was pulled from the production and reappeared, with new lyrics credited to Dorothy Fields, in Blackbirds. But a number of sources, most notably Barry Singer’s book, Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf, bring the tune’s authorship into question.

Razaf biographer Singer recounts a 1929 New York Post profile of pianist and composer Thomas “Fats” Waller in which Waller mentions that one of his compositions was purchased by a white songwriter who subsequently placed it in a show. As part of a “musical comedy” it became the major hit, netting royalties of $17,500 for its “composer” who had purchased the tune from Fats for $500. A number of Fats’ colleagues admitted that Fats did make a practice of selling compositions to white songwriters, often for as little as $10.

Indirectly supporting the rumors is a document on the Rutgers-Newark Online website regarding their Dana Library Institute of Jazz Studies collection of Waller memorabilia, including a tune called “Spreadin’ the Rhythm Around”:

[The collection] includes several drafts of music in Waller’s hand. These are basically early attempts (first versions or rough sketches) of songs Waller was writing, made in pencil on music manuscript paper ...the collection includes some instrumental parts in Waller’s handwriting (for “Walkin’ The Floor” and “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around”).

Though the 1935 copyright of “Spreadin’ Rhythm Around” attributes the music to Jimmy McHugh, the fact that these parts are in Waller’s handwriting argues strongly that he, not McHugh, was the original composer of the song (see Machlin, “Fats Waller Composes,” Annual Review of Jazz Studies 7, 1994-95, pp. 1-24).

Biographer Singer adds more grist to the mill by recounting another story directly involving Razaf. Gladys Redman, widow of saxophonist/arranger/bandleader Don Redman, visited Razaf in the hospital in the early 1970s. Mrs. Redman asked Razaf to sing the favorite of all his lyrics, and to her amazement he complied with a whispered chorus of “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.”

Despite the controversy over the tune, no one has come forth over the years to question the authorship of the other Fields/McHugh tunes from the show, which are excellent and occasionally resurface in jazz versions: “Digga Digga Doo,” “I Must Have That Man,” and “Doin’ the New Lowdown.”