Walking Happy

The title song from Cahn and Van Heusen’s 1966 Broadway musical based on Hobson’s Choice, starring Norman Wisdom. The show earned Tony nominations for Best Musical and Best Actor, and this irresistibly buoyant number captures the particular joy of a man surprised to find himself in love.

Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme’s recording gave the song a life beyond the theater — their easy, swinging chemistry perfectly suited to Cahn’s celebration of uncomplicated happiness. Carmen McRae’s 1967 reading on Portrait of Carmen brings her cool, unhurried jazz sensibility to what is essentially an exuberant music-hall number.