This is All I Ask . . .

The Very Thought of You (1958) - Nat King Cole
September of My Years (1965) - Frank Sinatra
A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night (1973) - Harry Nilsson

Three singers, three different decades. What do these albums have in common? More than you might guess. Aside from being three albums you might want to have with you on a desert island, the music on all three of these albums was arranged and conducted by Gordon Jenkins.

As music director for Decca records Jenkins signed the folk group The Weavers who went on to have one of the biggest hits of the 20th Century with Goodnight Irene. In addition to working with The Weavers and Cole, Sinatra and Nilsson on these three albums, he also provided orchestration and arrangements for the Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald.

The other thing these albums have in common is that they all include a song written by Gordon Jenkins himself entitled This is All I Ask. Written for Nat King Cole, Jenkins must have considered this one of, if not the best song, he'd ever written to persuade Sinatra and Nilsson to also record it. It was also recorded by Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Robert Goulet and Burl Ives.

The song has long been a favorite of Sinatra and Cole fans. Here's a sampling of the lyrics for those not already familiar with the song:

Beautiful girls, walk a little slower when you walk by me
Lingering sunsets, stay a little longer with the lonely sea
Children everywhere, when you shoot at bad men, shoot at me
Take me to that strange, enchanted land grown-ups seldom understand