"I Cover the Waterfront" is a 1933 popular song and jazz standard composed by Johnny Green with lyrics by Edward Heyman.^[1] The song was inspired by Max Miller's 1932 best-selling novel, I Cover the Waterfront.^[2]

• Lucky Thompson - The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol. 1 (1956)

The song became popular, and many artists have recorded it since 1933.^[3] Notable artists include:

• Billie Holiday^[4]
• Frank Sinatra^[5]
• Sarah Vaughan^[1]
• Annette Hanshaw^[2]
• Abe Lyman's California Ambassador Hotel Orchestra^[2]
• Connee Boswell^[2]
• Harry James^[6]
• The Lester Young Trio with Nat King Cole^[7]
• Ray Conniff recorded the song in 1958, and was included on his "Awful Nice" LP.^[8]
• Buddy Rich^[9]
• Louis Armstrong^[2]
• Years later, Ella Fitzgerald recorded this song in her 1979 live album Digital III at Montreux on Pablo Records.^[10]
• Annie Lennox gave her interpretation of the song on her 2014 studio album Nostalgia.^[11]
• John Lee Hooker recorded several versions of the song. One appears on the 1991 compilation The Ultimate Collection^[12] and another with Van Morrison on Hooker's 1991 album Mr. Lucky.^[13] Hooker's versions make such changes from the original melody and lyrics that his label credits him as the songwriter.^[2]
• In 2017, the musicians Chris Thile and Brad Mehldau collaborated on an album recording of the track.^[14]

A 1933 motion picture, also inspired by Miller's book and also titled I Cover the Waterfront, was re-scored at the last minute to include the tune. Sheet music publishers later used the film's success by claiming that the song was "[i]nspired by the United Artist Picture of the same name".^[3]

• I Cover the Waterfront was the theme for the Johnny Modero, Pier 23 radio program, which starred Jack Webb and was broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1947.^[15]

• R&B/soul singer/actress Miki Howard, portraying Billie Holiday, performed the song in the 1992 bio film Malcolm X.^[16]

• List of 1930s jazz standards