I Cried for You
original song written and composed by Arthur Freed, Gus Arnheim, and Abe Lyman
"I Cried for You" is a pop and jazz standard with music written by Gus Arnheim and Abe Lyman, with lyrics by Arthur Freed. It was introduced by Abe Lyman and His Orchestra in 1923. The recording by Benny Krueger and His Orchestra the same year peaked at number 2 for two weeks and remained in the charts for ten weeks at large. Also in 1923 another interpretation of the song by the Columbians reached number 14 for one week. 15 years later in 1938 two new recordings peaked both number 13 in the Billboard charts, Bunny Berigan and His Orchestra with Kathleen Lane on vocals and an interpretation by Bing Crosby (a minor hit for him). Glen Gray and his Casa Loma Orchestra followed the next year, peaking at number 6, and in 1942 Harry James' recording was the last to get into the Billboard charts, peaking at number 19.
I Cried for You was also featured in several films including the musical short Alladin from Manhattan (1936) (starring Ruth Etting), The Women (1939), Idiot’s Delight (1939) and Babes in Arms, sung by Judy Garland (1939). In 1944 Helen Forrest sang it in Bathing Beauty with Harry James and His Music Makers. Frank Sinatra interpreted the song in The Joker Is Wild (1957), and Diana Ross sang it in Lady Sings the Blues, personifying Billie Holiday (1972).
“I Cried for You” enters the record as original song written and composed by Arthur Freed, Gus Arnheim, and Abe Lyman. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Cried, original and song can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“I Cried for You” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Cried, original and song provides the most credible route into that argument.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 10, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2059920. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1923, 1938, 1942 and 1936.
Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “I Cried for You”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow I Cried for You primary sources, I Cried for You archive and Cried research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “I Cried for You”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “I Cried for You” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.