1962 Ballad That Won an Oscar for 'Best Original Song' 63 Years Ago Was Sung by the Movie's Star

Sometimes, when it comes to songwriting, it seems like two heads are better than one. Music history is filled with examples of massively successful songwriting partners in just about every genre, from Paul McCartney and John Lennon to Elton John and Bernie Taupin to Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein.

Another legendary duo, Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn, were responsible for some of the most iconic songs ever featured in movies and TV shows, including "Love and Marriage," "All the Way," "High Hopes" and "Call Me Irresponsible" from the 1963 movie Papa's Delicate Condition, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1964.

You're no doubt familiar with "Call Me Irresponsible," but the first version that comes to mind is most likely the one recorded by Frank Sinatra (the song was also performed by Connie Francis, Bobby Darin and Michael Bublé). In Papa's Delicate Condition, the song was sung by the movie's star, Jackie Gleason.

The lyrics were a perfect fit for the comedy about an eccentric but well-meaning father:

"Call me unpredictable, tell me I'm impractical / Rainbows, I'm inclined to pursue / Call me irresponsible, yes, I'm unreliable / But it's undeniably true / I'm irresponsibly mad for you"

According to Van Heusen's official Facebook page, after reviewing the script for Papa's Delicate Condition, Cahn "noticed that the word 'irresponsible' crept up throughout it. The character was irresponsible, his actions were irresponsible, and so forth." In an interview with a Syracuse newspaper in 1986, Cahn recalled how Van Heusen seemed to create the melody "out of thin air."

"I came over to his house and he was lying on the couch. I used to call him the great couch composer. I said, 'What do you think about this for a song, and I threw out some words: 'Call me irresponsible, call me unreliable, throw in undependable too' He thought about it for a minute; then he got up and went over to the piano and tapped out that tune."

Cahn said 'Call Me Irresponsible' was 'gratifying to the ear'

In a 1985 interview with Fresh Air's Terry Gross, Cahn said he was "very, very proud" of "Call Me Irresponsible."

"Simply because I want to say and it's not as facetious as it sounds. It has five syllable words in it," he explained, adding, "every song, the title dictates the architecture of the song."

"I said you know, Jim, if I had unreliable down there, undeniable coming after unreliable would be better, so we switched the two lines on top," he continued. "I call that neatening up a song. So we changed the two lines. On top of it had (Singing) 'Call me irresponsible. Yes, I'm unreliable. But it's undeniably true.' That's called graceful and very gratifying to the ear."

Clearly, the Academy agreed.

Related: 1979 Classic Ballad Won an Oscar for 'Best Original Song' 47 Years Ago

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 5:07 PM.