Credited on the label as Bennie Benjamin, Sol Marcus and Gloria Caldwell
The melody and chorus came from arranger Horace Ott after a falling-out with his girlfriend and wife-to-be, Gloria Caldwell; he took it to his writing partners Bennie Benjamin and Sol Marcus to finish. Rules of the era barred a BMI writer — Ott — from formally collaborating with ASCAP members, so Ott put Caldwell’s name on the credit in place of his own, which is why record labels and rights databases still list her. Ott was not just a name on the paperwork: he is credited as arranger and conductor on Simone’s own 1964 recording.
Who recorded it
Songs written by Bennie Benjamin, Horace Ott & Sol Marcus