"Something to Live For" is a 1939 jazz composition by Billy Strayhorn. It was the first collaboration between Strayhorn and Duke Ellington and became the first of many Strayhorn compositions to be recorded by Ellington's orchestra. The song was based on a poem Strayhorn had written as a teenager. According to an all-day tribute to Strayhorn on KCSM radio on November 29, 2008—Strayhorn's birthday—Strayhorn began working on this tune in 1933 when he was 18.The song has been recorded many times, by Duke Ellington, Lena Horne and many others. Ella Fitzgerald has called it her favorite song.Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996) was an American jazz vocalist with a vocal range spanning three octaves (D♭3 to D♭6). Often referred to as the "First Lady of Song," the "Queen of Jazz" and "Lady Ella," she was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing and intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability, particularly in her scat singing.Fitzgerald was a notable interpreter of the Great American Songbook. Over the course of her 60-year recording career, she sold 40 million copies of her 70-plus albums, won 13 Grammy Awards and was awarded the National Medal of Arts by Ronald Reagan and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George H. W. Bush.I have almost ev'ry thing a human could desire, Cars and houses, bear-skin rugs to place before my fire But there's something missing, Something isn't there, It seems I'm never kissing the one whom I could care forI want something to live ForSomeone to make my life an adventurous dreamOh, what wouldn't I give for Someone to take my life And make it seem gay as they say it ought to beWhy can't I have love like that brought to me?My eye is watching the noon sun Searching the promenades seeking a clueTo the one who will always be mine Something to live forI want something to live forI want something to live for