"Exactly Like You" was composed by Jimmy McHugh with lyrics by Dorothy Fields for the 1930 Broadway revue Lew Leslie's International Revue, which opened on February 25, 1930, at the Majestic Theater in New York City. The show, which also debuted their companion standard "On the Sunny Side of the Street," ran for only 95 performances, hampered by a weak script, excessive length, and the onset of the Great Depression, yet it produced two of the most enduring songs in the American popular songbook. McHugh and Fields had been collaborating since 1927, producing hits such as "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" before eventually transitioning to Hollywood. The melody opens with a distinctive series of descending fourths, though jazz performers have long taken liberties with this figure. Louis Armstrong, in his influential May 1930 recording for OKeh, famously flattened the opening phrase to a single repeated note, establishing an alternate melodic approach that many subsequent vocalists adopted. The tune gained renewed popularity during the swing era when Benny Goodman's 1936 Trio recording featured Lionel Hampton's first recorded vocal performance and returned the song to the charts. Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli also recorded it with the Quintet du Hot Club de France in 1937, later revisiting it under the French title "Pour Vous" in 1940. The song has remained a favorite vehicle for instrumental jazz improvisation, valued for its accessible harmonic language and buoyant, swinging character.
