Vocalist Eva Taylor introduced this song in a 1927 recording with husband Clarence Williams’ Blue Five. Three years later, the version by Detroit-based band McKinney’s Cotton Pickers’ was on the charts for 12 weeks:

• McKinney’s Cotton Pickers (1930, George “Fathead” Thomas, vocal, #1)
• Tom Gerun and His Orchestra (1930, #5)
• Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra (1930, vocal, #13)

Pianist James P. Johnson and lyricist Henry Creamer wrote “If I Could Be with You (One Hour Tonight)” in 1926, the same year as “Alabama Stomp” which was used in Earl Carroll’s Vanities that year and the next. The two also collaborated on two unproduced musicals in 1926, Geechee: Dusky Romance in Three Acts and Chicago Loop: Musical Comedy in Two Acts, and in 1927 three of their tunes were used in the short-lived revue A la Carte. In 1928 they wrote the revue Shuffle Along, which would be their last collaboration.

Johnson along with pupil Fats Waller cut a piano roll of the tune for the QRS Company in 1927, and that same year George Randol and Andy Razaf featured the tune in Irvin C. Miller’s revue Brownskin Models. For the next three years the tune basically languished, save for two 1929 recordings, one by the Kansas City orchestra of George E. Lee and the other by the Mound City Blue Blowers (mentioned in the history notes). But 1930 would prove to be the decisive year for the song.

In January, 1930, the McKinney’s Cotton Pickers orchestra from Detroit cut a fine version with a vocal by their unique vocalist George “Fathead” Thomas, which landed #1 in the charts and was their only record to reach the top. A recording by vocalist Ruth Etting, star of the Ziegfeld Follies, created a stir amongst white audiences and sold well, despite not making the charts. But perhaps one of the best-loved recordings was Louis Armstrong’s version from August, 1930, recorded with Les Hite’s band in Los Angeles, which was the stomping ground of Tom Gerun’s Orchestra, who recorded their version in September, 1930. Armstrong’s version is played at a fine, rocking, two-beat dance tempo, slower than the version by McKinney.

James P. Johnson was a talented songwriter, but by the late-1920s he was looking more toward writing larger-scale pieces and did write an opera, a symphony and a string quartet. But his songwriting skills were much admired by his peers, and pianist/composer Willie “The Lion” Smith admitted: “It is my opinion that James P. was a better writer than Fats, although Waller’s tunes have had much more success.” “If I Could Be With You,” “Charleston” and “Old Fashioned Love” would turn out to be the biggest successes for Johnson, and royalties from these helped him make it through the lean time of the depression.