The jazz song “Little Girl” was written and composed in 1931 by Madeline Hyde and Francis Henry, and first recorded by Sam Lanin and His Orchestra on June 2, 1931, with vocals by Paul Small. Since then, both the song and its instrumental version have been interpreted by various artists (see here for a partial list).

I present here the version by the American soul singer and songwriter Sam Cooke. It appeared as track 11 (B5) of his ninth studio album Mr. Soul, released in February 1963 in the USA by RCA Victor. Arranged and conducted by Horace Ott, it takes the form of a ballad, its rythm being slower than in the previous jazz versions.

I give a musical video of the song from the Sam Cooke official YouTube channel:

I give below the lyrics sung by Cooke, taken from Genius. They are just a small part of the original lyrics by Madeline Hyde and Francis Henry.

Little Girl
words & music by Madeline Hyde and Francis Henry

Little girl
You’re the one girl for me
Little girl
You’re as sweet as can be

Just a glance at you meant
Love from the start
And oh, what a thrill came
Into my heart

Little girl
With your cute little ways
I am yours
For the rest of my days

And this great big world
Will be divine
Little girl
When you are mine, oh mine, yeah

And this great big world
Will be divine
Little girl
When you’re mine, oh mine

Samuel Cook, known professionally as Sam Cooke, was born on January 22, 1931. He is considered one of the most influential soul artists of all time, and he is commonly referred to as the “King of Soul.” During his eight-year career, he released eleven studio albums, two live albums, one collaboration album, and thirty seven singles, many of them charting in the Billboard Pop Top 40. His career ended brutally on December 11, 1964: he was shot and killed by the manager of a motel in Los Angeles. Two albums and twelve singles by him were released posthumously. See MusicBrainz for his discography.