If You Were the Only Girl (In the World)

The first recording, 'the original cast recording', by the first performers to sing this song, George Robey and Violet Loraine, was released on a 78rpm disc and became a hit. It was a popular recording during World War I, played in war zones as well as 'at home'.

• Perry Como[3] - recorded on March 21, 1946, and released by RCA Victor Records as catalog number 20-1857-B, the flip side of "They Say It's Wonderful". This version reached No. 14 on the [[Billboard (magazine}|Billboard]] Records Most-Played on the Air chart.[4][5] The recording was also released in the United Kingdom by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number BD-1165, the flip side of "I Dream of You (More than You Dream I Do)".[6]
• Peggy Lee as "If You Were the Only Boy in the World", a transcription for Capitol Records, recorded on July 29, 1946.[7]
• Donald Peers with two pianos recorded it at Royal Albert Hall, London, on June 13, 1949, as the first song of a medley along with "Blue Skies" and "There's a Rainbow 'Round My Shoulder". The medley was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 9792.[8]
• Doris Day recorded the song for her 1953 Columbia Records album By the Light of the Silvery Moon and sang the song with Gordon MacRae in the 1953 film By the Light of the Silvery Moon
• Gordon MacRae and June Hutton - for the Capitol Records album By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953).[9]
• Georgia Brown - as "If You Were the Only Boy in the World", for the album Sings a Little of What You Fancy (1962).[10]
• Kathy Kirby - as "If You Were the Only Boy in the World", for her album Kathy Kirby Sings 16 Hits from Stars and Garters (1963).[11]
• Dean Martin - for his album Dream with Dean (1964)
• Barbra Streisand recorded this song under the title "If You Were the Only Boy in the World", with a Peter Matz arrangement for her album My Name Is Barbra in 1965.[12]
• Frankie Vaughan - for the album Love Hits & High Kicks (1985).[13]
• Anton Szandor LaVey, founder of The Church of Satan, performed the song on his 1990 album Satan Takes a Holiday.

Actor-singer Rudy Vallee sang it in the 1929 film The Vagabond Lover, with the beat changed from a foxtrot to a waltz.

Soldiers on a train are also heard singing this song in the 1942 Noël Coward film, In Which We Serve.

The song was sung by soldiers during a concert in the 1944 war drama, The Way Ahead.

The song is performed at the entertainment evening in the 1957 film, The Bridge on the River Kwai, set during World War II.

The song was incorporated into the score of the 1959 television version of the musical Meet Me in St. Louis, and sung by Tab Hunter and Jane Powell.

David Abraham sings a line of this song in the movie Kotwal Saab (1977) to celebrate the news of marriage between his two paying guests.

The song was heard in the 2000 episode "Pardon My Past" of the television show Charmed.

The song was sung by a honeymooning couple in The Duchess of Duke Street, Series 2, Episode 8.

The song was sung for wounded British soldiers by the characters Lady Mary Crawley and Matthew Crawley (played by Michelle Dockery and Dan Stevens, respectively) in Series 2, Episode 4 of Downton Abbey, set in 1918 and broadcast in 2011. It was sung, ahistorically, in waltz (¾) time.

The song is played as a solo piano instrumental by the character Malcolm Hamilton in the BBC Scotland soap, River City, at the end of the 3 July 2012 episode.

• "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)" sung by Loraine and Robey, 1916 (mp3)
• "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)" sheet music at the UCLA Music Library's Digital Archive of Popular American Music