Annabel Joseph-Ojoboh’s version of ‘I Who Have Nothing’ is sonorous, elegant
By Emmanuel Esomnofu
A lot has been written about love and its complexities. Volumes of books and songs have been written, philosophers have done treatises on the things of the heart. It is a known fact that we all want to experience the beautiful things associated with love, yet, we find it difficult to grasp the other side of love, the heartbreak, the betrayal, the misplacement of trust and more. Songs have been written about this. How do you deal with a situation of you loving someone and not having the qualities they desire or being financially incapacitated to contribute to such a fellow.
Songs have always been written about this situation. “I Who Have Nothing”, is one of such. A powerful ballad which was originally written in Italian as “Uno Dei Tanti” by Carlos Donida and Guilio Rapetti released in 1961. However in 1963 Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller made new lyrics which translated to The English version with the title “I Who Have Nothing” and was later recorded by various singers, including Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones, Bette Midler and Katherine Jenkins.
The Nigerian born singer Annabel Joseph-Ojoboh joins this erudite list with her superb performance and recording of the song which she recently released to digital streaming platforms.
A rolling drum kicks off the song with the piano chord tagging along , while this was on, Annabel’s vocals comes through.
The first verse of the song finds her showering encomium on his lover. She emphasized the fact that she doesn’t have anything.
Annabel repeats what the composer sings, yet she brings her Ingenuity to the song. Ideally, it is a sad song however, the singer amplifies the last part of each verse as she sings I love you while the instrumental races in, serving as the balm to the song.
Annabel expresses the heartache and longing of someone who loves another person deeply, but feels they have nothing to offer that person. The chorus poignantly repeats the lines “I who have nothing, I who have no one, must watch you, go dancing with someone else when it is I who loves you.”
It is difficult to replicate the genius tone, mood, vocal inflection of the original composer however it is glaring that Annabel Joseph-Ojoboh puts in some creativity before coming up with this version of the song. This is not a song you want to listen to everyday but with this type of performance, you tend to spin the song, to just hear the vocals, feel her tone and get mesmerized with the brilliant output from the singer.
