Composer Irving Berlin was a huge admirer of the song.[1] Berlin reportedly said that of all the songs by other composers he had heard, he would have been most proud to have written "I Don't Want to Walk Without You".[1] Writing of Berlin's praise for the song, Loesser wrote in his diary, "Irving Berlin came in today and spent a solid hour telling me that 'Walk' is the best song he ever heard. He played and sang it over, bar by bar, explaining why it's the best song he ever heard. I was flattered like crazy."[1]
A review in the trade publication Billboard called the composition "one of those natural songs with a down-to-earth story that boy sings to girl and vice versa, with a matching melody that makes it contagious on the first listen".[2]
Barry Manilow released a version of the song in early 1980.[9] It was the third single released from his album One Voice (1979). His rendition reached No. 36 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Adult Contemporary chart.[10] Its best chart performance was in Canada, where it spent two weeks atop the Adult Contemporary chart.[11]
Popular culture
"I Don't Want to Walk Without You" was first performed in the 1942 Paramount Pictures film, Sweater Girl, by actress Betty Jane Rhodes.[1] In 2012, Tom Vallance of The Independent wrote of Rhodes' performance, "Her place in the history of popular song is secured by her having introduced on screen one of the great songs of wartime longing, "I Don't Want to Walk Without You"."[1]
In the second season episode of Frasier, "Adventures In Paradise, Part 1", Martin (John Mahoney) sings the song accompanied by Niles (David Hyde Pierce) on the piano.
