I've Gotta Be Me

Who it's for

Originally from the Broadway musical Golden Rainbow, Sammy Davis Jr.'s hit is a bold declaration of living on your own terms.

Feelings it meets

• Identity
• Self-Worth
• Social Conformity

What it is

"I've Gotta Be Me" was written by Walter Marks for the Broadway musical Golden Rainbow, which opened in February 1968, where Steve Lawrence's character sang it. Sammy Davis Jr. recorded it in 1968 while the show was still running; his version reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart, and remains the best-known recording.

Where to find it

All major streaming services.

Before you start

Age: All ages

There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays: First Series, “Self-Reliance”