"Call Me Irresponsible" is a 1962 song composed by Jimmy Van Heusen with lyrics written by Sammy Cahn which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1963.
According to the Mel Tormé book The Other Side of the Rainbow with Judy Garland on the Dawn Patrol, Van Heusen originally wrote the song for Garland to sing at a CBS dinner.
[1] However, in 1988, Sammy Cahn said during an interview with freelance writer Harlan Conti, in San Francisco, that the song was originally written for Fred Astaire to sing in the film Papa's Delicate Condition in which Astaire was to star.
However, Astaire's contractual obligations prevented him from making the film and the role went to Jackie Gleason, who introduced the song.
Cahn is said to have had a particular satisfaction in the number of five-syllable words in the lyrics of "Call Me Irresponsible".