In the lyrics, the singer declares that he "wants to be around" when the woman who spurned him inevitably gets her heart broken.
Sadie Vimmerstedt was a 52-year-old widow [3] and a beautician[4] in Youngstown, Ohio, who sent Johnny Mercer an idea for the song in 1957, as well as giving Mercer the opening line ("I want to be around to pick up the pieces, when somebody breaks your heart").
Not knowing exactly where to send her letter to, Vimmerstedt simply addressed it to "Johnny Mercer...Songwriter...New York, NY".
The post office forwarded it to ASCAP, who in turn passed it along to Mercer, who was a member of the organization.
Mercer wrote the song and agreed to share a third of the royalties and credits with Vimmerstedt.