Introduction
“I (Who Have Nothing)” is a powerful dramatic ballad with roots in Italian pop, later given new life in the English‐speaking world. The song’s melody was originally composed by Carlo Donida for the Italian song “Uno dei Tanti” (translated as “One of Many”), with Italian lyrics by Giulio “Mogol” Rapetti. Joe Sentieri first performed this original version in 1961.
In 1963, the noted songwriting team Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller adapted the song into English. While the English lyrics are not direct translations of the Italian text (apart from the title line “Io, che non ho niente” / “I, who have nothing”), Leiber and Stoller captured the emotional intensity of longing and unworthiness. The first English‐language recording was by Ben E. King in that same year, using an orchestral backing similar to Sentieri’s original, and this version charted modestly—reaching No. 29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and doing better on the R&B charts.
Tom Jones’s version was released in 1970 as the title track of his album I Who Have Nothing. His interpretation became one of the most successful versions in the U.S.: it climbed to No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100, reached No. 2 on the Easy Listening chart, and also charted in Canada. Jones’s rendition is celebrated for his vocal power and emotional delivery—he imbues the song with a tension between vulnerability and pride, a man acutely aware of what he lacks materially yet deeply certain in his feelings. This version helped cement “I (Who Have Nothing)” in the canon of classic pop‐soul ballads, showing how a song can cross linguistic, cultural, and stylistic boundaries while retaining, even enhancing, its emotional core.