My original introduction to this week's tune came way back in the day before the internet and cell phones when, for entertainment, my family would sing songs around the table after dinner. It probably sounds incredibly quaint in this day and age, but I have a lot of fond memories and my family singing this tune was one of them. My actual introduction to this week's version was upon hearing it on the Rhino release Sentimental Journey, a four CD set featuring some of America's best vocalists of the forties and fifties. Our song of the week will actually be the fourth song featured from that album (one, two, and three)--to say that it's influence on my musical tastes was massive would be an understatement....
Born Doris Mary Anne Kappelhoff (the first bandleader she worked for, Barney Rapp, suggested the name change to Doris Day) in Cincinnati in 1922, she would begin her musical career singing with big bands in 1937 at the ripe old age of fifteen. By 1945 she'd had her first number one record ("Sentimental Journey," an absolute American standard), and she parlayed her early success into a career that is much too long and varied to cover in a paragraph. In short, Day would continue recording (though intermittently) until 2011, became a huge box office star in the fifties and sixties, have her own television show in the seventies, and her own talk show in the eighties. Day became somewhat of a recluse in her later years, turning down several awards and tributes because she didn't want to appear in person. She was also involved in causes for animals, including founding her own nonprofit, the Doris Day Animal Foundation. Day died of complications from pneumonia in 2019 at the age of 97.
"Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) was released as a single in 1956. It went to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and would reach #1 on the British singles chart. It is considered Day's signature song.
Fun Fact: "Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" was originally introduced in the1956 Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much as a plot device. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and was eventually inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
This one is about as sweet as sweet can be, featuring a woman at three different points in her life. In the first she's asking her mother, in the second she's asking her sweetheart, and in the third her children are asking her the same momentous questions: just what the future will hold. And the answer, amazingly enough, is a quite honest assessment of the ways of the world "que sera sera, whatever will be, will be." The melody is sugary ear candy, and Day's voice is nothing short of wondrous, carrying the words and music to pop music heaven. It's a song from a different time that despite our ever-changing world remains timeless.
Lyric Sheet: "When I grew up and fell in love/I asked my sweetheart, what lies ahead/Will we have rainbows/Day after day/Here's what my sweetheart said..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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