Day's film career began during the latter part of the Classical Hollywood Film era with the 1948 film Romance on the High Seas, and its success sparked her twenty-year career as a motion picture actress. She starred in a series of successful films, including musicals, comedies, and dramas. She played the title role in Calamity Jane (1953), and starred in Alfred Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) with James Stewart. Her most successful films were the bedroom comedies she made co-starring Rock Hudson and James Garner, such as Pillow Talk (1959) and Move Over, Darling (1963), respectively. She also co-starred in films with such leading men as Clark Gable, Cary Grant, David Niven, and Rod Taylor. After her final film in 1968, she went on to star in the CBS sitcom The Doris Day Show (1968–1973).
Day was usually one of the top ten singers between 1951 and 1966. As an actress, she became the biggest female film star in the early 1960s, and ranked sixth among the box office performers by 2012. In 2011, she released her 29th studio album, My Heart, which became a UK Top 10 album featuring new material. Among her awards, Day has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and a Legend Award from the Society of Singers. In 1960, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and in 1989 was given the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures. In 2004, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush followed in 2011 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's Career Achievement Award. She was one of the last surviving stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Her death was announced by her charity, the Doris Day Animal Foundation, on Monday 13th May 2019.
Discography
chart hits
Year Title Chart Positions
US CB UK
1945 "Sentimental Journey" (w/ Les Brown) 1 — —
"My Dreams Are Getting Better All the Time" (w/ Les Brown) 1 — —
"'Tain't Me" (w/ Les Brown) 10 — —
"Till the End of Time" (w/ Les Brown) 3 — —
"Aren't You Glad You're You?" (w/ Les Brown) 11 — —
"Come to Baby Do" (w/ Les Brown) / 13 — —
1946 "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)" (w/ Les Brown) 4 — —
"Day by Day" (w/ Les Brown) 15 — —
"I Got the Sun in the Mornin' (and the Moon at Night)" (w/ Les Brown) 10 — —
"The Whole World Is Singing My Song" (w/ Les Brown) 6 — —
1947 "The Christmas Song" (w/ Les Brown) 12 — —
"Sooner or Later" (w/ Les Brown) 13 — —
"Papa, Won't You Dance With Me" 21 — —
1948 "Thoughtless" (w/ Modernaires) 24 — —
"Love Somebody" (w/ Buddy Clark) / 1 — —
"Confess" (w/ Buddy Clark) 16 — —
"Put 'em in a Box, Tie 'em with a Ribbon, and Throw 'em in the Deep Blue Sea" / 27 — —
"It's Magic" 2 — —
"My Darling, My Darling" (w/ Buddy Clark) 7 — —
1949 "Powder Your Face with Sunshine" (w/ Buddy Clark) 16 — —
"Again" 2 — —
"Everywhere You Go" 22 — —
"Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk" (w/ Frank Sinatra) 17 — —
"Now That I Need You" 20 — —
"Canadian Capers" 15 — —
"Bluebird on Your Windowsill" 19 — —
1950 "Quicksilver" 20 — —
"I Said My Pajamas (and Put on My Prayers)" 21 — —
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later than You Think)" 24 — —
"Hoop-Dee-Doo" 17 — —
"Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" 9 — —
"I Didn't Slip, I Wasn't Pushed, I Fell" 19 — —
"A Bushel and a Peck" 16 — —
1951 "It's a Lovely Day Today" 30 — —
"Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)" 10 — —
"Shanghai" 7 — —
"Domino" 21 — —
1952 "A Guy Is a Guy" 1 — —
"Sugarbush" (w/ Frankie Laine) 7 12 8
"When I Fall in Love" 20 — —
"No Two People" (w/ Donald O'Connor) 25 — —
"My Love and Devotion" — 31 10
"The Cherries" — 39 —
"A Full Time Job" (w/ Johnnie Ray) / 20 21 11
"Ma Says, Pa Says" (w/ Johnnie Ray) 23 28 12
1953 "Mister Tap Toe" 10 11 —
"When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)" 29 — —
"Candy Lips" (w/ Johnnie Ray) / 17 18 —
"Let's Walk That-a-Way" (w/ Johnnie Ray) — 31 4
"Kiss Me Again, Stranger" / 30 — —
"A Purple Cow" 25 — —
"Choo Choo Train (Ch-Ch-Foo) 20 — —
1954 "Secret Love" 1 1 1
"The Black Hills of Dakota" — — 7
"Lost in Loveliness" — 25 —
"I Speak to the Stars" 16 17 —
"Someone Else's Roses" — 32 —
"If I Give My Heart to You" / 3 2 4
"Anyone Can Fall in Love" 27 41 —
"Ready, Willing, and Able" / — 31 7
"Hold Me in Your Arms" — 39 —
1955 "Foolishly Yours" — 25 —
"Love Me Or Leave Me" — — 20
"I'll Never Stop Loving You" 13 14 17
"Ooh Bang Jiggily Jang" 83 — —
1956 "Let It Ring" 51 — —
"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" 2 3 1
"Julie" / 64 40 —
"Love in a Home" 79 — —
"The Party's Over" 63 47 —
1957 "Twelve O'Clock Tonight" 68 — —
1958 "Teacher's Pet" 56 36 —
"A Very Precious Love" — — 16
"Everybody Loves a Lover" 6 6 25
"Tunnel of Love" 43 53 —
1959 "Love Me in the Daytime" 100 51 —
1960 "Any Way the Wind Blows" 50 109 —
"Please Don't Eat the Daisies" 102 102 —
"A Perfect Understanding" 111 — —
1962 "Lover Come Back" 98 — —
1964 "Move Over Darling" — — 8
"Send Me No Flowers" 135 — —
1967 "Sorry" * — — —
* "Sorry" made the US AC charts at #19.
Albums
10" LP
You're My Thrill (1949)
Young Man with a Horn (1950, soundtrack with Harry James)
Tea for Two (1950, soundtrack)
Lullaby of Broadway (1951, soundtrack)
On Moonlight Bay (1951, soundtrack)
I'll See You in My Dreams (1951, soundtrack)
By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953, soundtrack)
Calamity Jane (1953, soundtrack)
Young at Heart (1954, soundtrack with Frank Sinatra)
12" LPs
Love Me or Leave Me (1955, soundtrack)
Day Dreams (1955, expanded re-issue of You're My Thrill)
Day By Day (1956)
The Pajama Game (1957, soundtrack)
Day by Night (1957)
Hooray for Hollywood (2 volumes, 1958)
Cuttin' Capers (1959)
What Every Girl Should Know (1960)
Show Time (1960)
Listen to Day (1960)
Bright and Shiny (1961)
I Have Dreamed (1961)
Duet (with André Previn, 1962)
You'll Never Walk Alone (1962)
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, soundtrack with film cast)
Annie Get Your Gun (1963, with Robert Goulet)
Love Him (1963)
The Doris Day Christmas Album (1964)
With a Smile and a Song (1964)
Latin for Lovers (1965)
Doris Day's Sentimental Journey (1965)
The Love Album (recorded in 1967, released in 1994)
My Heart (2011)
Singles
Hit records:
(with Les Brown's Band of Renown)
"Sentimental Journey"
5,000,000+ sales
"My Dreams Are Getting Better All The Time"
1,000,000+ sales
(As a solo performer)
"It's Magic"
1,000,000+ sales
"Again"
"Love Somebody" (duet with Buddy Clark)
1,000,000+ sales
"Confess" (duet with Buddy Clark) (also done by Patti Page)
"Bewitched"
1,000,000+ sales
"Shanghai"
"Sugarbush" (duet with Frankie Laine)
1,000,000+ sales
"Mister Tap Toe"
"Secret Love"
1,000,000+ sales
"If I Give My Heart to You" (also done by Denise Lor)
"I'll Never Stop Loving You"
1,000,000+ sales
"Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)" ("Que Sera, Sera")
1,000,000+ sales
"Everybody Loves a Lover"
"Move Over Darling"
Barbara Allen
Doris Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When the green buds they were swelling,
William Green on his death-bed lay
For the love of Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwelling
Saying "Love, there is a call for you
She was very slowly getting up
And very slowly going,
The only words she said to him
Were "Young man I think you're dying."
"Don't you remember the other day
When you were in town a-drinking,
You drank a health to the ladies all around
And slighted Barbara Allen?"
"O yes, I remember the other day
When I was in town a-drinking,
I drank a health to the ladies all around,
But my love to Barbara Allen."
He turned his pale face to the wall
And death was in him dwelling;
"Adieu, adieu, to my friends all,
Be kind to Barbara Allen."
When she got in two miles of town
She heard the death bells ringing:
They rang so clear, as if to say
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
So she looked east and she looked west
And saw the cold corpse coming,
She says "Come round you nice young man
And let me look upon you."
The more she looked the more she grieved
Until she burst out crying
"Perhaps I could have saved that young man's life
Who now is here a-lying."
"O Mother, O Mother, come make my bed
O make it both soft and narrow,
For sweet William died to-day
And I will die to-morrow."
"O Father, O Father, come dig my grave
O dig it deep and narrow,
For sweet William died in love
And I will die in sorrow."
Sweet William was buried in the old church tomb,
Barbara Allen was buried in the yard;
Out of William's heart grew a red rose,
Out of Barbara Allen's grew a brier.
They grew and grew to the old church tower
And they could not grow any higher;
And at the end tied a true lover's knot
And the rose wrapped around the brier.
The song "Barbara Allen" tells a tragic tale of a young man, William Green, who is on his deathbed because of his love for a woman named Barbara Allen. He sends his servant to Barbara's home to request her presence, but she initially refuses. When she finally goes to see him, the only words she says to him are "Young man, I think you're dying." William reminds her of a time when he drank a health to all the ladies in town except her, causing her to reject him. He then professes his love for her, and passes away while uttering his farewell to his friends and a plea for them to be kind to Barbara Allen.
As Barbara makes her way back to town, she hears the death bells ringing and discovers that William has passed away. She regrets rejecting him earlier and mourns the loss of his life. In her sorrow, she also wishes for a swift death to join him, and both are buried in different locations. However, a red rose and a brier grow from their graves, symbolically intertwine, and are tied together in a true lover's knot at the end of the song.
The song conveys a powerful message about the consequences of rejecting love or failing to express it. It shows that life is short and that it's important to seize the opportunity to express love when it is present. Furthermore, it demonstrates the consequences of letting pride interfere with the willingness to accept or express love.
Line by Line Meaning
All in the merry month of May
When the green buds they were swelling,
In the month of May, when the flowers were blooming, William Green had taken his death-bed because of love for Barbara Allen.
He sent his servant to the town
To the place where she was dwelling
Saying "Love, there is a call for you
If your name is Barbara Allen."
William sends his servant to Barbara's house to call her since he's in his deathbed.
She was very slowly getting up
And very slowly going,
The only words she said to him
Were "Young man I think you're dying."
Barbara took time to get ready and go to William. When she arrives, she says that William is dying.
"Don't you remember the other day
When you were in town a-drinking,
You drank a health to the ladies all around
And slighted Barbara Allen?"
William regrets not having paid enough attention to Barbara when he was drinking with other ladies in town.
"O yes, I remember the other day
When I was in town a-drinking,
I drank a health to the ladies all around,
But my love to Barbara Allen."
William recalls that when he was drinking in town, he toasted to all the ladies but expresses that he had a special liking towards Barbara.
He turned his pale face to the wall
And death was in him dwelling;
"Adieu, adieu, to my friends all,
Be kind to Barbara Allen."
William turned his face to the wall, closing his eyes on his deathbed, and bid goodbye to everyone including his friends saying to be kind to Barbara Allen.
When she got in two miles of town
She heard the death bells ringing:
They rang so clear, as if to say
"Hard-hearted Barbara Allen!"
When Barbara was two miles away from town, she hears the news about William's death when she hears the funeral bells ringing. The lyrics imply that she was hard-hearted and insensitive to William's feelings.
So she looked east and she looked west
And saw the cold corpse coming,
She says "Come round you nice young man
And let me look upon you."
When William's funeral procession was coming towards town, Barbara goes and asks the corpse to come closer to her so she can have a look at him for the last time.
The more she looked the more she grieved
Until she burst out crying
"Perhaps I could have saved that young man's life
Who now is here a-lying."
Barbara mourned a lot while seeing William's corpse and regretted not being able to save his life.
"O Mother, O Mother, come make my bed
O make it both soft and narrow,
For sweet William died to-day
And I will die to-morrow."
Barbara asks her mother to prepare her bed since she will die soon after William's death.
"O Father, O Father, come dig my grave
O dig it deep and narrow,
For sweet William died in love
And I will die in sorrow."
Barbara asks her father to dig her grave close to William's since he died in love for her while she will die due to her sorrow and regret of not having paid enough attention to William when he was still alive.
Sweet William was buried in the old church tomb,
Barbara Allen was buried in the yard;
Out of William's heart grew a red rose,
Out of Barbara Allen's grew a brier.
William was buried in the church while Barbara in the yard. A red rose grew over William's grave while only a thorny brier over Barbara's grave, implying the contrast between William's deep love for Barbara to her indifference to her love for him.
They grew and grew to the old church tower
And they could not grow any higher;
And at the end tied a true lover's knot
And the rose wrapped around the brier.
The two plants grew and the rose wrapped around the brier, symbolizing love even after death.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: J BAIRD, TRADITIONAL, PD TRADITIONAL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Trombonology Erstwhile
Despite the decidedly somber tone of this story, the Brown orch. takes the ballad in a major key, and young Doris, in the first of two stints with the band, delivers a rather lighthearted account of the proceedings. Barbara's own death, following that of the young man,, is omitted here, as we might expect. We can appreciate a distinctive sound and beautiful diction that would brighten the world in the coming years.