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"
Pennies from Heaven
Doris Day Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The best things in life were absolutely free
But no one appreciated a sky that was always blue
And no one congratulated, moon that was always new
So it was planned that they would vanish now and then
And you must pay before you get them back again
That's what storms were made for
Every time it rains
It rains pennies from heaven
Don't you know each cloud
Contains pennies from heaven
You'll find your fortune's falling all over town
Make sure that your umbrella is upside down
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
Cause if you want the things you love, you must have showers
So if you hear it thunder, don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me
So if you hear it thunder, don't run under a tree
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me
The opening lines of Doris Day's song Pennies from Heaven sets the tone for what is about to come. It talks about a time a long time ago, a million years B.C., where the best things in life were free, and nobody cared about them. The sky was always blue, and the moon was always new, but nobody appreciated them. However, after some planning, it was decided that these things would vanish now and then, and people would have to pay to get them back again. That's what storms were made for, but they shouldn't be feared.
As the chorus kicks in, it talks about how every time it rains, it rains pennies from heaven. This is a metaphor indicating that good things come to those who wait, and every drop of rain represents good fortune. The clouds contain pennies from heaven, and if you're lucky, you'll find fortunes in pennies falling all over town. It advises people to make sure that their umbrella is upside down so that they can catch all the pennies. You can trade these pennies for a package of sunshine and flowers because if you want the things you love, you have to be ready to endure showers.
The bridge advises that during thunderstorms, people shouldn't run under a tree because there will be pennies from heaven for them. The repetition of this line in the final verse is a subtle reminder that good things come to those who wait, and all people need to do is be patient.
Overall, the song Pennies from Heaven delivers a hopeful message backed up by a catchy tune, and it's incredibly easy to sing along to. It suggests that even when things appear bleak, people should hang in there because fortune might be just around the corner.
Line by Line Meaning
A long time ago, a million years B.C.
In the distant past, even before recorded history.
The best things in life were absolutely free
Valuable things used to be available for no cost at all.
But no one appreciated a sky that was always blue
People didn't value things that they had access to all the time.
And no one congratulated, moon that was always new
People didn't celebrate things that were always there and reliably consistent.
So it was planned that they would vanish now and then
It became necessary to make previously free things temporarily scarce.
And you must pay before you get them back again
The return of these things required some cost or effort.
That's what storms were made for
Storms serve to disrupt the normal supply of desirable things.
But you shouldn't be afraid for
You shouldn't fear the storms or temporary scarcity.
Every time it rains
Precipitation offers the promise of something valuable.
It rains pennies from heaven
Even rainfall provides an unexpected abundance of good fortune.
Don't you know each cloud
These fortunate events come from a source above and unseen.
Contains pennies from heaven
These fortunate events take the form of a figurative currency.
You'll find your fortune's falling all over town
This good fortune can appear anywhere in the world.
Make sure that your umbrella is upside down
You need to be ready to receive this unexpected fortune.
Trade them for a package of sunshine and flowers
Use this good fortune to invest in things that make you happy.
Cause if you want the things you love, you must have showers
You need to weather the storms and temporary scarcity to get what you really desire.
So if you hear it thunder, don't run under a tree
Don't take shelter in a place that isn't safe or effective.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me
Even in challenging circumstances, good fortune is still possible.
There'll be pennies from heaven for you and me
Even in challenging circumstances, good fortune is still possible.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Arthur Johnston, Johnny Burke
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Laura C
There's no doubt that she is the greatest female vocalist of all time.
XL5
Doris Day has one of those voices that cuddles you. Love her to bits
Karen
XL5 I feel that too!
erwienchen
Der feinfühlige Gesang Doris Day vertreibt die letzen Regenwolken aus der Seele
maynardcat
Very nice, I haven't heard this version by Doris in a long time.
Laura Morel
Hermosa música sin tiempo🎶❤
Muirmaiden
Wow, great pics of vintage stars to compliment this delightful song, no matter who sings it, it's magical - and Doris has her own special brand of magic to make it her own. Thanks, Toni, you did a fabulous job on this!
B W
Born in 1957 and still loving it to day!!
Tony Esmeraldo
Músicas, dos tempos do glamour e fama em Hollywood. Lindas.
Thomas IV
Thank you so much Toni for the Doris's voice. She always the best medicine to soothe the soul. Enjoyed the umbrella theme and trying to remember those silver screen stars. I watch their movies all the time now.