London's 35-year acting career began in films in 1944 and included playing opposite Gary Cooper in Man of the West (1958) and Robert Mitchum in The Wonderful Country (1959). She achieved continuing success in the TV medical drama Emergency! (1972โ1979), co-starring her real-life husband, Bobby Troup, and produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb, in which London played the female lead role of nurse Dixie McCall. She and Randolph Mantooth, who played one-half of her medical students, a paramedic, in the series, were very close to her family, until her death in 2000.
Born in Santa Rosa, California, she was the daughter of Jack and Josephine Peck, who were a vaudeville song-and-dance team. When she was fourteen the family moved to Los Angeles. Shortly after that, she began appearing in movies. She graduated from the Hollywood Professional High School in 1945.
London began singing under the name Gayle Peck in public in her teens before appearing in a film. She was discovered by talent agent Sue Carol (wife of actor Alan Ladd), while working as an elevator operator. Her early film career, however, did not include any singing roles.
London recorded 32 albums in a career that began in 1955 with a live performance at the 881 Club in Los Angeles. Billboard named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956, and 1957. She was the subject of a 1957 Life cover article in which she was quoted as saying, "It's only a thimbleful of a voice, and I have to use it close to the microphone. But it is a kind of oversmoked voice, and it automatically sounds intimate."
London's debut recordings were for the Bethlehem Records label. While shopping for a record deal, she recorded four tracks that would later be included on the compilation album Bethlehem's Girlfriends in 1955. Bobby Troup backed London on the album, for which London recorded the standards "Don't Worry About Me", "Motherless Child", "A Foggy Day", and "You're Blasรฉ".
London's most famous single, "Cry Me a River", was written by her high-school classmate Arthur Hamilton and produced by Troup. The recording became a million-seller after its release in December 1955 and also sold on reissue in April 1983 from the attention brought by a Mari Wilson cover. London performed the song in the film The Girl Can't Help It (1956), and her recording gained later attention in the films Passion of Mind (2000) and V for Vendetta (2006). The song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under and appears on its soundtrack album. London's "Must Be Catchin'" was featured in the 2011 premiere episode of the ABC series Pan Am. Her last recording was "My Funny Valentine" for the soundtrack of the Burt Reynolds film Sharky's Machine (1981).
Other popular singles include "Hot Toddy", "Daddy", and "Desafinado". Recordings such as "Go Slow" epitomized her career style: her voice is slow, smoky, and playfully sensual.
She was married to Jack Webb, of Dragnet fame. Her obvious beauty and self-poise (she was a pinup girl prized by GIs during World War II) contrasted with his pedestrian appearance and stiff-as-a-board acting technique (much parodied by impersonators). This unlikely pairing arose from his and her love for jazz; their marriage lasted from July 1947 to November 1953. They had two daughters, one who was killed in a traffic accident in the 1990s and one who survived London. In 1954, having become somewhat reclusive after her divorce from Jack Webb, she met jazz composer and musician Bobby Troup at a club on La Brea Blvd. They married on December 31, 1959 and remained married until Troup's death in February 1999. Together, they had one daughter and twin sons.
London suffered a stroke in 1995, and was in poor health until her death in Encino, California, at the age of seventy-four, survived by four of her five children. She died on18th October 2000, and was buried in Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.
I Loves You Porgy
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hums the April breeze
"I love you,"
Echo the hills
"I love you"
The golden dawn agrees
As once more she sees
It's spring again
And birds on the wing again
Start to sing again
The old melody
I love you
That's the song of songs
And it all belongs
To you and me
It's spring again
And birds on the wing again
Start to sing again
The old melody
I love you
That's the song of songs
And it all belongs
To you and me
The song "I Loves You Porgy" is a jazz standard written by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was originally written for the broadway opera Porgy and Bess, which premiered in 1935. The song is a love ballad that expresses the deep love and devotion of the singer to their beloved. The lyrics are simple yet deeply emotional, conveying the feeling of happiness and joy that comes with being in love.
The opening lines of the song, "I love you, Hums the April breeze, Echo the hills" creates a romantic and serene atmosphere. The singer is expressing the depth of their love by comparing it to the sounds of nature. The subsequent lines, "The golden dawn agrees, As once more she sees, Daffodils" only add to the romanticism of the song, as they evoke the image of a beautiful dawn and the arrival of spring.
The song continues to describe the happiness and renewal that comes with the arrival of spring, as the birds begin to sing again and old melodies resurface. The last two lines of the song, "I love you, That's the song of songs, And it all belongs, To you and me" expresses the depth of the singer's devotion to their beloved. They believe that their love is the most important thing in their world and that it belongs solely to them.
Line by Line Meaning
I love you
My feelings for you are very strong
Hums the April breeze
The wind carries my love for you softly, like a hum
"I love you,"
Even the environment around me is saying it for me
Echo the hills
The mountains surrounding us amplify my love for you
"I love you"
I can't stop thinking it
The golden dawn agrees
Even the morning sun acknowledges my love for you
As once more she sees
As the sun rises again
Daffodils
The flowers blooming signify the time for new love
It's spring again
The season for new beginnings has arrived
And birds on the wing again
The birds take flight, symbolizing the start of a new journey
Start to sing again
They express their joy through song
The old melody
The same tune is playing once more
I love you
My love for you is steadfast
That's the song of songs
Nothing expresses love better than this one thing
And it all belongs
This feeling is just as much yours as it is mine
To you and me
Our love is special and shared by just us two
Lyrics ยฉ Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Cole Porter
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind