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! (1972–1979), 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 Blasé".
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.
Spring Will Be A Little Late This Year
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I musn't cling to this fear
It's nearly that spring
Will be a little late this year
A little late arriving
In my lonely world over here
You have left me
You have left me
And winter continues cold
As if to say
Spring will be
A little slow
To start
A little slow
Surviving this ache
That i feel in my heart
Time heals all things
I musn't cling to this fear
It's merely that spring will be
A little late
This year
The lyrics in Julie London's song "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year" convey a sense of sadness and longing for a lost love. The opening line, "Time heals all things," suggests that the singer is struggling to overcome her broken heart. She acknowledges that she shouldn't hold onto her fear of being alone forever, but the arrival of spring is a reminder of what she's lost. She describes her world as "lonely" and notes that spring is arriving "a little late" in her emotional state.
The second verse explores the theme of contrast, as the singer contrasts the warmth and beauty of April with the coldness of a winter that seems to never end. She feels abandoned by her former love, and the ache in her heart seems to prolong the agony of the winter season. She personifies spring, imagining it as slow to start and slow to survive, perhaps suggesting that her own recovery will be a gradual process.
The final verse brings the song full circle, repeating the idea that time heals all things but acknowledging that this particular spring is coming late. The repetition of the phrase "It's merely that spring will be a little late this year" suggests that the singer is trying to convince herself that things will get better eventually, but the use of the word "merely" also implies that this belief may be hard to hold onto.
Overall, "Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year" is a poignant exploration of heartbreak and loss. The lyrics paint a picture of a woman who is struggling to move on from a love that has ended, even as the world around her begins to reawaken.
Line by Line Meaning
Time heals all things
I know that with time, my heartache will eventually fade
I musn't cling to this fear
I shouldn't let my fear of being alone consume me
It's nearly that spring
The season is soon approaching
Will be a little late this year
But it seems like it won't arrive as soon as it usually does
A little late arriving
It will take longer for the world around me to come to life
In my lonely world over here
I feel lonely and isolated in my own world
You have left me
You left me behind
Where is our April of all
I miss the time we used to spend together in the month of April
And winter continues cold
It feels like winter is never going to end, and things will never get better
As if to say
It seems as if the world is trying to tell me
Spring will be
The season of renewal and growth will come eventually
A little slow
But it will take longer than usual
To start
For the new beginnings to begin
Surviving this ache
Trying to cope with the emotional pain
That I feel in my heart
That is weighing heavily on my heart
It's merely that spring will be
It's not that the world is ending
A little late
It's just taking a bit longer to get there
This year
Than usual
Writer(s): FRANK LOESSER
Contributed by Colin F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.