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.
They Didn't Believe Me
Julie London Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They didn′t believe me
They didn't believe me
Your lips, your eyes, your cheeks, your hair
Are in a class beyond compare
You are the loveliest thing I′ve ever seen
And when I tell them, and I am certainly gonna' to tell them
That I am the girl whose boy one day you'll be
They′ll never believe me
That from this great big world you've chosen me
And when I tell them, and I′m certainly gonna' tell them
That I′m the gal whose boy one day you'll be
They′ll never believe me
They'll never believe me
That from this great big world you've chosen me
They′ll never believe me
The lyrics of Julie London's song "They Didn't Believe Me" is a romantic confession from the singer to her lover. She expresses her amazement at how wonderful her lover is and how he is on a completely different level from anyone else she has seen. She mentions his "lips, your eyes, your cheeks, your hair" and says they are in a class beyond compare, emphasizing that he is the loveliest thing she has ever seen.
She goes on to say that when she tells others about her feelings, they do not believe her, implying perhaps that their relationship is not socially acceptable or there is some doubt about her lover's character. She seems determined to prove them wrong and insists that she will tell everyone that she is the girl who he will be with one day. She repeats that they will never believe her, even though they have both found each other in this great big world.
In essence, "They Didn't Believe Me" is a song about love and the power that true love holds. The song captures the feeling of being completely amazed by someone, and feeling like you've won the greatest prize in the world, despite the skeptics and doubters around you.
Line by Line Meaning
And when I told them how wonderful you are
When I shared how amazing you are to others
They didn′t believe me
They didn't trust my words
They didn't believe me
They still didn't believe me even after I repeated myself
Your lips, your eyes, your cheeks, your hair
Your features, such as your lips, eyes, cheeks, and hair
Are in a class beyond compare
Are unique and incomparable
You are the loveliest thing I′ve ever seen
You are the most beautiful creature I have encountered
And when I tell them, and I am certainly gonna' to tell them
I will definitely inform them
That I am the girl whose boy one day you'll be
That I am the one you will be with in the future
They′ll never believe me
They won't trust or have faith in my words
They′ll never believe me
Even after repeating myself, they still will not believe me
That from this great big world you've chosen me
You have picked and decided to be with me from a vast world of possibilities
And when I tell them, and I′m certainly gonna' tell them
I will without a doubt inform them
That I′m the gal whose boy one day you'll be
That I am the woman you will end up with in the future
They′ll never believe me
Regardless of how much I repeat myself, they won't trust me
They'll never believe me
No matter what I say, they will never have faith in my words
That from this great big world you've chosen me
That you have picked and decided to be with me from a vast world of possibilities and they will never believe me
Writer(s): Jerome Kern, Herbert Reynolds
Contributed by Hunter V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.