| "Day by Day" | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Single by Godspell | |
| B-side | "Bless the Lord" |
| Released | May 1972 |
| Recorded | 1971 |
| Genre | Rock [1] |
| Length | 3:50 |
| Label | Bell |
| Songwriter(s) | Stephen Schwartz |
"Day by Day" is a folk rock ballad from the 1971 Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak musical Godspell . It is the third song in the show's score and is reprised as the closing number for the 1973 film version. [2]
The song's refrain follows a prayer ascribed to the 13th-century English bishop Saint Richard of Chichester:
The version in Godspell follows more closely the wording in Hymn 429 of the 1940 Hymnal:
"Day by Day" was first a hit in Australia, where both Judy Stone and Colleen Hewett released competing versions of the track in late 1971. Hewett's version reached #2 in the Kent Music Report, while Stone's take reached #25.
In 1972, a version of the song from the album Godspell (1971) by the original off-Broadway cast was released as a single in the US, and attributed simply to the group name "Godspell". Robin Lamont was the lead singer, uncredited. "Day by Day" spent 14 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at the #13 position on July 29, 1972. [5] Billboard ranked it as the No. 90 song for 1972. [6]
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