"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" | |
---|---|
Song by Michael Dees | |
from the album The Happy Ending | |
Released | December 21, 1969 |
Genre | Show tunes |
Length | 3:34 |
Songwriter(s) |
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" is a song with lyrics written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman and original music written by Michel Legrand for the 1969 film The Happy Ending , performed by Michael Dees. [1] The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost out to "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head". [2]
The same title was used 25 years earlier by Ted Koehler and Burton Lane for their song for the 1944 film Hollywood Canteen . A Ted Weems recording of 1938 also has an identical title. [3]
Alan Bergman would recall that after Michel Legrand had written eight melodies which were somehow not viable for the film, Marilyn Bergman suggested the opening line "What are you doing the rest of your life?", and Legrand then completed the song's melody based on that phrase. [4] Marilyn Bergman would later comment on the dual meanings of the phrase "What are you doing the rest of your life?" to the film: its title alludes to the marriage proposal Mary Spencer (played by Jean Simmons) received and accepted sixteen years earlier but in the context of Mary's present-day angst, the question is now one Mary must ask herself. [5]
The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by the submitting composer. Some pre-existing music is allowed, though, but a contending film must include a minimum of original music. This minimum since 2021 is established as 35% of the music, which is raised to 80% for sequels and franchise films. Fifteen scores are shortlisted before nominations are announced.
Michel Jean Legrand was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, jazz pianist, and singer. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many songs. His scores for two of the films of French New Wave director Jacques Demy, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), earned Legrand his first Academy Award nominations. Legrand won his first Oscar for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind" from The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and additional Oscars for Summer of '42 (1971) and Barbra Streisand's Yentl (1983).
The 15th Annual Grammy Awards were held on March 3, 1973, at the Tennessee Theatre in Nashville, Tennessee. The event was the first Grammy ceremony not to be held in either New York City or Los Angeles. The 15th Grammys were also the first to be broadcast live on CBS, which has carried every Grammy telecast since.
The Happy Ending is a 1969 American drama film written and directed by Richard Brooks, which tells the story of a repressed housewife who longs for liberation from her husband and daughter. It stars Jean Simmons, John Forsythe, Shirley Jones, Lloyd Bridges and Teresa Wright.
"How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" is a song composed by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman for the 1982 film Best Friends, where it was introduced by James Ingram and Patti Austin. The Austin/Ingram version became a single in 1983 and reached #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. It was one of three songs with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards.
From Left to Right is an album by American jazz pianist Bill Evans, released in 1971. It was recorded with his regular bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Marty Morell and with an orchestra arranged and conducted by Michael Leonard. This was the first album on which Evans played a Fender Rhodes electric piano.
The Oscar Peterson Trio in Tokyo is a live album by jazz pianist Oscar Peterson and his trio, released in 1977. It was reissued in 2005 with a revised track sequence as Last Trio: Oscar Peterson in Tokyo.
Lyrically, Alan Bergman is the debut album by American lyricist Alan Bergman. It was recorded in 2007 and released later that year by Verve Records. The album consists of songs with lyrics by Bergman and his wife, Marilyn Bergman. Alan and Marilyn Bergman have been nominated fifteen times for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, and have won twice, at the 41st Academy Awards for "Windmills of Your Mind", and for "The Way We Were" at the 46th Academy Awards, both winning songs are featured on this album.
Mel Tormé live at the Maisonette is a 1975 live album by Mel Tormé.
Keep the Music Playing is a 1991 album by Shirley Bassey. The album was recorded in the UK at the Westgreen Studios and in the Netherlands at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum. The album is a mixture of contemporary pop ballads, such as "I Want to Know What Love Is" from Foreigner, the Jennifer Rush power ballad "The Power of Love", and the more gentle "Still" from Lionel Richie, combined with standards from the field of jazz and pop, such as "He Was Beautiful", the sweet jazz ballad from Cleo Laine. Several of the song arrangements reflect an operatic pop style influence, which may have roots in her 1984 album I Am What I Am, which she recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra, and the fact that in the latter mid-1980s she started working with a vocal coach, a former opera singer. Bassey returned to the Beatles with "Yesterday", as she had previously covered "Something" and "Fool on the Hill" successfully in the 1970s, and had performed "Hey Jude" frequently live. Another previously successful formula was used for the closing track "Dio, Come Ti Amo " an Italian original in the tradition of "This is My Life" and "Natalie"..
The Lyric is a 2006 jazz album by saxophonist and percussionist Jim Tomlinson and vocalist Stacey Kent, who sings on ten of the thirteen tracks.
A Time for Love is a studio album by Cuban performer Arturo Sandoval. It was released by Concord Records on May 11, 2010. The album was produced by Jorge Calandrelli and Gregg Field and features collaborations by Chris Botti, Kenny Barron and Monica Mancini.
Marlena is an album by American vocalist Marlena Shaw recorded in 1972 and released on the Blue Note label. The album was Shaw's third release and her first for the Blue Note label.
Love Story is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on February 10, 1971, by Columbia Records and included a recent Oscar nominee, a flashback to 1967 ("Traces"), a new song by Bacharach & David, a lesser-known one by Goffin & King, and two songs that originated in film scores from 1970 and had lyrics added later: the album closer, "Loss of Love", from Sunflower and the album opener from Love Story, which was subtitled "Where Do I Begin". The norm for Mathis projects from this era was to cover recent hits, and the title track of this one was so recent that the version by Andy Williams began a 13-week run to number nine on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1971, coinciding with the release of this LP.
Sarah Vaughan with Michel Legrand is a 1972 studio album by Sarah Vaughan, arranged by Michel Legrand.
"Sweet Gingerbread Man" is a song with music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman. It was recorded originally for director Leonard Horn's 1970 screen version of Robert T. Westbrook's The Magic Garden of Stanley Sweetheart, a film about young people in Greenwich Village. The song for the film was performed by the Mike Curb Congregation, who went on to record other film songs, including "I Was Born in Love with You", another Legrand/Alan Bergman/Marilyn Bergman composition, this time for the 1970 film version of Wuthering Heights.
How Do You Keep the Music Playing? is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 4, 1993, by Columbia Records and included the subtitle The Songs of Michel Legrand and Alan & Marilyn Bergman on its cover. The album featured new, individual recordings of two songs that Mathis covered as a medley for his 1973 album Me and Mrs. Jones -- "I Was Born in Love with You" and "Summer Me, Winter Me". He also performed new arrangements of "The Windmills of Your Mind", "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", and "The Summer Knows", which he had recorded for other albums many years earlier.
Alan Bergman and Marilyn Keith Bergman were an American songwriting duo. Married from 1958 until Marilyn's death, together they wrote music and lyrics for numerous celebrated television, film, and stage productions. The Bergmans enjoyed a successful career, honored with four Emmys, three Oscars, and two Grammys. They are in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Windmills of Your Mind is an album by the saxophonist Bud Shank recorded in 1969 for the Pacific Jazz label. The album features music by Michel Legrand who also provided the arrangements.
"Pieces of Dreams" is a song from the 1971 film of the same name. It was composed by Michel Legrand, the lyrics were written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. It was performed by Peggy Lee as the title track on the film.