ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/> <title>We've Only Just Begun</title> <meta name="description" content="a forgotten gem from popularsong.org"> <meta name="keywords" content="Doris Day, Sammy Fain, Secret Love, Calamity Jane, Freddy Fender, Academy Award song"> <meta name="revisit-after" CONTENT="30 Days"> <meta name="robots" CONTENT="All"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="forgotten-gem.css" type="text/css" charset="utf-8" /> </head> <body> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="header"> </div> <div id="nav"> <a href="sitemap.html">Table of Contents</a> <a href="artist4.html">Artist</a> <a href="songwriter4.html">Songwriter</a> <a class="lastchild" href="tidbits4.html">Tidbits</a> </div> <div id="body"> <div id="body-top"> <div id="body-bot"> <div id="about-box"> <h2><b>Doris Day</b><BR> Secret Love</h2> <img src="images/dorisday.jpg" width="150" height="149" alt="the carpenters" class="left" /> <p><i>Calamity Jane</i> was a 1954 motion picture starring Doris Day and Howard Keel. The film score was composed by the very successful team of Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster. It received an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Doris Day also recorded the best-selling record of the song, and peaked at #1 on both the Billboard and Cash Box charts in 1954. Originally released on Columbia Records, it stayed at #1 for the month of March.</P> <P>A country/western cover version of the song was released almost immediately by Slim Whitman. It rocketed up the country charts, also hitting the top spot in most US markets. As good as Whitman's version was, no cover could possibly match the original in this case. Day managed to vocalize longing, heartache and lost love and somehow blend it with a trademark "Doris Day naivete." Her vocal still grabs the listener.</P> <P>Add to Day's vocal an orchestral arrangement that is simply second to none. The interplay of a rich, full sound doing couterpoint with a staccato bridge is, in a word, perfect. The crescendo and key change late in the song is also stunning, setting a standard for movie themes that would not be matched until Andy Williams' version of "Moon River" some eight years later. Simply put, Doris Day's performance of "Secret Love" paints a vivid, dramatic story in the listener's mind. It is one of the greatest pop recordings of all time; it's hard to imagine how successful the song would've become if it hadn't been so closely associated with such a goofy movie visual. (If you must see it, the movie scene is embedded from YouTube, above right.)</P> <P>A brief snippet of the song plays can be heard here:</P> <P><center><EMBED SRC="http://www.mp3fiesta.co.uk/listen/898663.m3u" WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=45 AUTOSTART="true"><BR><B>Doris Day</B></center></p> <P>article continues in the column at left...</P> </div> <div id="express-box"> <h2><b>"no secret</b> anymore"</h2> <<object width="300" height="250"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/W8Ar9Q0Eru4&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/W8Ar9Q0Eru4&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="300" height="250"></embed></object> <P>Debut of "Secret Love" in <i>Calamity Jane</i>. The "secret" to the song is that it is actually better <i>without</i> the visual.</P> <HR> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "pub-0751440218004690"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 250; google_ad_format = "300x250_as"; google_ad_type = "text_image"; //2007-06-12: popularsong google_ad_channel = "2075110773"; google_color_border = "FFFFFF"; google_color_bg = "FFCCCC"; google_color_link = "5F3E2F"; google_color_text = "1D110B"; google_color_url = "862E06"; //--> </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script><HR> <P><b>...continued from column at left</b></P> <P>"Secret Love" got an interesting and unexpected second life on the country charts in the mid 1970s when the quirky cajun/tex-mex/country star Freddy Fender took a turn with it. Fender's performance doesn't rival Day's in terms of its importance to the history of pop music, but it is excellent in its own right. Fender's poignant, sincere vocal and unique stylings worked very well with the tune. Rather than compete with Day's version, Fender's recording simply adds to the song's resume. It went to number one on the country charts in 1975, and climbed into the top 20 on the Billboard pop charts.</P> <P>If you would like to read and listen to last month's forgotten gem, <i>We've Only Just Begun</I>, <A href="forgotten-gem3.html">please click here</A>. </div> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="foot"> <div id="foot-top"> <div id="foot-bot"> <div id="what-box"> <h2><b>spotlight</b> album</h2> <table><tr><td><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=slackpacker-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B0000024RD&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></td><td>This album is simply great. The link here goes to Amazon.com, which has excellent pricing, and an outstanding return policy. </td></tr></table> </div> <div id="news-box"> <h2><b>also</b> recommended</h2> <table><tr><td><iframe src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=slackpacker-20&o=1&p=8&l=as1&asins=B00005B7FA&fc1=000000&IS2=1&lt1=_blank&lc1=0000FF&bc1=000000&bg1=FFFFFF&f=ifr" style="width:120px;height:240px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0"></iframe></td><td>Here's Freddy's version, a terrific album for music fans. His vocals are simply amazing, but not necessarily to everyone's liking. One thing to be aware of, with these amazon.com links you can download just the songs you want, if you prefer the convenience of mp3 format.</tr></table> </div> <div class="clear"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="footer"> <p>&copy; 2007 popularsong.org all right reserved</p> </div> </div> </body> </html>