Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)

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This article is about the song. For the Johnny Thunders album, see Que Sera Sera (album). For the House episode, see Que Sera Sera (House). For the Italian song from 1971, see Che sarà.
"Que Será, Será"
("Whatever Will Be, Will Be")
Music by Jay Livingston
Lyrics by Ray Evans
Published 1956
Language English
Original artist Doris Day
Recorded by many artists;
see cover versions

"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)",[1] first published in 1956, is a popular song written by the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans songwriting team.[2] The song was introduced in the Alfred Hitchcock film The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956),[3] starring Doris Day and James Stewart in the lead roles.[2]

Day's recording of the song for Columbia Records (catalog number 40704) made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100[4] and number one in the UK Singles Chart.[2] From 1968 to 1973, it was the theme song for the situation comedy The Doris Day Show, becoming her signature song. The three verses of the song progress through the life of the narrator – from childhood, to young adulthood and falling in love, to parenthood – and each asks "What will I be?" or "What lies ahead?" The chorus repeats the answer: "What will be will be." It reached the Billboard magazine charts in July 1956. The song received the 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Song with the alternative title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)".[3] It was the third Oscar in this category for Livingston and Evans, who previously won in 1948 and 1950.[2] The title sequence of the Hitchcock film gives the song title as Whatever Will Be. It was a #1 hit in Australia for pop singer Normie Rowe in September 1965.

The song is sometimes confused with the song Che sarà[citation needed], released by José Feliciano, first in Italian in 1971, then in Spanish as Qué Será, but the two songs have nothing in common except the similarity of their titles and the general theme of concern about the future. (Che sarà was written by two Italians, Jimmy Fontana (born Enrico Sbriccoli) and Franco Migliacci and the title is more grammatically correct than is Que Sera, Sera).

Contents

Language in title and lyrics [edit]

The song became so popular throughout the world that speakers of many languages adopted its title phrase, "Que será, será", into their speech, or at least came to recognize it and understand its meaning separately from the music. In spite of the fact that the phrase is not grammatical in any language, the song inspired a sense of ownership in many speakers of different Romance languages, such that they came to feel that the phrase was an altered form of their own respective native languages.

The popularity of the song has led to curiosity about the origins of the saying and the identity of its language. The answer is not simple. It is a centuries-old saying used mainly by English-speaking people. In linguistic terms, "Que será, será"[5] – in the form in which Livingston and Evans adopted it – is a hybrid expression made by superimposing Spanish words on English syntax (somewhat in the way that "Long time no see" consists of English words superimposed on Chinese syntax). Evans and Livingston had some knowledge of Spanish, and early in their career they worked together as musicians on cruise ships to the Caribbean and South America. Composer Jay Livingston had seen the 1954 Hollywood film The Barefoot Contessa, in which a fictional Italian family has the motto "Che sarà sarà" (Italian words superimposed on English syntax) carved in stone at their ancestral castle. He immediately wrote it down as a possible song title, and he and lyricist Ray Evans later gave it a Spanish spelling "because there are so many Spanish-speaking people in the world".[6][7]

Most Romance languages are like English in using a single word for the interrogative what (as in the question "What will it be?"): Spanish qué, Italian che, etc. But, for the "free relative" (non-interrogative) what (as in the assertion "What will be, will be"), unlike English, the Romance languages generally call for a two-word expression: Spanish lo que, Italian quello che, etc. (literally, "that which").

One of the earliest documentations of the saying records it as being chosen by an English aristocrat of the 16th century (the 1st Earl of Bedford), as his family's heraldic motto.[8][9] His successors—Earls and, later, Dukes of Bedford ("Sixth Creation")—continued the use of the motto. Soon after its adoption as a heraldic motto, it appeared in Christopher Marlowe's play Doctor Faustus (written ca. 1590; published 1604), whose text[10] (Act 1, Scene 1) contains a line with the archaic Italian spelling "Che sera, sera / What will be, shall be").[11] From then until the 1950s, the saying appeared in print repeatedly, though not frequently, with both spellings ("Che" and "Que"), first as a motto and later in the speech of fictional characters as a spontaneous expression of a fatalistic attitude, always in an English-speaking context. The saying has virtually no history in Spain or Italy prior to Doris Day's recording of the song.

Other uses of the song and phrase [edit]

The song is prominently featured in the 1988 movie Heathers.

The song is regularly sung at English football matches when a team is progressing to the next round of a competition that will ultimately lead them to Wembley Stadium.[12] The chorus' second line is changed to ‘Que Será, Será, whatever will be, will be, we're going to Wembley, Que Será, Será’.

The song is sometimes sung by supporters of English clubs, who change the lyrics to reflect their dislike of rivals. The lyrics are changed to tell the story of a young man asking his mother whom he should support. For example (to the tune of the chorus), "Wash your mouth out son, and get your father's gun, and shoot the Pompey scum, and support the Saints."

It was also adopted by the Republic of Ireland football team when they qualified for the World Cup in 1990, a.k.a. Italia '90. It was changed to: "Que será, será. Whatever will be, will be. We're going to Italy, Que será, será".

Fans of Dundee FC put their twist to the song, changing it to "Juan Sara, Sara. Whatever will be will be. He gave United Three. Juan Sara, Sara" in light of their recent 3-0 victory over local rivals, Dundee United, on the 20th September 2000, where Juan Sara scored a hat-trick.

In 1956 "Que Será, Será" was the name given to a US Navy C-47 Skytrain[13][14][15] which, on October 31, 1956, was the first aircraft to land on the South Pole (Operation Deep Freeze II).

In the anime series Inazuma Eleven, the phrase is used in the second opening song's lyrics.

In Clive Barker's "The Yattering and Jack" the phrase was used throughout as the main character's mantra.

In the initial script for the 2009 horror film Orphan, the song was frequently sung by Esther. The final cut replaces this song with "The Glory of Love" by Jimmy Durante.

Pink Martini's cover of the song is used in promotional trailer for American Horror Story: Asylum and as the closing music of the pilot episode of Dead Like Me.

The sixth episode of the third season of the television series House is entitled "Que Sera Sera".

In the climax of "Mary and Max", Mary, high on Valium, examines her house preparing for suicide whilst the tune plays.

Normie Rowe [edit]

"Que Será, Será
(Whatever Will Be, Will Be)"
Single by Normie Rowe and the Playboys
B-side "Shakin' All Over"
Released 1965 (Australia)
Format 45 rpm 7"
Recorded Sunshine Records: 1965
Genre Pop
Label Sunshine Records Sunshine QK 1103 (Australia)
Writer(s) Ray Evans and Jay Livingston
Producer Pat Aulton
Normie Rowe and the Playboys singles chronology
"I Confess"/ "Everything's Alright" "Que Será, Será (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" "Tell Him I'm Not Home" / "Call On Me"

Australian pop singer Normie Rowe's 1965 recording of "Que Será, Será", which was produced by Pat Aulton on the Sunshine Record label (Sunshine QK 1103), was the biggest hit of his career, "the biggest Australian rock 'n roll hit of 1965",[16] and is reputed to be the biggest-selling Australian single of the 1960s.[17] The song was "done in the style of "Louie, Louie" and the manner of "Hang On Sloopy",[16] and given a "Merseybeat" treatment (in the manner of The Beatles' "Twist & Shout"), and was backed by Rowe's band The Playboys. It was paired with a powerful version of the Johnny Kidd & The Pirates' classic "Shakin' All Over", and the single became a double-sided No. 1 hit in most capitals (#1 Sydney, #1 Melbourne, #1 Brisbane, #1 Adelaide, and Perth).[18][19] in September 1965, charting for 28 weeks and selling in unprecedented numbers, with Rock historian Ian McFarlane reporting sales of 80,000 copies,[17][20] while 1970s encyclopedist Noel McGrath claimed sales of 100,000.[21] Rowe scored another first in October 1965 when "Que Sera Sera" became his third hit single in the Melbourne Top 40 simultaneously. In 1965 Rowe received a gold record for "Que Será, Será" at Sydney's prestigious Chevron Hotel.[22] In December 1965 the master of Rowe's version was purchased by Jay-Gee Records for release in the USA.[23] In April 1966 Rowe received a second gold record for the sales of "Que Será, Será".[24] In August 1966 Rowe won Radio 5KA's annual best male vocal award for "Que Será, Será".[25] In 2006 Rowe released a newly recorded version, which was released by ABC via iTunes, and later adding "the whole digital mix with a radio mix and a dance mix".[26]

Other versions [edit]

Other versions of "Que Será, Será" include:[19]

Non-English versions [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ Front cover of Livingston & Evans sheet music.
  2. ^ a b c d Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 135. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  3. ^ a b Spencer Leigh (19 October 2001). "Obituary: Jay Livingston". The Independent. 
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1987). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (3rd ed.). New York: Billboard Publications. ISBN 0-8230-7520-6. .
  5. ^ http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/qu%C3%A9_ser%C3%A1,_ser%C3%A1
  6. ^ "Anecdotes: Ray Evans (1915–2007)". Art Daily. 
  7. ^ Pomerance, Murray (2001), "The Future's Not Ours To See: Song, Singer, Labyrinth in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much", in Wojcik, Pamela Robertson; Knight, Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music (essay), Durham and London: Duke University Press, footnote, "Written one night after they saw The Barefoot Contessa, in which Rossano Brazzi says near the end, "Che sera sera." Livingston jotted down the words in the dark and they "knocked off the song" afterwards. Two weeks later the call from Hitchcock came through. [Conversation with Livingston, September 18, 1995.]"  Unknown parameter |edito2-first= ignored (help)
  8. ^ Foster, JJ (1884), "The Founder of the Russell Family", The Antiquary 10: 69 .
  9. ^ Einstein, Lewis (1902), The Italian Renaissance in England, New York: Burt Franklin, p. 98 .
  10. ^ The tragical history of dr. Faustus, Full books .
  11. ^ http://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=che+sar%C3%A0%2C+sar%C3%A0&fulltext=Search&searchengineselect=mediawiki
  12. ^ You tube, Google .
  13. ^ "Aviation History Facts". US Centennial of Flight. .
  14. ^ Gunston, William ‘Bill’, ed. (2001), Aviation Year by Year (Dorling Kindersley ed.), London: Amber Books, ASIN 0751333670, ASIN 0789479869, "October 31 in 1956: The US Navy R4D-5 C-47 Skytrain Que Sera Sera, commanded by Rear Admiral George Dufek, becomes the first airplane to make a landing at the South Pole." 
  15. ^ Spindler, William ‘Bill’. "Que Sera Sera". South Pole Station.  Includes photographs of the crew and the plane; references include Paul Allen Siple, 90° South (1959).
  16. ^ a b Eder, Bruce, Normie Rowe, VH1 .
  17. ^ a b O'Donnell, John; Creswell, Toby; Mathieson, Craig (2010), The 100 Best Australian Albums, Hardie Grant, p. 228 .
  18. ^ Feature Item, AU: Pop archives .
  19. ^ a b Normie Rowe & the playboys: Que Sera Sera, AU: Pop archives .
  20. ^ McFarlane, Ian (1999), Encyclopedia of Australian Rock & Pop, Allen & Unwin .
  21. ^ McGrath, Noel (1978), Australian Encyclopedia of Rock, Outback Press .
  22. ^ Griffen-Foley, Bridget (2010), Changing Stations: The Story of Australian Commercial Radio, UNSW Press, p. 266 .
  23. ^ "Jay-Gee Acquires", Billboard, 11 December 1965: 4 .
  24. ^ Hilder, George (9 April 1966), "Sydney", Billboard: 52 .
  25. ^ "Thorpe Gets Aussie Award", Billboard, 13 August 1966: 66 .
  26. ^ Cashmere, Paul (16 November 2006), Normie Rowe Records New Don Walker Song, Undercover, retrieved 8 August 2012 .
  27. ^ Billboard, 29 June 1963: 38 .
  28. ^ "Hot 100", Billboard, 14 September 1963: 20 .
  29. ^ Billboard, 9 May 1964: 30 .
  30. ^ Billboard, 15 May 1965: 59 .
  31. ^ Billboard, 30 January 1965: 35 .
  32. ^ Billboard, 2 April 1966: 54 .
  33. ^ Billboard, 29 October 1966: 42 .
  34. ^ Billboard, 11 June 1966: 16 .
  35. ^ Billboard, 27 June 1970: 62, 71 .
  36. ^ Billboard, 23 June 1973: 76 .
  37. ^ Billboard, 8 July 1978: 69 .
  38. ^ Don't Smoke in Bed.
  39. ^ Lumière et Vie (36–40), 1958: 136 .
  40. ^ Cash, David ‘Dave’; Boland, Didier, Que será, será (in Yiddish), You tube .
  41. ^ TENG 鄧麗君, Teresa (1960s), 世事多變化 [Many Things Changed] .
  42. ^ Nougaro, Claude, Tu verras (in French), You tube .
  43. ^ You tube (in Indonesian), Google .
  44. ^ Que será, será, Music me .
  45. ^ Koncz, Zsuzsa, Ahogy lesz, ugy lesz (in Hungarian), You tube .

External links [edit]
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