Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" is a popular song written by the Jay Livingston (music) and Ray Evans (lyrics) songwriting team.
Published in 1956, it was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (which Hitchcock had previously made in 1934) with Doris Day and James Stewart in the lead roles. Doris Day's recording of the song for Columbia Records with catalog number 40704 was a hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom and, from 1968 to 1973, the theme song for the sitcom The Doris Day Show.
The song reached the Billboard magazine charts in July, 1956. Listed with the alternate title, "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)," it received the 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was the third Oscar in this category for Livingston & Evans, who previously won in 1948 and 1950.
Cover versions
- 1950s/60s? British entertainer Tommy Steele recorded this on his album "40 Family Favourites," in a medley with "Cruising Down The River/Wonderful Copenhagen/Tulips From Amsterdam and Delilah" [verification needed]
- 1963: The High Keys, with a calypso feel and sports whistle accents, influenced at least two subsequent versions from Earl Royce & the Olympics and Normie Rowe & the Playboys [1].
- 1964: Earl Royce & the Olympics' version was recorded by the Beatles Record producer, George Martin [2] [3].
- 1965: It was a hit in Australia for Normie Rowe & The Playboys.
- 1966: Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band on their Hand Clappin' Foot Stompin' Funky-Butt...Live! album.
- 1973: The funk band Sly & the Family Stone, on their Fresh album .
- 1977: In Canada, a disco-pop style hit for husband-and-wife duo The Raes.
- 1979: Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson, on her "Rock'n Yodel" album.
- 1985: Ex-New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders recorded a version for his Que Sera, Sera album.
- 1994: K Cera Cera, a K Foundation (KLF) presentation of The Red Army Choir, was a limited edition single released in Israel and Palestine.
- 1997: Pink Martini renders a noir version on their debut album, Sympatique.
- 1998: The song was covered by BZN, on the album A symphonic night, volume 2.
- 2001: Hermes House Band, on their cover album, The Album [4].
- 2005/6: Sampled heavily by Wax Tailor in their song "Que Sera" on the album Tales of the Forgotten Melodies.
Trivia
- 1956: Que Sera Sera was the name given to a United States Navy Douglas DC-3 R4D Skytrain [5] that was used in Operation Deep Freeze II. On October 31, 1956, with a crew of 7, it was the first airplane to land on the South Pole. It is currently (2006) at the National Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida, USA with one wing broken off from Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
- 1960: Doris Day also sings just a few lines of song in the film, Please Don't Eat the Daisies (film). Her character, Kate, is out to dinner with husband, Lawrence. She hears the restaurant playing the music to the song and quietly sings the chorus to him.
- 1964: Allan Sherman quoted the words "Que Sera Sera" in the song "That is why America's a nice Italian Name" on his album "For Swinging Livers Only".
1965: The Chipmunks sang the song with a chorus of children, featuring an altered verse for the album: "I asked old Alvin", instead of the children asking their mother, instead. This version also appeared on the 1969 album of the Chipmunks going to the Movies.
- 1966: Doris Day and Arthur Godfrey (playing her dad in the movie) both sing a few lines as Godfrey strums his trademark ukelele in the film, "Glass Bottom Boat."
- 1989: The song was used in the title sequence of the movie Heathers, with an arrangement by Van Dyke Parks and performed by Syd Straw. The Sly & the Family Stone cover version is also in the film.
- 1995, 2005: The song was featured in The Simpsons episode, Bart's Comet, in which Ned Flanders sang the tune to comfort himself before Springfield was seemingly about to be destroyed by a comet. Ten years later, the song was played again in another episode, "There's Something About Marrying," during Marge's flashback sequence about noticing Patty’s gay activity.
- 1999: The song was used (in Japanese) near the end of the anime movie, My Neighbors the Yamadas.
- 1999: The Doris Day version was played in the movie version of Girl, Interrupted.
- 2001: In the anime series Fruits Basket, Shigure Sohma used the quote "Que Sera Sera" in episode 6 to say "Whatever Will Be, Will Be", a quote he likes to use in the manga of the same name.
- 2002: This song was used in the Gilmore Girls episode "Secrets and Loans".
- 2003: A version of the song performed by Pink Martini was also used in the pilot episode of Dead Like Me.
- 2004: The song was used on the television commercial for the first season of "Desperate Housewives" on Channel 4 in the UK
- 2004: Japanese jazz musician Charlie Kosei is the vocalist for a song entitled "Que Sera Sera" (lyrics and melody unrelated to the 1956 version) in the video game soundtrack Katamari Fortissimo Damacy.
- 2005: The name "Que Sera Sera" is used as a title for a song by Valencia, a Philadelphia Punk rock band [6].
- 2006: Que Sera, Sera is the title of an episode of House, M.D..
- 2006: The song was used before the penalty shoot out in the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
- English football fans often adapt the lyrics of this song when they reach a Wembley Cup final to, "Que Sera Sera, Whatever Will Be Will Be, We're Going to Wembley, Que Sera Sera!"
- There has been some minor controversy about the reputed language of the song title. The phrase "Que, sera, sera" was an alteration by the songwriters of a quasi-Italian phrase, "Che sara, sara," a fictional family motto in the 1954 film The Barefoot Contessa, and is neither Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, nor French.