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R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 11:22 am
by Bruce Bernard Williams
Legendary actress Doris Day passed away today at age 97 from pneumonia. Some members of her family were by her side when she passed away. Doris had been discussed in numerous posts on this forum—wishing her a Happy 90th birthday and a Happy 95th birthday along with posts about her career. Her many movie roles will always be remembered along with her memorable recordings of which included a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song from the movie of the same day "Send Me No Flowers". I remember this song from 1964 and how it had Bacharach's fingerprints all over it complete with the time changes, chord progressions, and key changes.
My condolences are extended to her family, friends, and many fans.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 1:43 pm
by blueonblue
R.i.P. Doris.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDQqxsJNcYQ

Que sera sera,

'blue'

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Mon May 13, 2019 2:51 pm
by Sara D
Doris Day was a uniquely talented lady, a great singer and a terrific actress with a tremendous flair for comedy.

Every time I hear 'Send Me No Flowers' I wonder how such an attractive song could completely fail to be a hit and, even more puzzlingly, why it remains little known to this day.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 4:39 am
by Martin Johnson
Sara D wrote:Doris Day was a uniquely talented lady, a great singer and a terrific actress with a tremendous flair for comedy.

Every time I hear 'Send Me No Flowers' I wonder how such an attractive song could completely fail to be a hit and, even more puzzlingly, why it remains little known to this day.
It's a shame that Bacharach often seems to take a "It wasn't a hit so it can't be any good" stance on many of his lesser known gems and that probably explains why he's never cut a version of 'Send Me No Flowers' himself. It would certainly have been interesting to hear the song with a typical Bacharach arrangement circa 64/65 with someone like Jackie DeShannon at the helm.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 5:25 am
by Djalma Junior
A great loss for Music and Cinema.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Wed May 15, 2019 4:44 am
by pljms
By making her last movie in 1968 when only in her mid-40s and effectively giving up on her singing and recording career at the same time she was living proof of the old adage, "Quit while you're ahead". I know that she made some recordings in the 80s which saw the light of day on an album released several years ago but to all intents and purposes she spent the second half of her life in retirement.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 10:53 am
by grooverider
I read that "Send Me No Flowers" initially was produced & arranged by Jack Nitzsche, with Bacharach (who was too busy) asking Mr. Nitzsche to have Ms. Day sound like a "white Ronette". The results were not to husband Marty Melcher's liking so that recording was shelved.

If story was true, would really like to hear this recording!

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 12:19 pm
by blueonblue
grooverider wrote:I read that "Send Me No Flowers" initially was produced & arranged by Jack Nitzsche, with Bacharach (who was too busy) asking Mr. Nitzsche to have Ms. Day sound like a "white Ronette". The results were not to husband Marty Melcher's liking so that recording was shelved.

If story was true, would really like to hear this recording!
So would I.....Jack Nitzsche was the "Architect" behind Phil Spector's 'Wall of Sound'

He also did the arrangement for Doris's hit 'Move Over Darling'.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FodJJJzQk4I

'blue'

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 1:26 pm
by Blair N. Cummings
Nietzche also released an album of his classical compositions called St. Giles Cripplegate recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra in `71. Needless to say, it went out of print while copies were still being shipped to the distributors; but give it a listen. It`s better than you think it`s going to be. In fact, although I hate to admit it, this is superior to John Cale`s similar album, Academy In Peril, made around the same time. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=O ... hvfgPYmbc4
More to the point of this topic, I agree that Jackie DeShannon would have been a better choice to record "...Flowers." In fact, I always wondered why Burt didn`t turn to her after the break with Dionne. She would have nailed those songs that Stephanie Mills ended up recording. No one has ever explained why, how and by whom Mills was selected for that project. She gave it her best and I like the album; but she was obviously in over her head.

Re: R.I.P.—Doris Day

Posted: Thu May 16, 2019 9:43 pm
by ron hertel
..... One could speculate endlessly on the posts above. ..... The one thing I am convinced of is that Jackie DeShannon is second only to Dionne as the best interpreter of Bacharach's unconventional compositions. She should have been Burt's "go to" choice after the bitter breakup of the Burt, Hal & Dionne musical marriage. ..... Interesting to note that Jackie initially recorded "What The World Needs Now" and Dionne has re-recorded it as least 6 times (not counting a number of live recordings). ... Although Warwick's initial cover of that back in the 60's was beautiful and musically on target - I still consider Jackie's to be the definitive version. ... FYI - first single released on Dionne's latest Damon Elliott produced CD (available tomorrow) is "What The World Needs Now Is Love"