Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries
"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" is a popular song with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Lew Brown, published in 1931.[1] Ethel Merman introduced this song in George White's Scandals of 1931.[2] A Rudy Vallée version, recorded in 1931, spent five weeks in the top-10 pop music charts.[3] The song was revived in 1953 by singer Jaye P. Morgan.[4]
The song title gave rise to the revue of composer Ray Henderson's music called It's the Cherries, which launched the American Composer Series in 2000.[5]
Notable recordings
- Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees – 1931 single peaked at #3 on 9/19/1931
- Jack Hylton - 1931
- Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson - 1931
- Layton & Johnstone - 1931
- Jaye P. Morgan – 1953 single debuted 12/19/1953 and peaked at #26 on pop charts in 1954.
- Doris Day – The Love Album (1967) and My Heart (2011)
- Judy Garland – Judy (1956)
- Johnny Mathis featuring Forever Plaid – Mathis on Broadway (2000)
- Lisa Loeb recorded the song as the title track to the 2007 EP Cherries
In popular culture
- In the 1981 Steve Martin mock musical, Pennies From Heaven, a performance of the song by Walter S. Harrah, Gene Merlino, Vern Rowe, Robert Tebow and Al Vescovo is used in a cutaway segment in which Martin, Bernadette Peters, and Jessica Harper lip sync to the song.[6][7]
- The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 1983 documentary Seeing Red (1983 film).
- It is the opening song of the Broadway show Fosse, as sung by Ben Vereen.
- The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 2012 movie Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt.
- The song is twice sung in the 2013 movie Adoration starring Robin Wright, Naomi Watts, and Ben Mendelson.
- The song is sung in an episode of ITV's Poirot ( "Third Floor Flat") while a body is discovered.
References
- Young & Young 2005, p. 47.
- "Remembering Yesterday's Hits". Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986 ISBN 0-89577-249-3
- "Joel Whitburn presents A Century of Pop Music". Records Research, Inc., 1999 ISBN 0-89820-135-7
- "Single Releases". Jaye P. Morgan (official website). Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- "The Music of Ray Henderson". The American Composer Series. Archived from the original on July 7, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2011.
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082894/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd
- "Harrah, Walt".
- Young, William H.; Young, Nancy K. (2005), Music of the Great Depression, Greenwood, ISBN 0313332304
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