By Roger Crane
Dear Fellow Fans of the Good Stuff
The 1954 Love Me or Leave Me was a superb movie and soundtrack. It is certainly Doris Day’s greatest musical performance as an actress. In fact, for decades, many film critics, fans, writers would view the Academy’s failure to nominate Day for her portrayal of singer Ruth Etting as one its biggest oversights.
The film’s soundtrack shows her versatility from the 1920s flapper-song “Everybody Loves My Baby” to Berlin’s “Shakin’ the Blues Away” to the tough-dame Rodgers and Hart “Ten Cents a Dance.” Day is flawless on each of the songs.
One of my favorites from that soundtrack is her sublime vocal on “It All Depends on You,” accompanied by the piano of Milton Raskin. By the way composer David Raksin often found his name misspelled Raskin and, surprisingly, Raksin and Raskin did write a song together.
But, I digress and here is Miss Bottled Sunshine (thank you Mr. Friedwald) and “It All Depends on You” (a 2-minute aural back rub).
Enjoy. Comments welcomed.
Roger, the Intrepid Song Scout
The International Review of Music 