What'll I Do
"What'll I Do" is the name of a song written by Irving Berlin in 1923. It was introduced by singers Grace Moore and John Steel[1] late in the run of Berlin's third Music Box Revue and also was included in the following year's (1924) edition.[2] In the lyrics, the singer questions how he or she will get by now that a recent romance has ended.
The song was used as a generalized theme in Nelson Riddle's Academy award-winning period score for the 1974 film The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, sung by character actor William Atherton. It was sung by Mary Steenburgen in the 1991 movie, The Butcher's Wife, and was used as the theme tune to the 1990s British sitcom Birds of a Feather. An instrumental version of the song was used under the closing scene of the fifth season (1986–87) episode of the sitcom Cheers titled I Do and Adieu.
Notable recordings
"What'll I Do" is a popular standard and has been recorded by many artists. Following is a partial list of artists who have recorded versions (in alphabetical order):
- Acoustix, a modern Barbershop Quartet
- Bea Arthur, on the 1992 Golden Girls episode "Journey to the Center of Attention"
- Chet Baker
- Pat Boone
- Chris Botti, from his album When I Fall in Love with vocals by Paula Cole[3][4]
- Elkie Brooks
- Jim Campilongo
- Cher, on the album Dark Lady
- Rosemary Clooney, The King Cole Trio
- Nat King Cole
- Perry Como
- The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
- The Fleetwoods
- Art Garfunkel, on his album Some Enchanted Evening
- Judy Garland
- Crystal Gayle
- Georgia Gibbs
- Eydie Gorme
- Dick Haymes
- Judy Holliday - Trouble Is A Man (2003)
- Lena Horne
- Burl Ives
- Alison Krauss for the film Mona Lisa Smile
- Cleo Laine
- Joey Lawrence
- Julie London
- Charlie Landsborough
- Art Lund
- Gloria Lynne
- Johnny Mathis
- Kate and Anna McGarrigle with Loudon Wainwright III, Martha Wainwright, and Rufus Wainwright
- Anne Murray
- Harry Nilsson
- Bernadette Peters performed a particularly poignant TV solo in the mid-1970s, but no public recording exists; she also sang it to Johnny Carson on one of his last shows (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson) on April 15, 1992
- Lou Rawls
- Redhot & Blue
- Rita Reys
- Linda Robson & Pauline Quirke recorded a version for series 3 - 8 of the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather
- Linda Ronstadt with Nelson Riddle, on the album "What's New" (1983)
- Jan Rot translated in Dutch as "Hoe zal het zijn"
- Bobby Scott
- Anne Shelton
- Dinah Shore
- Frank Sinatra
- Johnny Tillotson
- Sarah Vaughan
- Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
- Slim Whitman
- The Mike Sammes Singers
- Dianne Wiest, in the Woody Allen movie, 'September' (1987)
External links
Notes