The same title was used 25 years earlier by
Ted Koehler and
Burton Lane for their song for the 1944 film
Hollywood Canteen. A Ted Weems recording of 1938 also has an identical title.[2]
Background
Alan Bergman would recall that after Michel Legrand had written eight melodies which were somehow not viable for the film, Marilyn Bergman suggested the opening line "What are you doing the rest of your life?", and Legrand then completed the song's melody based on that phrase.[3] Marilyn Bergman would later comment on the dual meanings of the phrase "What are you doing the rest of your life?" to the film: its title alludes to the
marriage proposal Mary Spencer (played by
Jean Simmons) received and accepted sixteen years earlier but in the context of Mary's present-day angst, the question is now one Mary must ask herself.[4]
Cover Versions
"What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was sung in The Happy Ending by Michael Dees whose version was included on the film's soundtrack album.[5]
The first evident "outside" cover was by
Barbra Streisand who recorded the song on 24 September 1969 in the first session for her intended album The Singer, with the track having a single release 26 October 1969. After two later sessions – in respectively March and April 1970 – Streisand had recorded a total of eight tracks toward The Singer, only to have
Clive Davis shelve the project in favor of an album which was
soft rock rather than
easy listening, with Streisand cutting the first tracks for what would be her 1971 album release Stoney End on 29 July 1970. "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was utilized as the B-side of Streisand's #1 hit "
The Way We Were" released in 1973, and was included on the 1974 album release The Way We Were.[6][7]
Although the Streisand version drew no evident attention in its original single release, "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" did reach the
Easy Listening Top 40 ranking in Billboard – with a #40 peak – via a January 1970 recording by veteran vocalist
Jaye P. Morgan, whose version served as the title cut for her first album release in eight years (and her last until 1976).[8]
Also in 1970 "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was recorded by
Della Reese for her album Right Now: the 9 November 1997 broadcast of the
CBS series Touched by an Angel featured Reese's character; the angel Tess, singing the song in the guise of a supperclub singer.[9][10]
"What Are Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was also recorded by
Dusty Springfield in 1970, in the July sessions at
Trident Studios (
Soho) for her See All Her Faces album, but despite Springfield having had a
Top 40 hit with the Michel Legrand first Oscar-winning composition "
The Windmills of Your Mind" her version of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was cut from her upcoming album without being mixed, remaining "in the can" until 1994 when
Philips Records put together the four volume box set Dusty: The Legend Of Dusty Springfield with a completed recording of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" being included on the disc devoted to "Rarities" (the track was first released earlier in the year as a bonus on a
CD single which paired Springfield's hits "
Goin' Back" and "
Son-of-a Preacher Man").[11] In 2006 Springfield's version of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" was featured in a 60-second commercial for
diamonds – sponsored by the
Diamond Trading Company – which aired on American television, in cinemas and online.[12]
^Reed, Rod. "Musicians to Hold Annual Benefit Party Tomorrow." Buffalo Evening News, 31 March 1938.
^Kokomo Tribune 29 March 1980 "Bergmans Cash In on Romantic Lyrics" p.2
^Los Angeles Times 22 September 1974 "Marilyn & Alan Bergman: collaborating in marriage & work they have a nice n' easy way with Oscar-winning songs" by Marshall Berges p.40 (Home Magazine)
^San Fernando Valley Times 28 February 1970 "Record Rack" by Joe Roberts p.14