Doris Day Vowed to Never Sing This Song Again, but It Became Her Biggest Hit

By 1956, Doris Day had spent more than a decade releasing hit after hit, including “Sentimental Journey”, “Love Somebody”, “A Bushel And A Peck”, and others. So if anyone seemed to know what a hit song was, it was Day. Still, Day nearly passed on “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)”, the song that remains among her most noteworthy.

“Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans. The song, out in 1956, is part of the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, starring Day and Jimmy Stewart.

The chorus of “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” says, “Que sera, sera / Whatever will be, will be / The future’s not ours to see / Que sera, sera / What will be, will be.” 

“Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” is Day’s final Top 5 single. The success of “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” is surprising, since Day admittedly hated this song. In fact, she vowed to never sing it again after she recorded it.

What Doris Day Said About “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” 

Livingston later recalled how much Day hated “Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)” when she was asked to sing it for the Hitchcock movie.

“She didn’t want to record it, but the studio pressured her,” Livingston says in the book, Songwriters On Songwriting. “She did it in one take and said, ‘That’s the last you’re going to hear of this song.’”

Livingston also reveals that it was Hitchcock himself who called the writers. Hitchcock asked them to write a song for Day to sing, even though he was not thrilled with his leading lady.

“We got a call from Alfred Hitchcock. And he told us that he had Doris Day in his picture, whom he didn’t want,” Livingston remembers. “But MCA, the agency, was so powerful that they said if he wanted Jimmy Stewart, he would also have to take Doris Day and Livingston and Evans. It was the only time an agent got us a job that I can remember. Hitchcock said that since Doris Day was a singer, they needed a song for her.

“He said, ‘I can tell you what it should be about,’” he adds. “‘She sings it to a boy. It should have a foreign title because Jimmy Stewart is a roving ambassador and he goes all over the world.’”

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