| "Secret Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byDoris Day | ||||
| from the albumCalamity Jane | ||||
| B-side | ||||
| Released | October 9, 1953[1] | |||
| Recorded | August 5, 1953 | |||
| Studio | Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank | |||
| Genre | Traditional pop | |||
| Length | 3:41 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Songwriters | Sammy Fain,Paul Francis Webster | |||
| Doris Day singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Secret Love" is a song composed bySammy Fain (music) andPaul Francis Webster (lyrics)[2] forCalamity Jane, a 1953musical film in which it was introduced byDoris Day in the title role.[2] Ranked as a number 1 hit for Day on both theBillboard andCash Box, the song also afforded Day a number 1 hit in the UK. "Secret Love" has subsequently been recorded by a wide range of artists, becoming aC&W hit firstly forSlim Whitman and later forFreddy Fender, with the song also becoming anR&B hit forBilly Stewart, whose version also reached thetop 40 as did Freddy Fender's.[3] In the UK, "Secret Love" would become the career record ofKathy Kirby via her 1963 remake of the song.[2] The melody bears a slight resemblance to the opening theme ofSchubert's A-major piano sonata, D.664.
Doris Day first heard "Secret Love" when its co-writer Sammy Fain visited the singer's home and played it for her, Day being so moved by the song that she'd recall her reaction as being: "I just about fell apart".[4]
Day recorded the song on 5 August 1953 in a session at theWarner Bros. Recording Studio (Burbank), overseen by Warner Bros. musical directorRay Heindorf. On the day of the recording session for "Secret Love", Day had done vocal exercises at her home. Then about noon—the session being scheduled for 1 p.m.—she had set out on her bicycle to the studio. Heindorf had rehearsed the studio orchestra prior to Day's reaching the studio; upon her arrival, Heindorf suggested that Day do a practice run-through with the orchestra prior to recording any takes, but acquiesced to Day's request that her first performance with the orchestra be recorded. Day recalls, "When I got there I sang the song with the orchestra for the first time ... That was the first and only take we did." ... "When I finished Ray called me into the sound booth grinning from ear to ear and said, 'That's it. You're never going to do it better.'"[4]
The single of "Secret Love" was released on 9 October 1953—three weeks prior to the premiere of theCalamity Jane film—by her longtime record label,Columbia Records in both 45 and 78 rpm format (cat. no.40108).[5] The single entered the Top 20 bestselling singles survey at number 17 onBillboard magazine dated 9 January 1954 with the single reaching number 1 on the Top 20 survey for the week ending 17 February 1954, the week in which the song's Academy Award nomination for Best Song had been announced, the nominations for the26th Academy Awards for the film year 1953 having been announced two days earlier. Day's "Secret Love", having spent three weeks ranked as the number 1 bestselling single byBillboard, was still ranked as the number 4 bestseller the week of the 26th Academy Awards broadcast which occurred 25 March 1954. However, Day declined to perform the nominated (and ultimately victorious) "Secret Love" at the Academy Awards ceremony, later stating: "When they asked me to sing 'Secret Love' on Academy Awards night I told them I couldn't—not in front of those people".[4] Instead,Ann Blyth performed the song at the ceremony. Day's refusal to perform "Secret Love" on the Academy Awards broadcast resulted in theHollywood Women's Press Club "honoring" Day with theSour Apple Award as the most uncooperative celebrity of 1953: this put-down occasioned a bout of depression which kept Day virtually housebound for several weeks, and which Day eventually had to qualify herChristian Science outlook to deal with, consulting with a medical practitioner.[4]
Cash Box reported in January 1954 that Day’s original recording “was losing a great deal of [radio] play because it ran something like 3:40 minutes. Realizing this, the diskery has just released a shortened version of the number in the hope that some of the play that had been lost could be regained.”[6]
In 1999, the 1953 recording of "Secret Love" byDoris Day onColumbia Records was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame.[7]
| "Secret Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single bySlim Whitman | ||||
| from the album Favorites | ||||
| B-side | "Why" | |||
| Released | December 1953 | |||
| Recorded | 4 December 1953 | |||
| Genre | C&W | |||
| Length | 2:25 | |||
| Label | Imperial | |||
| Songwriters | Sammy Fain,Paul Francis Webster | |||
| Slim Whitman singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
At the time of the release of the Doris Day version of "Secret Love" two vocalcover versions were issued, one of which - byGogi Grant with the Harry Geller orchestra - is said to have been recorded atRCA Victor's LA recording studio in July 1953 which would make its recording earlier than Day's: the other vocal cover was recorded forMGM byTommy Edwards with theLeRoy Holmes orchestra.Bing Crosby also had a single release of "Secret Love", recorded forDecca in Los Angeles in a 31 December 1953 session with theJohn Scott Trotter Orchestra[8] and it was included in his albumBing Sings the Hits (1954).
On 4 December 1953Slim Whitman made a recording of "Secret Love" in Baltimore MD: Whitman's version reached number 2 on theC&W chart inBillboard magazine in the spring of 1954 concurrent with the Doris Day version being number 1 on the magazine's Pop chart.
Boththe Moonglows andthe Orioles covered "Secret Love" for ther&b market, the Moonglows' track being recorded in Chicago 10 January 1954 while the Orioles' track was recorded in New York City 29 January 1954.
| "Secret Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byKathy Kirby | ||||
| B-side | "You Have to Want to Touch Him" | |||
| Released | October 1963 | |||
| Genre | Beat | |||
| Length | 2:25 | |||
| Label | Decca | |||
| Songwriters | Sammy Fain,Paul Francis Webster | |||
| Producer | Peter Sullivan | |||
| Kathy Kirby singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
In 1963,Kathy Kirby remade "Secret Love", released as a single in October 1963. The track, with musical direction byCharles Blackwell,Jimmy Page on guitar, and production by Kirby's regular collaborator Peter Sullivan, afforded Kirby her UK career record with a number 4 UK chart peak that December. "Secret Love" was also a hit in Australia reaching number 2.[2]
Kirby recalled: "[when] 'Secret Love'...was suggested by my recording manager Peter Sullivan[,] I said 'But that's already been done beautifully by Doris Day!' Peter came up with a completely different version, up-tempo and starting with the middle eight. We took a chance on it and decided that if it didn't chart it would at least be a prestige number, so we were thrilled when it sold over half a million copies in three weeks".[9]
"Secret Love" provided the title for ajukebox musical depicting Kirby's life story, which following its debut run at theLeeds City Varieties commencing 9 May 2008 played venues throughout the UK into 2009.[citation needed]
| Chart (1963) | Peak position | Chart (1963) | Peak position |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[10] | 4 | New Zealand Singles Chart[11] | 4 |
| Danish Singles Chart[12] | 4 | Australian Singles Chart[13] | 3 |
| Hong Kong Singles Chart[12] | 3 | Irish Singles Chart[14] | 7 |
| "Secret Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byFreddy Fender | ||||
| from the albumAre You Ready For Freddy? | ||||
| B-side | "Loving Cajun Style" | |||
| Released | October 1975 | |||
| Studio | SugarHill (Houston, Texas) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | Dot | |||
| Songwriters | Sammy Fain,Paul Francis Webster | |||
| Producer | Huey P. Meaux | |||
| Freddy Fender singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Freddy Fender remade "Secret Love" for his 1975 album releaseAre You Ready For Freddy? recorded in the summer of 1975 at theSugarHill Recording Studios inHouston, Texas: issued as a single in October 1975 "Secret Love" afforded Fender the third of his four number 1 hits on theBillboard C&W, also crossing-over to the U.S.Top 40 ofBillboard Hot 100, reaching number 20. (Fender would score one subsequent Top 40 hit, his fourth C&W number 1 hit "You'll Lose a Good Thing" crossing-over to the number 32 on the Hot 100.) Fender remade "Secret Love" for his 2002 album, 'La Musica de Baldemar Huerta.
| Chart (1975-1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada (RPM Country)[15] | 1 |
| Canada (RPM Top 100)[16] | 38 |
| Canada (RPM AC)[17] | 7 |
| New Zealand (RIANZ)[18] | 10 |
| U.S.Billboard Hot Country Singles[19] | 1 |
| U.S.Billboard Hot 100[20] | 20 |
| U.S.BillboardAdult Contemporary[21] | 10 |
| "Secret Love" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single byBilly Stewart | ||||
| from the album Billy Stewart Teaches Old Standards New Tricks | ||||
| B-side | "Look Back & Smile" | |||
| Released | September 1966 | |||
| Genre | R&B | |||
| Length | 2:55 | |||
| Label | Chess | |||
| Songwriters | Sammy Fain,Paul Francis Webster | |||
| Producers | Billy Davis,Leonard Caston | |||
| Billy Stewart singles chronology | ||||
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| External audio | |
|---|---|
 You may hear an arrangement of "Secret Love" byJohn Serry performed in 1956Here on listenbrainz.org |
"Secret Love" has been performed in various stage productions ofthe stage musical version ofCalamity Jane in the US byEdie Adams,Martha Raye,Carol Burnett (who also sang the song in a 12 November 1963 televised broadcast of theCalamity Jane stage musical),Ginger Rogers, andLouise Mandrell; in the UK byBarbara Windsor,Louise Gold,Gemma Craven,Toyah Willcox, andJodie Prenger; and in Australia byRowena Wallace. Craven, who played the title role in an extensive touring production ofCalamity Jane in 1995 and 1996, can be heard singing "Secret Love" on a 1995 cast album ofCalamity Jane (Craven is the sole vocalist on the album). Willcox, who played the title role of Calamity Jane in theWest End production of the stage musical in the summer of 2003, said of "Secret Love": "It's a great song to sing; it's very powerful, and emotionally—and musically—it's the pinnacle of the whole show."[27]
In the Billy Paul version of "Me and Mrs. Jones" (1972), a saxophone is heard playing the first seven notes of "Secret Love", in the intro and outro of the song. That led to a lawsuit by Fain and Webster, claiming the melody was used without approval. It was settled out of court, with Fain and Webster each receiving half of the proceeds for the Billy Paul version of the song.
Loretta Lynn covered a version of the song on both the 1967 releaseSingin' With Feelin' and again on her 2016 albumFull Circle.
