Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries explained

"Life Is Just a Bowl of Cherries" is a popular song with music by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Lew Brown, published in 1931.^[1] Ethel Merman introduced this song in George White's Scandals of 1931.^[2] A Rudy Vallée version, recorded in 1931, spent five weeks in the top-10 pop music charts.^[3] The song was revived in 1953 by singer Jaye P. Morgan.^[4]

The song title gave rise to the revue of composer Ray Henderson's music called It's the Cherries, which launched the American Composer Series in 2000.^[5]

Notable recordings

• Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees – 1931 single peaked at #3 on 9/19/1931
• Jack Hylton - 1931
• Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson - 1931
• Layton & Johnstone - 1931
• Jaye P. Morgan – 1953 single debuted 12/19/1953 and peaked at #26 on pop charts in 1954.
• Doris Day – The Love Album (1967) and My Heart (2011)
• Judy Garland – Judy (1956)^[6]
• Johnny Mathis featuring Forever Plaid – Mathis on Broadway (2000)
• Lisa Loeb recorded the song as the title track to the 2007 EP Cherries

In popular culture

• In the 1981 Steve Martin mock musical, Pennies From Heaven, a performance of the song by Walter S. Harrah, Gene Merlino, Vern Rowe, Robert Tebow and Al Vescovo is used in a cutaway segment in which Martin, Bernadette Peters, and Jessica Harper lip sync to the song.^{[7] [8]}
• The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 1983 documentary Seeing Red (1983 film).
• It is the opening song of the Broadway show Fosse, as sung by Ben Vereen.
• The song is featured in the soundtrack for the 2012 movie Killing Them Softly, starring Brad Pitt.
• The song is twice sung in the 2013 movie Adoration starring Robin Wright, Naomi Watts, and Ben Mendelson.
• The song is sung in an episode of ITV's Poirot ("Third Floor Flat") while a body is discovered.

The song is sung by David Hyde Pierce in the fifth episode of the second season of Julia as a duet between identical twins Paul and Charles Child.

Notes and References

1. .
2. "Remembering Yesterday's Hits". Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1986
3. "Joel Whitburn presents A Century of Pop Music". Records Research, Inc., 1999
4. Web site: Single Releases . Jaye P. Morgan (official website) . 8 Mar 2011.
5. Web site: The Music of Ray Henderson . The American Composer Series . 8 Mar 2011 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110707133432/http://www.americomps.com/Its%20the%20Cherries%202006.htm . 2011-07-07 .
6. Web site: Alone : Judy Garland. allmusic.com. August 2, 2024.
7. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082894/soundtrack?ref_=tt_trv_snd
8. Web site: Harrah, Walt .