This Doris Day Song From 1957 Was Later Covered by Everyone From Rick Astley to Celine Dion

When people hear “When I Fall In Love”, there are a variety of renditions that could come to mind. Nat King Cole included this song on his 1957 album, Love Is The Thing. Rick Astley had a Top 5 hit in his native United Kingdom with this song. Astley’s version came out in 1987, the same year he released “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

Perhaps most notably, Celine Dion and Clive Griffin released a duet of “When I Fall In Love” in 1993. Their version is part of the blockbuster film Sleepless In Seattle. Dion and Griffin received a Grammy nomination for their rendition.

So it might be surprising to know that before those versions of “When I Fall In Love”, it was actually first recorded by Doris Day. The song, written by Victor Young and Edward Heyman, was released by Day in 1952.

“When I Fall In Love” says, “When I give my heart it will be completely / Or I’ll never give my heart / And the moment I can feel that you feel that way too / Is when I fall in love with you.”

Day had one of the earliest recordings of “When I Fall In Love”. However, this song is not one of Day’s biggest hits, only reaching the Top 20.

Other Artists Who Recorded “When I Fall In Love” by Doris Day

Interestingly, before Day recorded “When I Fall In Love”, it was an instrumental version for the Howard Hughes film, One Minute To Zero. Jeri Southern later became the first artist to add vocals to this song.

Likely one of the most covered songs Day ever released, “When I Fall In Love” has been recorded by plenty of other artists. The Miles Davis Quintet, Etta Jones, Donny Osmond, Linda Ronstadt, Rod Stewart, and Michael Bublé are just some of the many artists who went on to record “When I Fall In Love”. 

One artist who was originally planning on recording “When I Fall In Love” but did not is Stevie Wonder. Wonder was reportedly originally slated to sing this song with Dion for Sleepless In Seattle. However, Dion heard Warren Wiebe singing on the demo and asked for him instead. The role ultimately went to Griffin. Dion also includes this song on her The Colour Of My Love record.

Prior to this song, Day had several hit singles, including “You Won’t Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)”, “It’s Magic”, and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered”, among others. One year after releasing this song, Day returned to the Top 10 with “Mister Tap Toe”.

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