Today’s classic song of the day comes from the Broadway musical, Godspell. The song is “Day by Day” and, when it was released as a single in May of 1972, went all the way to #13 on the Billboard Hot 100, #9 on the Cash Box Top 100, and #8 on Billboard’s Easy Listening chart.
“Day by Day,” like all the other songs in Godspell, was written by Stephen Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz also wrote the music for several other Broadway musicals, including Pippin and Wicked, as well a wrote or co-wrote songs for a bevy of Disney animated movies (Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Prince of Egypt, and Enchanted).
Godspell, with a book by John-Michael Tebelak is a retelling of the Gospel of Saint Matthew, told as a series of parables and with lyrics derived from a handful of traditional hymns. It came to life as a project by drama students at Carnegie Mellon University, moved to the off-Broadway stage, and eventually made it to the Broadway stage. It was also made into a movie in 1973.
“Day by Day” was sung in the off-Broadway production, in the 1973 movie, and on the 1972 single by Robin Lamont. Andrea Martin, of SCTV fame, sung it in the 1972 Toronto production. (That production, by the way, also starred Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dave Thomas, and Victor Gerber; Paul Shaffer was the musical director and Howard Shore played sax in the pit.)
Godspell was one of two big Jesus-themed musicals in the early ’70s. The other was Jesus Christ Superstar, which contributed two more songs to the top forty, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” and “Superstar.”
For your viewing pleasure, here’s the “Day by Day” segment from the Godspell movie, with Robin Lamont singing lead and Victor Gerber playing Jesus. It’s today’s daily bonus video of the day.
