Our Day Will Come

In late 1962 “Our Day Will Come,” a song written by Bob Hilliard and Mort Garson, was released on Kapp Records. Its authors preferred an established lounge singer but agreed to let the unknown Ruby & The Romantics, a group based out of Akron, Ohio, take a shot on the condition that if the track failed to gain traction Kapp would recut it with the great... Jack Jones! The original version of “Our Day Will Come” reached #1 on Billboard Hot 100 chart in March 1963 and the song never made its way into Jack’s throat.

Bob Hilliard enjoyed success writing lyrics with a number of prominent pop composers, including Burt Bacharach and Jule Styne. His body of work includes “In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning,” (David Mann, composer) immortalized by Frank Sinatra on his classic album of the same name, and “Any Day Now,” a song recorded by several artists. The most popular version of “Any Day Now,” with music by Burt Bacharach, was released by Ronnie Milsap in 1982.

Composer Mort Garson received early training at Juilliard. After serving in the Army in World War Two Garson quickly established himself as a go to composer, arranger, pianist and conductor for a bevy of mainstream singers, including Doris Day and Mel Tormé.

The early 60’s were a transition period in the history of popular music. The seismic impact of The Beatles was just around the corner, but even before their famous Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964, writers and arrangers were experimenting with formulas that built on the success of Elvis Presley and other early rock ‘n’ roll stars.  George Gershwin may have been the first American composer of popular music to imbed rhythms from outside the European culture into his work, but the trend had escalated by the late 1950’s and early 60’s. The forceful grooves of Rhythm and Blues- still known to many as “race music”- were placed on a symmetrical grid and served up to middle America by Elvis, Buddy Holly, Rick Nelson and a host of other entertainers.

This same approach was applied to the integration of Afro-Cuban clave rhythms into pop recordings of the era, including “Our Day Will Come.” The song’s spare yet effective arrangement features vibraphone, acoustic guitar, and the Romantics themselves: George Lee and Ed Roberts, tenors; Ronald Mosley, baritone; Leroy Fann, bass-who support Ruby Nash’s lead alto without ever encroaching on its range.

And then there’s that Hammond organ part! It’s hard to imagine any instrument more perfectly outlining and embellishing a recording than Roy Glover’s swirling organ against the classic bossa nova beat. Perhaps Donald Fagen had this in mind when he laid down his own magnificent organ performance on “Walk Between the Raindrops,” the closing track of The Nightfly (1982), his nostalgic, loving look back at a simpler era.

Over the years a number of artists have covered “Our Day Will Come,” including Amy Winehouse, who recorded it shortly before her death.