"Day by Day" is a

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk music, folk and rock music, rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the American fo ...

ballad from the 1971 Stephen Schwartz and

John-Michael Tebelak John-Michael Tebelak (September 17, 1949 – April 2, 1985) was an American playwright and director. He is best known for creating the musical ''Godspell'', based on the Gospel of Saint Matthew, with the composer Stephen Schwartz, who wrote ...

musical ''

Godspell ''Godspell'' is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz with book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hy ...

''. It is the third song in the show’s score and is reprised as the closing number for the 1973

film version A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

Lyrics

The song's refrain follows a prayer ascribed to the 13th-century English bishop

Saint Richard of Chichester Richard of Chichester (1197 – 3 April 1253), also known as Richard de Wych, is a saint ( canonized 1262) who was Bishop of Chichester. In Chichester Cathedral a shrine dedicated to Richard had become a richly decorated centre of pilgr ...

:
:May I know Thee more clearly,
:Love Thee more dearly,
:Follow Thee more nearly. The version in ''Godspell'' follows more closely the wording in Hymn 429 of the 1940 ''Hymnal'': :Day by day, :Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: :To see thee more clearly, :Love thee more dearly, :Follow thee more nearly, :Day by day.'' "Day By Day" was first a hit in Australia, where both Judy Stone and

Colleen Hewett Colleen Hewett (born 16 April 1950) is an Australian singer and actress. Hewett's top 40 singles on the Kent Music Report include "Super Star", " Day by Day" (both 1971), " Carry That Weight" (1972), "Dreaming My Dreams with You" (1980) ...

released competing versions of the track in late 1971. Hewett's version reached #2 in the Kent Music Report, while Stone's take reached #25. In 1972, a version of the song from the album ''

'' (1971) by the original off-Broadway cast was released as a single in the US, and attributed simply to the group name "Godspell". Robin Lamont was the lead singer, uncredited. "Day By Day" spent 14 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, peaking at the #13 position on July 29, 1972. ''Billboard'' ranked it as the No. 90 song for 1972.

Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972 This is a list of '' Billboard'' magazine's Top Hot 100 songs of 1972. The Top 100, as revealed in the year-end edition of ''Billboard'' dated December 30, 1972, is based on Hot 100 charts from the issue dates of December 4, 1971 through November ...

Chart history

Weekly charts

;Godspell ;Holly Sherwood ;Colleen Hewett ;Judy Stone

Year-end charts

Cover versions

*The instrumental cover band Hot Butter released a version on their 1972 album '' Hot Butter''. * The jazz duo Jackie & Roy covered the song (Track 1) on the 1972 CTI labeled album Time & Love. * The 5th Dimension's version was recorded for the '' Living Together, Growing Together'' album, released in 1973. *Another instrumental version, in the song's initial key, was used as the theme music for NBC's '' Today Show'' in the 1970s. *In March 1972, Holly Sherwood released "Day by Day" (which also incorporated a medley of two other numbers from the show) as her first single, produced by Tony Orlando for Rocky Road Records. Her version went to #104 on the US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart, #91 Cash Box, and #29 in the United Kingdom. *

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

and Ray Conniff and His Singers both released versions in 1972 on albums that were both called '' Alone Again (Naturally)''. *The song was also covered by Irish pop singer Alma Carroll in 1972. *The song was covered by British pop singer Cilla Black who released it on her 1973 album ''

Day by Day with Cilla ''Day by Day with Cilla'' is the title of Cilla Black's seventh solo studio album released in 1973 by Parlophone Records. The album marked the end of a significant era in Black's recording career as it was her last project to be produced by Geo ...

'' which was her seventh and last studio album with producer

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

. *

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

recorded a live version dated September 1973 and released on his 1974 gospel album ''Help It Along''. * Pat Lundy released a cover in 1976. *Christian rap/rock group DC Talk covered the song (with additional lyrics) on their 1995 album '' Jesus Freak''. **Christian rock group

House of Heroes House of Heroes is an American alternative rock band from Columbus, Ohio. They have released six albums: ''What You Want Is Now'' (2003), ''House of Heroes'' (2005), '' The End Is Not the End'' (2008), '' Suburba'' (2010), '' Cold Hard Want'' ...

covered DC Talk's version of the song on their 2013 album ''The Knock-Down Drag-Outs''. *A previously unreleased version by the 1970s British vocal group

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

was included on their 2012 CD ''One Sunny Day: Singles and Rarities 1968–1978''. *

Judy Collins Judith Marjorie Collins (born May 1, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and musician with a career spanning seven decades. An Academy Award-nominated documentary director and a Grammy Award-winning recording artist, she is known for her ...

released a version on her ''

Amazing Grace "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779 with words written in 1772 by English Anglican clergyman and poet John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, particularly in the United States, where it is used for bot ...

'' LP in 1985. *

Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''The Simpsons''. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared, along with the rest of his family, in '' The Tracey Ullman Show'' short ...

sings a version of "Day by Day" in the episode entitled " Pulpit Friction" on the TV series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

''.

In popular culture

*In the 2000 film ''

Meet the Parents ''Meet the Parents'' is a 2000 American comedy film written by Jim Herzfeld and John Hamburg and directed by Jay Roach. It chronicles a series of unfortunate events that befall a good-hearted but hapless nurse (Ben Stiller as Greg Focker) while v ...

'', Greg Focker ( Ben Stiller) is asked by Jack Byrnes (

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

) to say

Grace Grace may refer to: Places United States * Grace, Idaho, a city * Grace (CTA station), Chicago Transit Authority's Howard Line, Illinois * Little Goose Creek (Kentucky), location of Grace post office * Grace, Carroll County, Missouri, an uninc ...

before dinner, resulting in Greg reciting the lyrics from "Day by Day." *In the 2001 film '' Wet Hot American Summer'', summer camp counselors Susie (

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy trou ...

) and Ben (

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, s ...

) direct a group of kids to sing and dance “Day by Day” in similar style and costume to the original Godspell Broadway cast, which they perform at the talent show. The audience claps along happily, but after the performance ends with a glowing luminescent cross on the wall, it is met with overwhelming boos. The host comments it is one of his favorite Broadway numbers, but erroneously pronounces it as “Day Bidet.”

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Day by Day (Godspell song) 1970s ballads 1971 songs 1971 singles 1972 singles Bell Records singles American folk rock songs Folk ballads Rock ballads Songs written by Stephen Schwartz (composer) Colleen Hewett songs Andy Williams songs Songs from musicals