"Come What May" is a song written by David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert, originally intended for the film ''

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet ''William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet'' (stylized as ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'') is a 1996 romantic crime film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It is a modernized adaptation of William Shakespeare's tragedy ...

''. However, it debuted in, and is best known as the

romantic love Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a Interpersonal attraction, strong attraction towards another person, and the Courtship, courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant ...

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical appearance for certain software. * Theme (linguistics), topic * Theme ( ...

from,

Baz Luhrmann Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann (born 17 September 1962) is an Australian film director, producer, writer, and actor whose various projects extend from film and television into opera, theatre, music, and the recording industries. He is regarded by ...

's 2001 film ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows an English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and courtesan ...

'', in which

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and ...

and

Nicole Kidman Nicole Mary Kidman (born 20 June 1967) is an Australian and American actress and producer. Known for Nicole Kidman on screen and stage, her work in film and television productions across many genres, she has consistently ranked among the world ...

sing it in their respective roles as Christian and Satine. The song takes its title from a phrase that originates from Shakespeare's ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'' (1601) and later appears ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' (1606). The song plays an important role in the film. After Christian and Satine's forbidden, strong, and close romantic relationship has been discovered, Christian pens this song and includes it in the musical he is currently writing. Each time either of them sings this song, they can secretly declare their equally deep and true romantic love for each other. The version of the song on the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

differs slightly from the version in the film. The lyrics "Every day I love you more and more" and "Listen to my heart, can you hear it sing/Telling me to give you everything" are part of the song on the soundtrack version. However, in the movie, they are replaced by a musical

interlude Interlude may refer to: *a short play or, in general, any representation between parts of a larger stage production *''Entr'acte'', a piece of music performed between acts of a theatrical production *a section in a movement of a musical piece, se ...

the first time and, the second time, Satine sings instead of the latter part, "Come back to me and forgive everything." The single version can be found on the

original soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...

, while the original film version can be found on the follow-up soundtrack. It was released as a single in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

where it became the eighth highest-selling single by an Australian artist of 2001. It was also released in Germany, and the UK, where it charted at #27.

Awards

"Come What May" was nominated for a 2002

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

– Motion Picture, but lost to Sting's "Until" from '' Kate & Leopold''. The song was ineligible for a nomination for the

Academy Award for Best Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

because it was originally written with another film in mind: Luhrmann's previous project, ''

''. The song was ranked on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs at number 85.

Track listing

UK CD Single # "Come What May (Josh G. Abrahams Radio Remix)" – 4:01 # "Come What May (David Foster Album Version)" – 4:48 # "Come What May (Josh G. Abrahams Extended Mix)" – 4:41 # "Come What May (Film Version)" – 4:38 # "Elephant Love Medley (Karaoke Version)" – 4:13

Charts

Certifications

Other versions

* Welsh soprano

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French, ...

recorded the song (also released as a single) for Jenkins' 2011 album '' This Is Christmas'' and Domingo's 2012 album ''

Songs A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usuall ...

''. They performed it together at the 2012

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

and on the American television program, ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'', on 2 October of that year. *

Peter Jöback Peter Arne Jöback (born 4 June 1971) is a Swedish singer, actor and musical artist. Jöback has acted in musical theatre, with lead roles in West End productions of ''Miss Saigon'' and ''The Witches of Eastwick''. He is also known for his port ...

and

Helen Sjöholm Marie Helen Sjöholm (; born 10 July 1970) is a Swedish singer, actress and musical theatre performer who lives in Gamla Enskede in Stockholm. She grew up in Sundsvall and started to sing in choirs at an early age, working, among others, with Sw ...

performed the song for the Swedish Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel at a celebratory concert the night before their 2010 wedding. *

Il Divo Il Divo (; ) are a multinational classical crossover vocal group. Formed in the United Kingdom in 2003, it is a male quartet that was created and then promoted by British media magnate Simon Cowell for Syco Music, a record label that he had ...

recorded a Spanish version of the song titled "Come What May (Te Amaré)" in their 2011 album ''

Wicked Game "Wicked Game" is a song by American rock musician Chris Isaak from his third album '' Heart Shaped World'' (1989). It was released as a single to little attention in July 1989 but became a sleeper hit when Lee Chestnut, an Atlanta radio station ...

''. * In 2013, the song was sung in the musical TV series ''

Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...

'' by

Chris Colfer Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical ''Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received crit ...

and

Darren Criss Darren Everett Criss (born February 5, 1987) is an American actor, singer, and songwriter. He rose to fame starring on the television series ''Glee (TV series), Glee'' (2010–2015) and received a Primetime Emmy Awards, Primetime Emmy Award and ...

(as their respective characters

Kurt Hummel Kurt Elizabeth Hummel is a fictional character from the Fox musical comedy-drama series ''Glee''. Series creators Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan initially conceived of him as a fashionable gay countertenor who is routinely bullied a ...

and

Blaine Anderson Blaine Devon Anderson is a fictional character from the American musical comedy-drama television series ''Glee (TV series), Glee''. Played by Darren Criss, Blaine was introduced in the Never Been Kissed (Glee), sixth episode of the Glee season ...

), in the 15th episode of the 4th season, titled " Girls (and Boys) On Film". *

Nick D'Virgilio Nicholas D'Virgilio (born November 12, 1968), often abbreviated and referred to as NDV, is an American musician, singer, best known as a member of the progressive rock band Spock's Beard. He was also one of two drummers chosen to replace Phil C ...

, a friend and collaborator of co-writer Kevin Gilbert, recorded a version of the song on his 2001 album, ''Karma''. * Musical theatre performers

Alfie Boe Alfred Giovanni Roncalli Boe (born 29 September 1973) is an English actor and singer who performs primarily in musical theatre. Boe is best known for his performances as Jean Valjean in the musical ''Les Misérables'' at the Queen's Theatre ...

and

Kerry Ellis Kerry Jane Ellis (born 6 May 1979) is an English actress and singer who is best known for her work in musical theatre and subsequent crossover into music. Born and raised in Suffolk, Ellis began performing at an early age before training at La ...

duet on a version of this song on Boe's album '' Bring Him Home''. Ellis also performed the song with

John Barrowman John Scot Barrowman MBE (born 11 March 1967) is a Scottish-American actor, author, presenter, singer and comic book writer. He is known for his roles as Captain Jack Harkness in ''Doctor Who'' (2005–2010; 2020–2021) and its spin-off ''Torc ...

and

Jonathan Ansell Jonathan Mark Ansell (born 10 March 1982) is an English singer, best known as the high tenor of the vocal group G4. Early life Influenced by his mother's tapes of Pavarotti and the Three Tenors, Ansell joined the West Sussex Boys' Choir condu ...

on two occasions at BBC Radio 2's '' Friday Night Is Music Night''. * Luke Evans featuring

Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church (born Charlotte Maria Reed, 21 February 1986) is a British singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff, Wales. As a child, Church was a popular classical singer with a less-successful attempt to mov ...

released a version as a single on 14 October 2022, taken from Evans' second studio album, ''A Song for You''. *The song is featured in the original recording of the 2018

jukebox musical A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known, pre-existing popular music songs, rather than original music composed for the musical. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while ...

'', performed by stage actors

Aaron Tveit Aaron Kyle Tveit (; born October 21, 1983) is an American actor and singer. Tveit originated the lead role of Christian in the stage adaptation of ''Moulin Rouge! (musical), Moulin Rouge!'' on Broadway theatre, Broadway, a performance for which ...

and

Karen Olivo KO, formerly named and credited on stage and screen as Karen Olivo until 2022, (born August 7, 1976) is an American stage and television actor, theater educator, and singer. In 2008, KO originated the role of Vanessa in '' In the Heights'' on Br ...

, who played Christian and Satine, respectively, in the Broadway production. *The song is performed as a duet by Siôn Daniel Young and

Fra Fee Fra Fee (born 20 May 1987) is a Northern Irish actor and singer. He is best known for playing Courfeyrac in Tom Hooper's 2012 film adaptation of ''Les Misérables'', and for his role as Kazi in the Disney+ series ''Hawkeye'', which is set in ...

in Duck Soup Films' limited series '' Lost Boys and Fairies'', episode 2, entitled "With or Without You."

References

{{authority control 2001 songs 2001 debut singles Nicole Kidman songs Ewan McGregor songs Love themes Songs written for films Songs written by David Baerwald Interscope Records singles Male–female vocal duets Moulin Rouge!