"Come What May"
Single by Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor
from the album Moulin Rouge!
Released24 September 2001
RecordedMarch 2001
GenrePop, musical
Length4:48
LabelInterscope
Songwriter(s)David Baerwald, Kevin Gilbert
Producer(s)BLAM, Marius de Vries, Josh G Abrahams
Nicole Kidman singles chronology
"Come What May"
(2001) 		"Somethin' Stupid"
(2001)
Music video
"Come What May" on YouTube

"Come What May" is a song composed by David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert,[1] originally intended for the film William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.[2] However, it was first heard publicly, and is best known as the romantic love theme from Baz Luhrmann's 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, where it is sung by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman in their respective roles as Christian and Satine.

The song takes its title from a phrase that originates from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night (1601) and later Macbeth (1606).[3]

The song plays an important role in the film. When the forbidden strong and close romantic relationship between Christian and Satine has been discovered, Christian pens this romance 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 differs slightly from the version heard 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" can be heard on the soundtrack version. In the movie, they are replaced by a musical interlude 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, while the original film version can be found on the follow-up soundtrack.

It was released as a single in Australia where it became the 8th highest-selling single by an Australian artist of 2001.[4] It was also released in the UK, where it charted at #27,[5] and in Germany.[6]

Awards

"Come What May" was nominated for a 2002 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song – Motion Picture, where it lost to Sting's "Until" from Kate & Leopold. However, it was ineligible for a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Song because it was originally written with another film in mind: Luhrmann's previous project, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet.[7] The song was ranked on the AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs at number 85.

Track listing

UK CD Single

  1. "Come What May (Josh G. Abrahams Radio Remix)" – 4:01
  2. "Come What May (David Foster Album Version)" – 4:48
  3. "Come What May (Josh G. Abrahams Extended Mix)" – 4:41
  4. "Come What May (Film Version)" – 4:38
  5. "Elephant Love Medley (Karaoke Version)" – 4:13

Charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA Charts)[8] 10
Germany (Media Control Charts)[9] 95
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 65
Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade)[11] 97
UK (Official Charts Company)[12] 27

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[13] Gold 35,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[14] Silver 200,000‡

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Other versions

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References

  1. ^ "Intellectual Property practice Phillips, Erlewine, Given & Carlin LLP". Archived from the original on 2016-08-28. Retrieved 2016-08-27.
  2. ^ Alex's Oscar Column #09 for the 74th Annual Academy Awards Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "'Come What May', Meaning & Context". No Sweat Shakespeare. 16 January 2022. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
  4. ^ ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top Australian Singles 2001
  5. ^ "everyHit.com UK Top 40 Hit Database". Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2017-05-24.
  6. ^ Charts-Surfer
  7. ^ Alex's Oscar Column #09 for the 74th Annual Academy Awards Archived 2006-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ "Australia - "Come What May" with Ewan McGregor". ARIA Charts. ARIA. australian-charts.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  9. ^ "Germany - "Come What May" with Ewan McGregor". Media Control Charts. Bundesverband Musikindustrie. officialcharts.de. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  10. ^ "Netherlands – "Come What May" with Ewan McGregor". Single Top 100. MegaCharts. dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  11. ^ "Switzerland – "Come What May" with Ewan McGregor". Singles Top 75. Swiss Hitparade. hitparade.ch. Archived from the original on July 19, 2014. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  12. ^ "UK – Nicole Kidman – Singles". UK Singles Chart. Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com. Retrieved June 30, 2014.
  13. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 182.
  14. ^ "British single certifications – Nicole Kidman – Come What May". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Il Divo - Come What May (Live in London)(HD)". YouTube.
  16. ^ "Luke Evans Teams Up with Charlotte Church". Entertainment Focus. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
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