A Century-Old Question That Still Feels Personal
Some songs seem to belong to a particular era, while others continue to discover new listeners long after their original debut. Irving Berlin’s “What’ll I Do?” belongs firmly in the second category. Written in the early 1920s for the Music Box Revue, the song has endured because its central question is so simple and devastating: how does a person continue living after love has disappeared?
Johnny Mathis understood the emotional power of that question when he recorded his own version in 1962. With his polished phrasing, gentle control, and unmistakable warmth, Mathis transformed Berlin’s classic into an intimate meditation on loneliness. His performance does not rely on vocal theatrics. Instead, it draws listeners into the stillness that follows loss, allowing every line to sound like a thought spoken aloud in an empty room.
More than six decades after Mathis released his interpretation, “What’ll I Do?” remains a deeply affecting listening experience. It is a song about grief, but it is also about confusion, memory, and the frightening uncertainty that follows the end of a meaningful relationship. In Mathis’s hands, the old standard becomes both a tribute to Berlin’s songwriting and a showcase for the emotional honesty that made Mathis one of America’s most beloved vocalists.
From Irving Berlin’s Songbook to Johnny Mathis’s Era
Irving Berlin was one of the defining composers of American popular music, and “What’ll I Do?” quickly became one of his most recognizable standards. Its lyrics are direct rather than complicated, built around the ache of separation and the fear of facing ordinary life alone. That simplicity is one of the song’s greatest strengths. There are no elaborate metaphors to stand between the singer and the emotion. The listener is confronted with an almost childlike question, made more painful by the fact that there appears to be no easy answer.
When Mathis recorded the song decades later, he was not attempting to imitate the performances that came before him. His interpretation placed the composition inside the sophisticated romantic-pop sound of the early 1960s. The result was elegant and restrained, with the emotional focus remaining firmly on the vocal. Mathis had a rare ability to make a classic melody sound both carefully arranged and completely spontaneous, as if the words were arriving in the moment.
That quality helped him connect with audiences across generations. While Berlin’s original song emerged from the world of theatrical revue and early popular music, Mathis gave it a modern emotional texture. His version preserved the song’s sense of longing while presenting it to listeners who knew him through lush albums, romantic ballads, and polished radio performances.
The Emotional Detail in Mathis’s Performance
Johnny Mathis’s voice has often been described as smooth, but that description only tells part of the story. Smoothness can sometimes suggest distance or perfection. Mathis, however, used his control to reveal vulnerability. His carefully measured delivery makes the sadness in “What’ll I Do?” feel personal rather than performed.
He does not rush toward the song’s emotional climax. Instead, he allows the pauses and gentle phrasing to create a sense of hesitation. That hesitation is crucial. The singer is not simply announcing that he has been left behind; he is trying to understand what comes next. The song’s central question becomes a symbol of emotional disorientation, the kind of thought that returns repeatedly when someone is struggling to accept a painful absence.
The arrangement reinforces that mood. Gentle piano and restrained orchestral colors give the performance a spacious, almost dreamlike atmosphere. The accompaniment never overwhelms Mathis’s voice. Strings seem to hover around the melody, adding warmth while also deepening the feeling of solitude. The music feels less like a grand dramatic statement and more like the soundtrack to a private moment of remembrance.
That restraint is what makes the recording so powerful. Mathis does not need to force the emotion because the melody and lyrics already contain extraordinary weight. His responsibility is to honor that weight, and he does so with patience and sincerity.
A Meaningful Chapter in “Wonderful Wonderful”
Mathis’s recording of “What’ll I Do?” appeared on his album Wonderful Wonderful, a title that reflected the romantic and elegant atmosphere associated with his work during this period. The album reached number 11 on the Billboard Top LP’s chart, while the song itself became a significant chart entry, reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Those results demonstrate how successfully Mathis brought classic material to a mainstream audience. He was not merely revisiting songs from the past; he was making them feel relevant to the present. His recordings helped establish a bridge between the traditional American songbook and the evolving sound of popular music in the 1960s.
Within the context of Wonderful Wonderful, “What’ll I Do?” stands out as one of the album’s most emotionally concentrated moments. The surrounding material may offer romance, charm, and polished orchestration, but this song introduces a darker shade. It reminds listeners that love songs are not only about happiness and devotion. They can also preserve the memory of what has been lost.
Why the Song Continues to Resonate
The universal appeal of “What’ll I Do?” comes from its refusal to make grief look tidy. When a relationship ends or a loved one is gone, people rarely move forward in a straight line. They remember, question, retreat, and begin again. Berlin’s song captures that uncertainty in a few unforgettable words, while Mathis gives the feeling a voice that is gentle enough to comfort and honest enough to hurt.
For listeners who have experienced heartbreak, the recording can feel almost startlingly familiar. The empty spaces in the arrangement reflect the silence that follows a goodbye. The measured tempo suggests the slow passage of time. Mathis’s vocal performance carries the tension between wanting to hold on and knowing that the past cannot be recovered.
That emotional openness also explains why the song remains especially effective for quiet listening. It is not a track that demands attention through volume or drama. Instead, it gradually creates an atmosphere. Played late at night or during a reflective moment, it can feel like a conversation with memories that have never fully disappeared.
The Verdict: A Beautifully Restrained Classic
Johnny Mathis’s “What’ll I Do?” is a remarkable example of how a great standard can be renewed without losing its original identity. Irving Berlin supplied the timeless question, but Mathis gave it a distinct emotional character. His voice turns the song into a portrait of loneliness that is elegant, vulnerable, and deeply human.
The performance may not be a country recording in the traditional sense, yet it shares something with the finest country ballads: emotional directness. Like the best songs about leaving, regret, and longing, it avoids unnecessary decoration and goes straight to the heart of the matter. Mathis sings not as someone presenting a story from a distance, but as someone still standing inside it.
Ultimately, “What’ll I Do?” remains powerful because it recognizes that some questions survive long after the circumstances that created them. Johnny Mathis does not provide an answer, and that is precisely the point. He simply gives the question space to breathe. In the quiet beauty of his 1962 interpretation, listeners can hear the sound of a heart confronting absence—and discovering that even sorrow can become a lasting form of music.