Dominic Vautier
updated 9/7/2012
Carrie Jacobs Bond (1862-1946) wrote this song. She was perhaps the first American women song writer-publisher.
“I found opportunity waiting at the door when adversity knocked.”
This summarizes how she explained her success. Left practically penniless in 1895 after the her husband died, Bond moved from Michigan to Chicago where she opened a boarding house for students and finally began full time songwriting. After selling some songs for $25 or $30 each, she decided to go into business for herself. With an additional $1,500 borrowed from a neighborhood druggist, Mrs. Bond set up her one-woman publishing firm. She did all her own sheet cover art work. It's not bad as illustrated below.
The business was quite successful. Mrs. Bond eventually had a staff of nineteen employees, and some of her songs were selling
millions of copies, making her
by far the country’s most successful woman composer.
Mrs. Bond gave recitals at the White House during the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Warren G.
Harding. Her songs were written in a simple and basic style, songs easy to sing
and hard to forget. These songs remain the enduring heritage she left the
world.
A Perfect Day turned out to be a perfect song and one of her multi-million sellers.
