Toppermost of the Poppermost - UK Number Ones : part 2 - The 1960s

[purlieu]

I like this song.

Fucking new page pointless post.

[kalowski]

One of those bands we're not "supposed" to like but I fucking dig them. Mike's my favourite!

[The Culture Bunker]

One of those bands we're not "supposed" to like but I fucking dig them. Mike's my favourite!

I'm not sure that's been the case for as long as I can remember. I get at the time they were seen as being "fake", but by the 1990s, people would be fine to say any one of the Monkees' big hits was a great tune. Not sure if being covered by the Sex Pistols helped their credibility or not (the Farm doing the same song, probably less so).

[kalowski]

I'm not sure that's been the case for as long as I can remember. I get at the time they were seen as being "fake", but by the 1990s, people would be fine to say any one of the Monkees' big hits was a great tune. Not sure if being covered by the Sex Pistols helped their credibility or not (the Farm doing the same song, probably less so).

Good. I hope that's the case. They're brilliant. Any band that sings You Just May Be The One, Porpoise Song, Valerie and What Am I Doing Hanging Round gets my vote.

[Captain Z]

Why have I heard people do that

"I thought love was only true in fairytales *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* Oi!"

thing? Where did that come from?

[kalowski]

Why have I heard people do that

"I thought love was only true in fairytales *stomp* *stomp* *stomp* Oi!"

thing? Where did that come from?

Vic Reeves?

[Captain Z]

Possibly, I still don't recall it. What show/appearance specifically?

[The Culture Bunker]

Possibly, I still don't recall it. What show/appearance specifically?

Probably the hit single version he and Bob did with EMF.

[Captain Z]

I guess that would be it! Obvious things...etc.

[Johnboy]

This is great, easy on the guitar too.

[The Culture Bunker]

I meant to add that the other Neil Diamond song I really like is 'Cherry Cherry', which I guess is in the same vein, so I clearly have a "type" when it comes to his work.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Good. I hope that's the case. They're brilliant. Any band that sings You Just May Be The One, Porpoise Song, Valerie and What Am I Doing Hanging Round gets my vote.

Absolutely, The Monkees were great. And as The Culture Bunker says, the general critical consensus surrounding them has been very positive for years now, so much so that I'd be surprised to meet someone who didn't express love for at least one of their songs.

[DrGreggles]

'(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone' is one of the greatest b-sides of all time.

[daf]

 That's why the Lady is a Little Tramp, it's . . .

229.  Petula Clark - This Is My Song



From : 12 – 25 February 1967
Weeks : 2
Flip side : The Show Is Over

The Story So Far : 

Her 1961 recording of "Sailor" became her first No.1 hit in the UK, but her next single, "Something Missing (L'Absent)" (b/w "Isn't This A Lovely Day") released in March 1961 stalled at #44, and "Welcome Home" (b/w "Les Gens Diront") released in April did not chart at all.

But she was soon back clambering up the chart balcony, with the Top 3 hit "Romeo" (b/w "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me") in July 1961  and  "My Friend The Sea" (b/w "With All My Love") - #7 in November 1961.

 

She hit a rough patch in early 1962 with "I'm Counting On You" (b/w "Some Other World") just missing out on the Top 40 in February, and "Whistlin' For The Moon" (b/w "Tender Love") flopping in April 1962.

Her fortunes turned when "Ya Ya Twist" ground it's heel into the #14 spot in July 1962. To celebrate, it was featured on her Francophone EP, Pet-Ooh-La-La!, along with : "Bye Bye Mon Amour (Hello Mary Lou)"  /  "Si C'est Oui, C'est Oui"  /  et "A London, Allons Donc"

But it's a shit business, and her remaining 1962 singles : "Jumble Sale" (b/w "Too Late") in September, and "The Road" (b/w "No Love, No Nothin'") - skidded wildly, and burst into horrific flames at the bottom of the chart quarry in October 1962.

Clambering out of the wreckage, "I Will Follow Him" (b/w "Casanova") - reached #39 in May 1963, and the En Francais EP released the same year, featured :  "Je Me Sens Bien" (Dance On)  /  "Coeur Biesse" (Torture)  /  "Tu Perds Ton Temps"  (Please Please Me) /  et "Que Ton Coeur Me Soit Fidele" (Second Fiddle Girl)

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Following the flops "Thank You" (b/w "Crying Through A Sleepless Night") in February 1964, and "In Love" (b/w "J'Ai Tout Oublié") in April 1964, she released the pedantically titled Petula Clark Sings "Hello Dolly" In French EP - featuring : "Hello Dolly"  /  "Pourquoi Papa"  /  "L'Enfant Do" (Cottonfields) /  et "Toi Tu Joues A L'Amour"

Another EP -  Encore En Francais was released in August 1964, and featured: "Ceux Qui Ont Un Coeur" (Anyone Who Had a Heart) /  "Il N'a Chante Qu'un Soir"  /  "La Nuit N'en Finit Plus" (Needles & Pins) /  et "Prends Garde A Toi"

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

By 1964, Clark's British recording career was foundering. The composer/arranger Tony Hatch, who had been assisting her with her work for Vogue Records in France and Pye Records in the UK, flew to her home in Paris with new song material he hoped would interest her, but she found none of it appealing. Desperate, he played for her a few chords of an incomplete song that had been inspired by his recent first trip to New York. Upon hearing the melody, Clark told him that if he could write lyrics as good as the melody, she wanted to record the tune as her next single . . .

Released in four separate languages in late 1964, "Downtown" (b/w "You'd Better Love Me") was a success in the UK - where it reached #2 in November 1964, France (in both the English and the French versions), the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Italy and also Rhodesia, Japan and India. "Downtown" went to No. 1 on the American charts in January 1965, with sales of 3 million copies.

 

Following the success of the single, she released the album 'Downtown' which collected tracks produced, arranged and conducted by Tony Hatch from their inaugural collaboration with the 1963 single "Let Me Tell You Baby". songs included her current flop single - "True Love Never Runs Smooth"  /  "Baby It's Me", "This is Goodbye" and "Be Good to Me" - from 1963  /  plus "Now That You've Gone", "Tell Me (That It's Love)", "Music", and "You Belong to Me" - all recorded in 1965 for the album.

The 'Downtown' album would remain Clark's most successful US album release, but did not make it into the Top 20 in the UK album charts.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Her next album 'I Know a Place', also released in 1965, charted at #42 in the US. In the UK, the album was released as 'The New Petula Clark Album', a name which was dropped during later re-releases to prevent confusion among record-buyers.

   

Arranged and produced by Tony Hatch, the album followed on the release of Clark's "I Know a Place"  (b/w "Jack And John") - #17 hit single in March 1965.

As well as the Tony Hatch originals : "Strangers and Lovers"  and  "Call Me", he co wrote  "Heart"  and the cracking "Gotta Tell The World" with Clark. The album featured the Gershwin standard "A Foggy Day", and a couple of covers of current pop songs : "Dancing in the Street" and "The In Crowd".

Following two minor hits : "You'd Better Come Home" - #44 in August, and "Round Every Corner"  - #43 in October, Clark secured a #23 hit with "You're the One" - another Hatch/Clark composition - in November 1965.

As well as a hit in France, she was popular in Italy, and in 1965 released the Petula Clark Chante En Italien EP, featuring : "Invece No"  /  "Non Mi Guardi Mai"  /  "Se Te Ne Vai"  /  e "La Frontiera"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In February 1966, the single "My Love" (b/w "Where Am I Going") reached #4 in the UK. It was also included on her next album, 'My Love'. Produced, arranged, and conducted by Tony Hatch, it was her first album to feature recording done in the United States.

A selection of songs from the album were released on an the Just Say Goodbye EP in 1966, including : "The Life And Soul Of The Party"  /  "Hold On To What You've Got"  /  "Just Say Goodbye"  /  and "We Can Work It Out"

After the single release of "A Sign of the Times" (b/w "Time For Love") charted in the US, new pressings of the album were re-titled A Sign of the Times / My Love. In the UK, the single only reached #49 in April 1966, but was given a second chance on an EP along with "Come Rain Or Come Shine"  /  and "Wasn't It You"

 

The next album,'I Couldn't Live Without Your Love', was released in the US and the UK in September 1966 after the success of the "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" single, which reached #6 in the UK in August 1966.

Unlike the previous albums which had favoured original material over cover versions, this album featured seven contemporary covers including : Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night"  /  Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders' "A Groovy Kind of Love"  /  The Beatles' "Rain"  /   The Mamas & the Papas' "Monday Monday"  /   B.A Robertson Cher's "Bang Bang"  /  Simon & Garfunkel's "Homeward Bound"  /   and Bob Lind's "Elusive Butterfly".

This formula proved to be popular in the UK where it became Clark's first charting album - its #11 peak remains her UK album chart best.

One of the original songs on the album, "Two Rivers" was penned by Clark, with references to the Thames and the Seine Rivers, as well as to her husband.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two further French EPs were released in 1966 - the L'Agent Secret EP - featuring : "La Mer Est Comme Toi"  /  "L'Agent Secret"  /  "Pauvre Cherie"  / et "C'Est Ton Affaire" - and the Hello Mister Brown EP , featuring : "Hello Mister Brown"  /  "Pierrot Pendu"  /  "Tout Le Monde Veut Aller Au Ciel Mais Personne Ne Veut Mourir"  /  et "Plastic Roses"

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Released in 1967, the album 'Colour My World' combined cover versions of popular songs of the era, including  -  "England Swings"  /  "Cherish"  /  "Reach Out, I'll Be There"  /  and "Here, There and Everywhere" - with original material, much of it written by Clark and Tony Hatch, who produced the recording and arranged it along with Johnny Harris and Frank Owens.

"Here, There And Everywhere" was also featured on an EP along with the songs "Las Vegas"  /  "While The Children Play" /   and "What Would I Be"

In the UK, where it was released on Pye Records, the original album release was withdrawn after a month to have Clark's current hit "This Is My Song" and its UK B-side: "The Show Is Over", added to the track listing. This revised edition of the album - with the subtitle "Including 'This Is My Song'" - reached #16 on the UK album charts.

 

Her next album, "These Are My Songs", was released in 1967. In a break with longtime collaborator Tony Hatch, Clark joined forces with producer Sonny Burke and arranger/conductor Ernie Freeman for this release, it featured contemporary covers of "Groovin'" and  "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)".

"Don't Sleep In The Subway", the only track written by Hatch and Jackie Trent, who had written much of Clark's previous material, charted at #5 in the US and #12 in the UK backed with "Here Comes The Morning".

The song was included on the 'The Many Faces Of Petula Clark' EP, along with : "Boy From Ipanema"  /  "Never On Sunday"  /  and "Winchester Cathedral".

"On The Path Of Glory" was a civil rights song co-written by Clark. It was the song she was singing with Harry Belafonte on her 1968 NBC special when she touched his hand. This incident set off controversy when the sponsor threatened to back out because a white woman touched a black man. Clark and Belafonte stood firm and the segment remained as filmed.

The tracks attributed to Al Grant : "Resist"  and "Love Is Here" were actually written by Petula, who used the pseudonym for many of her compositions during the 1960s.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The single "The Cat In The Window (The Bird In The Sky)" (b/w "Fancy Dancin' Man") was produced by Charles Koppelman and Don Rubin, and was released in August 1967 as the first advance single for what would become Clark's next album. However, the song was a flop in the UK, and was also Clark's first single to miss the US Top Twenty since "Downtown" in 1965, so plans for her to record an entire album with Koppelman & Rubin were scrapped.

 


In September 1967 Clark reunited with the producer Sonny Burke, and arranger Ernie Freeman, to record the nucleus of her next album release at Western Studios, Los Angeles, with the The Wrecking Crew session players. The album - 'The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener' - was released in January 1968, and peaked at #37 in the UK album charts.

The tracks which Sonny Burke had Clark record included his own composition: "Black Coffee", which had been a highlight of Peggy Lee's debut album in 1953. Petula Clark would describe 'Black Coffee' as "my Bible. I knew every note [Peggy Lee] sang, every note of the orchestrations."

Burke also had Clark record "Smile", the signature composition by Charlie Chaplin, writer of "This is My Song"  /  Engelbert Humperdinck's hit "The Last Waltz"  /  the mawkish 1953 Frankie Laine stinker "Answer Me, My Love"  /  the Lerner & Loewe showtune "I Could Have Danced All Night"  /  plus "L'île de France", which Clark herself wrote with lyricist Pierre Delanoë.

With Burke's output seemingly too 'easy listening' to yield the comeback single Clark required, it was felt expedient to reunite the singer with Tony Hatch to produce a second advance single. Written by Hatch and his wife Jackie Trent, "The Other Man's Grass (Is Always Greener)" (b/w "At The Crossroads"), reached a disappointing #31 in the US, but fared better in the UK - spending six weeks in the Top 30 with a #20 peak in January 1968.

 

After two albums on the sidelines, Tony Hatch produced all the songs for her next album, 'Petula'. It would be the last Petula Clark album of original material produced by Hatch.

The first advance single from the album : the Les Reed/Barry Mason composition "Kiss Me Goodbye"  (b/w "I've Got Love Going For Me") only just scraped into the Top 50 in the UK in March, but peaked at #15 in the US in April 1968. It was the first hit single for Clark produced but not written by Hatch.




Seven songs on the album were written by Hatch and Jackie Trent, including : "Your Love is Everywhere"  /  "One in a Million"  /  "Beautiful in the Rain"  /  "Sun Shines Out of Your Shoes"  /  "We're Falling in Love Again". Hatch also had Clark cover "Days"  /  "The Good Life" and "This Girl's in Love with You", plus  "Why Can't I Cry" - which had been written by arranger Johnny Harris and wife Kim Clark.

The Hatch/Trent composition "Don't Give Up" - described by Hatch as a homage to "Can't Take My Eyes off You" - was released as the album's second advance single in July 1968, backed with "Every Time I See A Rainbow", failed to sustain Clark's Top 20 comeback peaking at #37 in the US, becoming Clark's final US Top 40 hit.

The psychedelic masterpiece "Have Another Dream On Me" was referred to as "my latest" by Clark on her April 1968 NBC TV special. For reasons unclear, the song never came out on single. Released in September 1968, 'Petula' rose significantly higher on the US album charts than her preceding album, reaching #51 in the album charts.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Two French language EPs were released in 1968 : the L'amour Viendra EP, featuring : "L'amour Viendra" (My Own True Love)  /  "Le Dixieland"  / "Aide - Toi Le Ciel T'aidera"  /  et "Tu Reviendras Vers Ta Maison" ( Am I That Easy To Forget) -  and the Dis-Moi Au Revoir EP, featuring : "Dis-Moi Au Revoir" (Kiss Me Goodbye)  /  "Qu'est-Ce Qui Fait Courir Le Monde"  /  "Dans Mon Lit" (Tiny Bubbles)  /  and "Tu Ne Joues Plus".

 

"I Want To Sing With Your Band" (b/w "Look To The Sky") was released in November 1968, but did not chart, this was followed by another flop - "Happy Heart" (b/w "Love Is The Only Thing") in April 1969.

Clark was performing in Montreal in June 1969 and was being heckled by the audience due to her bilingual performance. Clark went to ask the advice on dealing with hecklers from John Lennon - who was staying at the city's Queen Elizabeth Hotel laying in bed all day, the lazy bastard! As a result, she ended up as one of the backing vocalists on John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band Give Peace a Chance.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the late 1960s, Clark revived her film career, starring in two big musical films. In Finian's Rainbow (1968), she starred opposite Fred Astaire becoming his final on-screen dance partner, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. The following year she was cast with Peter O'Toole in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), a musical adaptation of James Hilton's novella.

     

Her next album, 'Just Pet' released in 1969, featured the song "Fill the World with Love" from 'Goodbye, Mr. Chips', and included covers of two Beatles songs - "Hey, Jude" and "The Fool on the Hill", plus a languid version of the Turtles' "Happy Together".

The singles "Look At Mine" (b/w "You And I") were released in August 1969, and "No One Better Than You" (b/w "Things Bright And Beautiful") in October 1969. Neither made the slightest dent in the UK charts.

 

Her next album 'Memphis' was produced by Chips Moman - the producer behind some of Elvis Presley's classic recordings in the late 60s. It was recorded in 1969 at Moman's studio in Memphis, this album is roughly Clark's equivalent to Dusty in Memphis. Songs included "I Wanna See Morning With Him"  /  Curtis Mayfield's "People Get Ready"  / and The Box Tops classic "Neon Rainbow". Clark's own songwriting contribution included a topical number called "Right On" written under her pseudonym Al Grant.

By now, her chart performances were becoming increasingly erratic - "Melody Man" flopped in July 1970, while "The Song of My Life" (b/w "For Love") reached #32 in January 1971, and the superb "The World Song" (b/w "I Know What Love Is About") in August 1971 was another chart-dodging flop.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In 1971, Petula Clark's long relationship with Pye Records finally ended. She left the company and signed with Polydor. Meanwhile, Pye dipped into its vaults and assembled a "new" album from songs that had been previously been unreleased.

The album, rather ironically entitled 'Today', was a strong collection, with ten of its 14 songs written by Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch, including "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love"  /  "After The Hill"  /  "Marie de Vere" and "Close To You".

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Her first single for Polydor was "Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (b/w "Song Without End") in October 1972, but it also failed to trouble the charts - as did  "(Let The Love Light In Your Eyes) Lead Me On" (b/w "Taking It On") - a duet with Sacha Distell in October 1973  /  "Let's Sing A Love Song" (b/w "I'm The Woman You Need") in October 1974  /  and "I Am Your Song" (b/w "Super Loving Lady") in April 1975.

With no chart success, she went back to her old record label, Pye, and released some more flops, including : "The Wind Of Change" (b/w "Memories Are Made Of This") in May 1975  /  "What I Did For Love" (b/w "I Believe In Love") in July 1975  /  and  "Downtown '77" - a superb newly recorded disco version arranged and conducted by the legendary Harold Wheeler in December 1976.

   

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In 1954, she had starred in a stage production of The Constant Nymph, but it was not until 1981, at the urging of her children, that she returned to the theatre, starring as Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music in London's glittering West End.

In 1983, she took on the title role in George Bernard Shaw's Candida. Later stage work included Someone Like You in 1989 and 1990, for which she composed the score, Blood Brothers, in which she made her Broadway debut in 1993; and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, appearing in both the West End and American touring productions from 1995 to 2000.

In 1987, BBC Children's TV presenter Phillip Schofield began using the original 1964 recording of Downtown as a platform for a competition for viewers to take photos of themselves in a Downtown setting. Reacting to the response, her record company PRT [the new name for Pye] quickly re-issued the original recording.  Despite Schofield's enthusiastic promotion of the single, the release failed to break into the top 50 - peaking at #116.

The 1987 re-issue of Downtown sparked the interest of the staff at DJ mail out service DMC who, possibly unaware that Petula herself had reworked Downtown as a disco track in 1977, wondered if the track would work as a club remix. The idea was floated past the Dutch remixer Peter 'Hithouse' Slaghuis who embarked on remixing the original into a house remix.

The mysteriously titled "Downtown '88" was promptly issued by PRT as single in November 1988. Despite having a wonky bass-line, later described by the legendary pop writer daf, as being "bloody awful" and "outrageous muck", it was a Top 10 hit three weeks later, becoming Clark's first UK singles chart success since 1972.

 

Following the enormous success of 'Downtown '88', PRT embarked on a further radical remix by DMC's Peter Slaghuis of Petula's recording of "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" which had been a hit in 1967. However, the enigmatically titled "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love '89 Mix" failed to trouble the charts.

 

In 1998, Clark was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Queen Elizabeth II. In 2012, Clark was installed as a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France by the French Minister of Culture.

In March 2019, it was announced that she would be returning to London's West End stage for the first time in 20 years, performing in the upcoming revival of Mary Poppins as The Bird Woman.

The Single :

"This Is My Song" was written by Charlie Chaplin in 1966 . . . yes, you read that right - the Little Tramp himself!

The song was intended for the film 'A Countess from Hong Kong', which Chaplin wrote and directed. Chaplin saw his film as a throwback to the shipboard romances that were popular in the 1930s, and wrote "This Is My Song" with the intent of evoking that era. To reinforce the evocation, Chaplin was determined to have Al Jolson sing the song — unfortunately, it turned out that Jolson, the selfish bastard, had somehow managed to be dead for the past 16 years without anyone noticing!

After being disillusioned with regard to Jolson, Chaplin considered having "This Is My Song" recorded by Petula Clark, who had a home in Switzerland near his residence. Clark's husband and manager Claude Wolff received a copy in September 1966, while he was with Clark in Reno, Nevada. Wolff liked the song and Clark felt it had special potential for success in France.

However, Clark's regular collaborator Tony Hatch was not impressed with the song, and refused Wolff's invitation to arrange it for Clark to record. French label Vogue Records then commissioned a then successful French arranger Jacques Denjean whose work was judged unsuitable by Wolff.

Ultimately, the song was produced by Sonny Burke at Western Studios in Los Angeles. Clark recorded the song not only in English, but in French, German and Italian. "C'est Ma Chanson" reached #1 in France and #3 in Belgium. In Germany, "So Heisst Mein Song" peaked at #23. In Italy, the rendering "Cara Felicità" reached #23.



Clark did not even wish to record the song in English, because she disliked the deliberately old-fashioned lyrics, which Chaplin refused to modify; however, after the translated versions of the song had been recorded, some time remained on the session, and Burke coaxed Clark to use this to record Chaplin's lyrics. The recording session featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew.

Clark had assumed her recording of "This Is My Song" with the original quaint Chaplin lyrics would only be used as an album track; on learning of Pye Records' plan to release the track as a single she attempted to block its release. Instead, she found herself atop the UK Singles Chart for the first time in six years when it reached no. 1 on the chart in February 1967. The total sales of "This Is My Song" in the UK would exceed 500,000.




The breakout of "This Is My Song" in the UK in February 1967 caused Pye Records to withdraw Clark's current album release "Colour My World", which was rush re-released with "This Is My Song" added.

Petula Clark's "This Is My Song" was no. 1 for three weeks in Ireland and six weeks in Australia; it also topped the charts in Rhodesia, South Africa, The Netherlands and Belgium. The North American single release omitted the opening lyrical section, following the instrumental introduction, owing to the length of the song. It reached #3 in the U.S. and #4 in Canada.

Other Versions include :   Harry Secombe (1967)  /  Frank Sinatra (1967)  /  Engelbert Humperdinck (1967)  /  Judith Durham (1967)  /  James Last (1967)  /  "Min sang til dig" by Gitte Hænning (1967)  /  Andy Williams (1968)  /  Teddy Greaves and his Groovy Group (1968)  /  Tracy (1980)   /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  Dave Monk (2017)  /  Yvan Jacques (2018)

On This Day  :

12 February : Keith Richard, Mick Jagger & Marianne Faithful busted for drugs at 'Redlands'
17 February : The Beatles release double A-side "Strawberry Fields" / "Penny Lane" in the US [and four days later in the UK]
17 February : Kosmos 140 launches into Earth orbit
18 February : Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb", dies of throat cancer at 62
18 February : Colin Jackson, (Olympic Hurdler), born Colin Ray Jackson in Cardiff
20 February : Kurt Cobain, (Nirvana), born Kurt Donald Cobain in Aberdeen, Washington, USA
21 February : Charles Beaumont, science fiction author (Twilight Zone), dies at 38
23 February : Tamsin Greig, actress, born Tamsin Margaret Mary Greig in Maidstone, Kent
24 February : The Bee Gees sign a management contract with Robert Stigwood.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

             

[famethrowa]

Hang on, Charlie Chaplin was alive in 1966? And writing songs for the hit parade?? Fetch my hat

[daf]

Hang on, Charlie Chaplin was alive in 1966? And writing songs for the hit parade?? Fetch my hat

Not only that, he outlived Elvis, and was still twirling his bamboo cane long enough to catch punk and disco!

[Gulftastic]

Probably the hit single version he and Bob did with EMF.

The song was used in one of the Shrek films too, and they did the 'stomp stomp stomp OI!' bit, so that's maybe how it got wider exposure.

[Satchmo Distel]

Chaplin also had huge sellers with 'Smile' and 'Theme From Limelight', The latter won an Oscar for Best Dramatic Score in 1972, 20 years after its release, because it wasn't shown in L.A. until 1972.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Original_Score#cite_note-Limelight-13

There's a great video here of Nat King Cole's version of 'Smile' played over some lovely Chaplin clips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rkNBH5fbMk

[daf]

Lazy comedy slags can do one - He may have driven everyone nuts with his endless re-takes, but he captured some pure magic on film - That bit at the end of City Lights never fails to make me well up!

"Yes, I can see now"

[Satchmo Distel]

Yes, it's my favourite scene in the history of cinema.

'The Immigrant' (1917) is very powerful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkC2Fha9s0s

[Gulftastic]

Lazy comedy slags can do one - He may have driven everyone nuts with his endless re-takes, but he captured some pure magic on film - That bit at the end of City Lights never fails to make me well up!

"Yes, I can see now"

Damn right. That bit in Blackadder Goes Fourth made me livid.

[purlieu]

Chaplin's Wikipedia entry is phenomenal, and he's one of those people who, despite his enormous fame, remains wholly unappreciated for many of his brilliant aspects. The final speech in The Great Dictator is one of the finest scenes in cinema history and gives me goosebumps every time I watch it.

That said, this song is bizarrely out of time for 1966. It would have made more sense five years earlier. 'Downtown' sounds more contemporary for the era (and is, frankly, a far better song) than 'This is My Song'.

[daf]

'Downtown' sounds more contemporary for the era (and is, frankly, a far better song) than 'This is My Song'.

Good pub quiz trick question - "Name one of Petula Clarks two number ones" - you just know everyone's going to go for it!

(It got stuck at #2 behind 'I Feel Fine' for five weeks - not something The Beatles ever had to worry about, of course! hem, hem . . .)

[daf]

Four-Eyes Don't Love You Anymore, it's . . .

230.  Engelbert Humperdink - Release Me



From : 26 February – 8 April 1967
Weeks : 6
Flip side : Ten Guitars

The Story So Far : 

Engelbert Humperdinck was born Arnold George Dingledonk Bumbleshoe Dorsey on 2 May 1936, in Madras, British India. He was one of ten children to British Army NCO Mervyn Dorsey, who was of Welsh descent, and his wife Olive, who according to Dorsey was of German descent.

His family moved to Leicester when he was ten. He soon showed an interest in music and began learning the saxophone. By the early 1950s, he was playing saxophone in nightclubs, but he is believed not to have tried singing until he was seventeen, when friends coaxed him into entering a pub contest. His impression of Jerry Lewis prompted friends to begin calling him "The Nutty Professor" "Gerry Dorsey", a name that he worked under for almost a decade. Dorsey's music career was interrupted by his national service in the British Army Royal Corps of Signals during the mid-1950s.

He got his first chance to record in 1958 with Decca Records after his discharge, and his first single "Crazy Bells" (b/w "Mister Music Man") was released in February 1959. His second - "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" (b/w "Every Day Is A Wonderful Day") was released on Parlophone in November 1959, but again, was not a hit.

In February 1961, Parlophone tried again with "Big Wheel" (b/w "The Sentimental Joker") - which flopped. That same year, his singing career was put on hold after he was stricken with tuberculosis. He regained his health and returned to nightclub work.

   

In March 1964 Pye took a punt on him with the single "Take Your Time" (b/w "Baby I Do"), and in October 1965, it was Hickory's turn to stick their neck out, with "Baby Turn Around" (b/w "Things I Wanna Do"). Both singles did absolutely nothing, and it looked like Gerry Dorsey's career was destined to remain in the nightclubs, and not in the charts.

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In 1965, Dorsey teamed up with Gordon Mills, his former roommate in the Bayswater area of London, who had become a music impresario and the manager of Tom Jones. Mills, aware that Dorsey had been struggling for several years to become successful in the music industry, suggested a name-change to the more arresting Engelbert Humperdinck - stealing it from the 19th-century German composer of operas such as Hansel and Gretel. Dorsey adopted the name professionally but not legally.

 

Mills arranged a new deal for him with Decca Records, and his first single under his fruity new name was "Stay" (b/w "Come Over Here") - released in June 1966. unfortunately "Stay" is exactly what it did, as it refused to budge an inch up the charts!



Humperdinck enjoyed his first real success during July 1966 in Belgium, where he and four others represented Britain in the annual Knokke song contest. Boosted by a promotional film recorded of him performing the song in the harbour of Zeebrugge, he dented the Belgian charts in October 1966 with the single "Dommage, Dommage" (b/w "When I Say Goodnight").

 


In the mid-1960s, Humperdinck visited German songwriter Bert Kaempfert at his house in Spain and was offered arrangements of three songs: "Spanish Eyes"; "Strangers in the Night" and "Wonderland by Night". He returned to Britain where he recorded all three songs, the greedy pig!

He recognised the potential of "Strangers in the Night" and asked manager Gordon Mills whether it could be released as a single—but his request was refused, since the song had already been requested by Frank Sinatra.

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In early 1967, Humperdinck finally got his big break when his version of "Release Me" made the Top 7 in the US, and peaked at number one in the UK. It spent 56 weeks in the Top 50, selling 85,000 copies a day at the height of its popularity.

 

Soon after, he took part in a show at the Astoria London, alongside The Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens, and, improbably, Jimi Hendrix, who promptly set fire to his guitar on stage for the first time. He was taken to hospital suffering burns to his hands. The guitar-burning act would later become a trademark of Hendrix's performances.



His next single, "There Goes My Everything" (b/w "You Love") reached #2 in May 1967.



But not everyone was a fan - with Julie Felix and DJ Kenny Everett giving it a mauling on Juke Box Jury.

   

He might have missed out on his second number one, but he was going down a storm in the US.

 

The Single :

"Release Me" [sometimes known as "Release Me (and Let Me Love Again)" or occasionally "Please Release Me (Let Me Go)"], was written by Eddie "Piano" Miller and Robert Yount in 1949. Four years later it was recorded by Jimmy Heap & the Melody Masters, and also by Patti Page, Ray Price, and Kitty Wells, the following year in 1954.

Jivin' Gene & the Jokers recorded the tune in 1960, which served as an inspiration for Little Esther Phillips, who reached #8 on the pop chart with her version. The Everly Brothers followed in 1963, along with Lucille Starr as "The French Song" in 1964, and most successfully by Engelbert Humperdink in 1967.



Although Eddie Miller later claimed to have written the song in 1946 -- only being able to record it himself in 1949 -- he actually co-wrote it with Robert Yount in 1949. As they were working at that time with Dub Williams, a pseudonym of James Pebworth, they gave him one-third of the song. The song was released with the writing credited to Miller-Williams-Gene, as Yount was using his stage name of Bobby Gene.

The owner of Four Star Records William McCall would usually add his pseudonym "W.S. Stevenson" to the credit of songs he published, but he failed to do so in 1949. However, in 1957, Miller and Yount entered into a new publishing agreement with Four Star Records, in which "W.S. Stevenson" replaced Williams as co-writer.

Yount signed away his royalty rights to William McCall in 1958, after which the credits to the song officially became "Miller-Stevenson", although multiple variations also existed. For example, Engelbert Humperdinck's UK single is credited to "Eddie Miller, Robert Yount, Dub Williams and Robert Harris". The Harris credit, however, turned out to be another pseudonym for James Pebworth - the mad bastard!

 

Early in 1967, Engelbert Humperdinck was asked to stand in for Dickie Valentine, who was ill, on Sunday Night at the London Palladium. He sang "Release Me" on the show. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 2 March and stayed there for six weeks during March and April 1967. It was the highest selling single of 1967 in the UK, eventually shifting 1.38 million copies.



Often cited as the song that broke The Beatles' run of Number 1 singles, however, this was not the case in the hugely popular and highly accurate Melody Maker chart - where the pot-crazed youngsters pushed "Release Me" into second place behind "Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever" for 3 weeks in March 1967.




Other Versions include :  Lefty Frizzell (1959)  /  Bobby Darin (1963)  /  Dolly Parton (1963)  /  Buck Owens (1963)  /  Faron Young (1964)  /  Dean Martin (1967)  /  Floyd Cramer (1967)  /  Matt Monro (1967)  /  "Smutný dům" by Karel Hála (1967)  /  "Låt mej gå" by Anna-Lena Löfgren (1967)  /  Tennessee Ernie Ford (1968)  /  Jerry Lee Lewis (1968)  /  Wanda Jackson (1969)  / Elvis Presley (1970)  /  Santo & Johnny (1971)  /  Barbara Mandrell (1971)  /  John Holt (1978)  /  Madness (1980)  /  Tony Christie (1983)  /  The Mike Flowers Pops (1996)  /  Danny McEvoy (2011)  /  BurnsErnst (2011)  /  Elizabeth West (2012)

On This Day  :

1 March : The Queen Elizabeth Hall was opened in London
4 March : Tim Vine, stand-up comedian, born Timothy Mark Vine in Cheam, London
4 March : The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane" single goes to #1 in the UK Melody Maker Chart, staying at the Top Spot for 3 weeks
6 March : Nelson Eddy, American baritone (Phantom of the Opera), dies at 65
7 March : Alice B. Toklas, American-Parisian avant-garde and companion to Gertrude Stein, dies at 89
6 March :  Joseph Stalin's daughter Svetlana Allilujeva approaches the US Embassy in New Delhi, India, and asks for political asylum
11 March : Pink Floyd releases 1st single "Arnold Layne"
11 March : John Barrowman, actor, born John Scot Barrowman in Glasgow, Scotland
17 March : Billy Corgan, (Smashing Pumpkins), born William Patrick Corgan Jr .in Chicago, Illinois
18 March : Beatles' "Penny Lane" single goes #1 in the US
18 March : Miki Berenyi, (Lush), born Miki Eleonora Berenyi in Chelsea, London
21 March : Adrian Chiles, TV & Radio presenter, born in Quinton, Birmingham
21 March : Maxim, (The Prodigy), born Keith Palmer in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
26 March : Pope Paul VI publishes his latest encyclical bonk-buster : Populorum progressio - Phwoarr!!
28 March : "Sherry!" opens at Alvin Theater NYC
31 March : Jimi Hendrix burns his guitar for the first time on stage (in London)
8 April : "Puppet on a String" by Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 for the United Kingdom.
8 April : 121st Grand National : John Buckingham on 100/1 outsider Foinavon wins by 15 lengths

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! :

                                         

[kalowski]

Utter crap. And kept Strawberry Fields off the top spot.

[daf]

Stay tuned!

"Release Me" is often cited as the song that broke The Beatles' run of Number 1 singles, however, this was not the case in the hugely popular and highly accurate Melody Maker chart - where "Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane" Topped the chart for 3 weeks in March 1967.

[famethrowa]

Not a song I'm into that much, but as a harbinger of one of the greatest comedy shows of all time just hearing it fills me with joy and nostalgia and warmth for something else entirely. Brilliant!

There's also a story to be told about the mostly ignored B-side, Ten Guitars, and how it became New Zealand's official guitar-strumming anthem, known by everyone down there.

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/ten-guitars-1996

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Guitars#Popularity_in_New_Zealand

[bigfatheart]

56 weeks on the chart is fucking mad. Who, a year and four weeks after the song's release, was finally just deciding that yeah, you know what, I will go out and buy that turgid dross?

[purlieu]

Not a song I'm into that much, but as a harbinger of one of the greatest comedy shows of all time just hearing it fills me with joy and nostalgia and warmth for something else entirely. Brilliant!

Yes, it'll always be The Fast Show Theme to me.

That said, I do really like it as a song. It's totally not suited to 1967, but had it been a few years earlier it would have been a real highlight for me.

[The Culture Bunker]

An ex of mine's mother saw a package tour in Bolton, 1967 or so, featuring Gerry here with support from the Walker Brothers and... the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Interesting combination.

I gather young Jim was taken with the headline act's stagecraft.