Petula Clark

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Petula Clark, CBE (born Sally Olwen Clark, 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.

Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II. During the 1950s she started recording in French and having international success in both French and English, with such songs as "The Little Shoemaker", "Baby Lover", "With All My Heart" and "Prends Mon Cœur".

During the 1960s she became known globally for her popular upbeat hits, including "Downtown", "I Know a Place", "My Love", "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway", and she was dubbed "the First Lady of the British Invasion". She has sold more than 68 million records.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fllN8bUJ77c

"Downtown" is a song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark in 1964, became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 in UK Singles Chart. Hatch received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

The song has been covered by many singers, including Dolly Parton and Emma Bunton.

Tony Hatch had first worked with Petula Clark when he assisted her regular producer Alan A. Freeman on her 1961 #1 hit "Sailor". In 1963 Freeman had asked Hatch to take over as Clark's regular producer: Hatch had subsequently produced five English-language singles for Clark none of which had charted.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuNCZfd93bc

"My Love" is a 1965 single release by Petula Clark which, in early 1966, became an international hit, reaching #1 in the US: the track continued Clark's collaboration with songwriter and record producer Tony Hatch.

In November 1965, on a flight from London to Los Angeles, Tony Hatch was putting the finishing touches on his composition "The Life and Soul of the Party", which he planned to record with Clark in Los Angeles to serve as her next single. During casual conversation with the American sitting next to him, Hatch was advised that this song's title would be meaningless to the American public.

Hatch then proceeded to write lyrics for a song whose title - "My Love" - could not conceivably present any comprehension issue; the lyrics were completed during the flight and Hatch completed the music soon after landing in Los Angeles.

"My Love" was recorded at Western Studios  and featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew. Petula Clark would recall: "We recorded three songs on that session...I liked the two other songs quite a lot, but I really didn't like 'My Love'...I thought it was a bit ordinary. I had got so used to these wonderful songs that Tony had been writing with all these different moods and I thought "My Love" was just a bit flat."

Clark would describe how she tried to discourage Warner Bros A&R man Joe Smith from issuing "My Love" as a single: "He's a very small man physically...about the right height for me. I was able to get hold of his lapels, and I said to him, 'Joe, I don't care which [of the three songs] you put out, but just don't put out "My Love". And he said: 'Trust me, baby.'"

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The song was constructed from three different sections of music previously composed by Hatch; it changes in musical style from pop to symphonic and then, for the chorus, to a Beach Boys-like melody.

In the lyrics the narrator advises her sweetheart against storming out after an argument due to his "foolish pride". If he does, he will "sleep in the subway" or "stand in the pouring rain" merely to prove his point. Although in Scotland  there has long existed the Glasgow Subway metro line, in England the term "subway" refers to a pedestrian underpass rather than to an underground transit system. Hatch employed the term in the North American sense. According to the song's co-writer Jackie Trent the title lyric was suggested by the 1961-62 Broadway musical Subways Are For Sleeping.

'Don't Sleep in the Subway' peaked at #5 on the US charts in July 1967, becoming Clark's final US Top Ten single and the second of two #1 hits on the Billboard Easy Listening chart, following 'I Couldn't Live Without Your Love'. In the UK where her precedent single 'This Is My Song' had afforded Clark her best chart showing with two weeks at #1 'Don't Sleep in the Subway' had a July 1967 chart peak of #12, evincing a decline in Clark's UK chart profile which would continue until Clark made her last UK Top 40 appearance with a new recording, 'Song of My Life' which peaked at #32 in March 1971. (Clark would subsequently peak at #47 UK with 'I Don't Know How to Love Him' in 1972 and in 1988 a remix of her 1964 recording 'Downtown' would peak at #10 UK.) 'Don't Sleep in the Subway' reached #3 in Rhodesia, #5 in Canada, #7 in New Zealand, #10 in South Africa and #16 in Germany. In Australia, it was at #1 on the charts dated 16 and 23 September 1967, marking Clark's final appearance at #1 on an official national chart.

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"Sign of the Times", also known as "A Sign of the Times", is a song performed by Petula Clark and released from her album My Love in March 1966. It was the follow-up to her #1 US hit "My Love," which had been the title selection from the aforementioned album, and it continued her association with writer/producer Tony Hatch and songwriter Jackie Trent. However, "A Sign of the Times" had a more percussive sound than had been evident on Clark's previous singles, or than would become evident on her later ones. Clark discussed the song with Carl Wiser for Songfacts.com in 2013. "I loved it. It had a slightly different feel. 'A Sign of the Times,' I suppose you might expect some big political statement or something, but it was just a straight-ahead love song.

I think Tony rather liked finding titles that made you think, like 'Don't Sleep in the Subway.' People would think, is it about drugs? Is it about this? And these were just straightforward songs. I like 'Sign of the Times.' I think it's a good song."

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"How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" is a popular song about a fictional village in Ireland, with themes of nostalgia and homesickness. It was introduced by Ella Logan in the original Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow.