PETULA CLARK – "Sailor"

“an oddly archaic one from such a young singer”

Yes, except although she was 28 when this came out, Pet Clark had been around forever by this point – she had been child star during the war (“Britain’s Shirley Temple”). So, in a way, she was a contemporary of Vera Lynn. But she was also young enough to adjust to the times to some extent, and have some excellent 60s hits (Downtown, Don’t Sleep In The Subway…

For years I have been trying to find out something about this song which was very popular in Illinois, USA, probably in 1954, 55, or 56. I was young at the time but remember the song was sung in English and German. I cannot remember if I have ever heard the Pet Clark version. (I most certainly remember when Downtown hit the airwaves.) Does anyone remember the English and German version? who the artist is/was?

This is the sort of record my grandma liked, she was 58 back then.

But what a pity no ‘Downtown’ at Number One (Number One in America though)IMO along with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’* the two tracks that feel so much like they should have made it to the top – not just in their quality but in their impingement on a national pop consciousness.
*I won’t also include ‘Please Please Me’ because in spite of the ridiculous attempt of the Charts Company to rewrite history it WAS obviously Number One as was incidentally ‘I’m A Boy’ by the Who.

While i’m on this subject when is some enterprising publisher going to attempt to solve the 60’s charts problem once and for all and bring out a book listing ALL the records that made the various main charts in that period 1960-Feb 1969 which causes all the problems (definitely Record Retailer and New Musical Express and probably Melody Maker too) and therefore all the records that are rightfully looked on as Number Ones (and TBH relatively speaking there wouldnt actually be THAT many weeks with two number ones (and anyway there are already instances of 2 number ones tied at the top when using just one chart).

Andy, I’ve got a similar fascination based on my grandparents’ taste when I was growing up, which has only just percolated through to my conscious likes and dislikes in the last couple of years.

Not wanting to count chickens etcet, but I’m working on a 2cd set of the Radio Luxemburg no.1s, 40-odd of them, dating from 1947-52 when the NME chart started. An interesting problem will be working out which recorded version to pick for each sheet music hit.

While I’d previously thought post-war/pre-rock was a stagnant pool you can definitely hear *some* progress as the fifties get going, at least production-wise. Also, I’ve discovered odd things like Vera Lynn’s run of hits from 52-55 was a blip, and must have been related to Aden/Cyprus/conscription (shoot me down if I’m miles out here) rather than an extended WW2 hangover.

The more I delve, though, the more I realise how utterly, utterly alien Little Richard must have sounded in 1955.

Pet Clark (returning to the matter in hand) cut a more than respectable cover of an obscure doo wop song called Baby Lover, her last hit before Sailor, which was as close to R&R as she got. It’s insanely catchy, recommended, and featured in the 6.5 Special movie.

The German version of this song is also associated with Freddy Quinn who was a very big pop star in Germany in the early 60s. I think it is on the best-selling LP “Freddy auf hoher See”. It is very much a Freddy-type song – his speciality was pop versions of sea shanties. For gender reasons, his version of Seemann has somewhat different lyrics from those of Lolita and Petula, They long for a sailor, Freddy longs to get home from sea!

51 years on, Pop Justice reckon Pet’s new single is “a sort of Saint Etienne-meets-Lana Del Rey-esque surprise triumph”. And I think they’re right. It’s gorgeous, either way:

http://www.popjustice.com/songs/petula-clark-cut-copy-me/

Agreed. Couldn’t have seen this coming. The album is getting quite a push from Sony as well.

I expressed my dislike for this in the recent 1961 poll – listening to it again has diminished my loathing somewhat – but not by much. It reminds me of the type of song (and it probably WAS one of the songs) played on ‘Sing something simple’ that I used to hear on the radio when I was a kid -which even then I found syrupy. The arrangement is pedestrian and confused. A loping ‘country’ rhythm and warbling harmonica overlaid with a very British sounding choir sound complacently lush. Petula sounds neither sad because she misses her ‘sailor’ or happy to look forward to his return which is hardly surprising how bland the lyres are. It’s interesting as a period piece but beyond that I’d be happy not to hear it again.

thanks Paulito and @22 that should be ‘lyrics’ not ‘lyres’