"England Swings" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Roger Miller | ||||
from the album Golden Hits | ||||
B-side | "Good Old Days" | |||
Released | November 1965 | |||
Recorded | August 10, 1965 [1] | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Label | Smash Records | |||
Songwriter(s) | Roger Miller | |||
Producer(s) | Jerry Kennedy | |||
Roger Miller singles chronology | ||||
|
"England Swings" is a 1965 country music song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Roger Miller. The single was Miller's eleventh hit on the US country chart where it peaked at number three. [2] On the Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at number eight and was Miller's second number one on the Easy Listening chart. Petula Clark (from the Colour My World album) [3] and Pat Boone both released cover versions in 1967.
The title refers to Swinging London, a popular term for the youth-centric cultural scene in London at the time, as in the opening line of the refrain: "England Swings, like a pendulum do". The lyrics, however, mostly relate to traditional notions of Britain, with references to "bobbies on bicycles", Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, plus, the "Rosy-red cheeks of the little children". The song also provides the structure for Miller's later song "Oo De Lally (Robin Hood and Little John)" for the film Robin Hood . The song is featured in the 2012 BBC documentary How The Brits Rocked America. Miller sang his own harmony and performed his own harmonic whistling on the song.
the song was used as the theme song for 15 Storeys High, the 2002-04 British sitcom, created and co-written by Sean Lock.
The song was covered by The Wiggles and Keith Urban on the Australian version of the album Let's Eat, released in 2010. [4]
Chart (1965–66) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia | 23 |
Canada CHUM Chart [5] | 9 |
New Zealand [6] | 4 |
UK Singles Chart | 13 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 3 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 8 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |
Petula Clark CBE is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 years.
"Downtown" is a song written and produced by English composer Tony Hatch. Its lyrics speak of going to spend time in an urban downtown as a means of escape from everyday life. The 1964 version recorded by British singer Petula Clark became an international hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. Hatch received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
"This Is My Song" is a song written by Charlie Chaplin in 1966, and performed by Petula Clark.
Anthony Peter Hatch is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer.
"Memories Are Made of This" is a popular song about nostalgia, written in 1955 by Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr, and Frank Miller. They were the members of a three-pieced group called "The Easy Riders", who served as a backing band for Dean Martin's version of this song, also released in 1955.
"Tennessee Waltz" is a popular country music song with lyrics by Redd Stewart and music by Pee Wee King written in 1946 and first released in January 1948. The song became a multimillion seller via a 1950 recording – as "The Tennessee Waltz" – by Patti Page.
"For All We Know" is a soft rock song written for the 1970 film Lovers and Other Strangers, with music by Fred Karlin and lyrics by Robb Wilson and Arthur James, both from the soft rock group Bread. It was originally performed, for the film's soundtrack, by Larry Meredith and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1971.
"My Love" is a 1965 single release by Petula Clark which, in early 1966, became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in the US; the track continued Clark's collaboration with songwriter and record producer Tony Hatch.
"Little Bitty Pretty One" is a 1957 song written and originally recorded by Bobby Day. The same year, the song was popularized by Thurston Harris. Produced by Aladdin Records, and featuring the Sharps on backing vocals, Harris's version reached No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Best-Sellers chart and No. 2 on the R&B chart. The Bobby Day version reached No. 11 in the Canadian CHUM Chart.
"I Will Follow Him" is a popular song that was first recorded in 1961 by Franck Pourcel, as an instrumental entitled "Chariot". The song achieved its widest success when it was recorded by American singer Little Peggy March with English lyrics in 1963. The music was written by Franck Pourcel and Paul Mauriat. It was adapted by Arthur Altman. The completely new English lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel.
"Anyone Who Had a Heart" is a song written by Burt Bacharach (music) and Hal David (lyrics) for Dionne Warwick in 1963. In January 1964, Warwick's original recording hit the Top Ten in the United States, Canada, Spain, Netherlands, South Africa, Belgium and Australia.
"Baby I'm Yours" is a song written by Van McCoy which was a hit in 1965 for Barbara Lewis, the original recording artist.
"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" is a 1966 song recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield, based on "Io che non vivo (senza te)" ("I, who can't live (without you)"), an Italian song with music by Pino Donaggio and lyrics by Vito Pallavicini, which was very successful in Italy.
"You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You" is a popular song written by Russ Morgan, Larry Stock, and James Cavanaugh and published in 1944. The song was first recorded by Morgan and was a hit for him in 1946, reaching the No. 14 spot in the charts. The best known version was Dean Martin's, which was released in 1960 and reissued in 1964.
"Call Me" is a song composed by Tony Hatch for an original recording for Petula Clark. It was later an easy listening standard via a hit version by Chris Montez.
"Five O'Clock World" is a song written by Allen Reynolds and recorded by American vocal group The Vogues. It reached number 1 on WLS on 17 December 1965 and 7 January 1966, number 1 in Canada on the RPM singles chart on 10 January 1966, and number 4 in the U.S. on the Hot 100 on 15–22 January 1966 and is one of the Vogues' best-known hits, along with "You're the One".
"You're the One" is a song by Petula Clark with lyrics by Tony Hatch, recorded in 1965. It was later also included on the 1965 album I Know a Place. "You're the One" was a Top 30 hit on the UK Singles Chart for Clark, but was more successful as a top ten US single release by The Vogues.
"The Race Is On" is a song written by Don Rollins and made a hit on the country music charts by George Jones and on the pop and easy listening charts by the unrelated Jack Jones. George's version was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in September 1964, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. Jack's version topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100 the same year. The two recordings combined to reach number 12 on the Cashbox charts, which combined all covers of the same song in one listing and thus gave George Jones his only top-40 hit. The song uses thoroughbred horse racing as the metaphor for the singer's romantic relationships.
Colour My World is the sixth album released by Petula Clark in the US on Warner Bros. Records. It combines cover versions of popular songs of the era and 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.
"Just a Little" is a song by the American rock group the Beau Brummels. The song is included on the band's debut album, Introducing the Beau Brummels, and was released as its second single, following "Laugh, Laugh". "Just a Little" became the band's best hit parade U.S. single, which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1965. It also reached no lower than position #10 of the hit parades in Canada and Australia.