Leaning on a Lamp-post

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"Leaning on a Lamp-post"
"Leaning on a Lamp-post".jpg
Single by George Formby
Recorded5 September 1937
Label Regal Zonophone
Songwriter(s) Noel Gay

"Leaning on a Lamp-post" is a popular song written by Noel Gay and best known in the version by George Formby.

It was first performed in the 1937 film Feather Your Nest , in contrasting styles by Val Rosing and George Formby. The film's plot revolves around Formby, a gramophone record technician, hearing Rosing record the song but then breaking the master disc and substituting his own voice. [1] Formby recorded the song for Regal Zonophone Records on 5 September 1937, and it became one of his most popular and best-remembered songs. The sheet music for the song was published by Cinephonic Music Co Ltd. of London, at two shillings. [2]

A version by Herman's Hermits, credited as "Leaning on the Lamp Post", reached number nine on the US Hot 100 in 1966. [3] The song was added into the 1985 production of Me and My Girl , but was not in the original 1937 version of the musical. [4]

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References

  1. Feather Your Nest at GeorgeFormby.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2013
  2. "Leaning on a Lamp-post" at Songfacts.com. Retrieved 14 December 2013
  3. Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p.  312. ISBN   0-89820-155-1.
  4. Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory: Past and Present in Contemporary Culture, p.398