 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for music .(October 2016) |
"There's No Place Like London" is a song co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Gerard Kenny, [1] [2] [3] [4] and held by the British Library. [5] [6] [7] [8] The song was published by Lynsey de Paul Music/Chelsea Publishing Co Ltd/Arlon Music/Chappell Music. [9] [10]
It was first recorded by Shirley Bassey [11] [12] [7] backed with a 54 piece orchestra, conducted by David Lindup and produced by de Paul, and released as a single in June 1986. [13] [14] [15] [16] The B-side was Bassey's version of "Born to Sing" composed by Jeff Barnel and Michael Joubeveaux with English lyrics by Norman Newell, that was also produced by de Paul. [17] [13] It was released June 1986 and was Bassey's last single for the independent British record label Towerbell Records. [18] Unusually, the song starts with the chorus rather than a verse. [19] The song was well received by the UK press [20] but it stalled at number 138 on the UK Singles Chart. [21]
According to Music Week, the song was commissioned by the "London Visitor & Convention Board (formerly the "London Tourist Board") as well as eight companies, including "British Airways" and the BT Group (at that time known as "British Telecom"). [22] [23] [24] A promotional video was made that featured Bassey's daughter Sharon and grandson Luke as well as de Paul and cameo's from celebrities such as Michael Caine, Spike Milligan, David Frost, Frank Bruno and Kermit the frog and shown on BBC News. [25] A live performance of the song was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall, with songwriter de Paul in the audience [26] as part of her concert celebrating her 30th anniversary as a recording artist in 1986. [27] [28] Bassey also sang the song as well as part of her 'Live from the Piccadilly' show later that year, [29] [30] as well as on the 1987 Royal Variety Performance, [31] and, ironically, for her "Shirley Bassey Live" in Berlin in honour of 750 years of Berlin in 1987. [32] She also performed the song on prime time TV on "Des O'Connor Tonight" Christmas show. [33] The song is considered as one of Bassey's defining, signature songs and is listed as part of her essential repertoire alongside other Bassey classics. [34]
It was released for the first time on CD to tie-in with the UK held Olympic Games in 2012 on the Warner/Chappell album, Olympic Tracks. [35] It is listed in the BBC music database which catalogs songs they play. [36] Speaking about the recording of the song in an interview, de Paul said "we wrote.."There's No Place Like London", and the Tourist Board liked it, and then we thought of an artist and I thought of Shirley Bassey. So I approached her and asked her to sing it and she really liked the song - that's the way round it came, it didn't come that I wrote for her I just had the song and said would you sing it. And she was great." [37] It is still one of the most played Bassey songs on BBC radio [38] [39] and is listed on their Bassey website. [40] Two different live Bassey performances of the song appear on the Odeon Entertainment DVD, Shirley Bassey On TV, released in 2010. [41]
De Paul recorded a version of the song with a whole host of celebrity friends to celebrate Capital Radio's twentieth anniversary in 1993 under the name 'Lynsey and friends', which was produced by de Paul and released as a single in the UK. [42] It was the winning record for the LBC London Parade, and went on sale to raise money for the Variety Club of Great Britain. [43] According to the CD sleeve, the friends included Frankie Vaughan, Patti Boulaye, Gareth Hunt, Kenny Lynch, Rula Lenska, Gwen Taylor, Lionel Blair, Lorraine Chase, Pam St. Clement, Harry Fowler, Polly James, Larry Adler, Rose Marie, Victor Spinetti, Gorden Kaye and the St Joan of Arc School Choir. [44] [45]
It was covered and released by drag queen diva La Voix (real name Chris Dennis), a semi-finalist of Britain's Got Talent and who appeared in Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie , as a track on the 2018 album, Hello. [46] [47] [48] Drag queen Tiffaney Wells also has covered the song. [49]
"There's No Place Like London" has also been recorded as an instrumental version by the UK band leader and producer Tony Evans as "The Tony Evans Orchestra" on his album of the same name, [50] [51] as well as by the artist Ameritz. [52] Being in the style of a slow fox-trot, it has become a ballroom dancing standard. [53] The song was also performed by "Hills Angels" as part of a musical sketch in episode No. 2 of the 18th season of the Benny Hill Show in 1988 and released internationally on DVD in 2011. [54]
The lyrics sing the praises of London, England, the birthplace of de Paul as well as the adopted home of Gerard Kenny, and featured the lyrics "Take Paris in the spring, take New York in the fall, but I'd leave them behind, for the best of them all". [55] In 2012, Gerard Kenny was interviewed by Radio Warwickshire about writing this and other songs. In the interview he revealed how he and de Paul wrote the song and how proud he was to hear Bassey sing it at the Royal Variety Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II, who clearly liked it and was part of the spontaneous standing ovation that Bassey received. [56]
A show entitled No Place Like London after the song "There's No Place Like London", featuring singers Brunie Riley and Milko Foucault-Larche singing the songs of Shirley Bassey and Engelbert Humperdinck, is currently on tour with dates in Australia. [57] [58] The song is mentioned an article entitled "Iconic Landscapes: The Lyrical Links of Songs and Cities", that appeared in the academic publication Focus on Geography, a peer-reviewed, full-colour quarterly journal, with numerous articles written by well-known academic and professional geographers. [59] In 2021, the song was included in the listing "Notable Songs with City Names in the Title" by journalist Ansel Pereira. [60] It still receives plays on major radio stations such as BBC Radio. [61] In 2023, "Audio Tips" listed the song as number 38 on their "40 Great Songs About Cities" listing [62] and more recently it was also listed by Spinditty under "100 Best Songs With Names of Cities in the Title".
| Chart (1986) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles (OCC) [63] | 138 |
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, the only artist to perform more than one, Bassey is one of the most popular vocalists in Britain.
Lynsey de Paul was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. After initially writing hits for others, she had her own chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with UK top 10 single "Sugar Me", and became the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song. She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, coming second and scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland, and had a successful career as a songwriter, record producer, actress and television celebrity.
Norman Newell was an English record producer and lyricist, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon.
Gerard W. Kenny is an American singer-songwriter, based in London, England. In 1981, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Television Theme Music for his song "I Could Be So Good for You", the theme tune of the ITV series Minder.
"New York, New York " is a song performed and composed by singer-songwriter Gerard Kenny in 1978. The song is an ode to his hometown and state New York, New York.
"Rock Bottom" was the British entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977, performed in English by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran. It was also written and produced by de Paul and Moran and released on the Polydor record label. Originally it was written for the group Blue Mink; and submitted unbeknown to de Paul and Moran as an entry for A Song For Europe by the publishers; when it was selected, de Paul agreed to perform the song if Moran would join her. On 9 March 1977, "Rock Bottom" was selected to represent the UK at the A Song for Europe 1977 event held at the New London Theatre, presented by Terry Wogan.
Taste Me...Don't Waste Me is the third album by the English singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul but the second album of completely new material and de Paul also was the producer for all of the songs. It was released in the UK in November 1974 and was the first album on Don Arden's then new label, Jet Records, and initially distributed by Polydor, although Island Records was soon contracted by Arden to take over distribution and this confusion may have negatively affected sales. Releases in all other countries, such as Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan and South America, were on the Polydor label in early 1975. The album was generally well received by music critics from leading magazines of the day. AllMusic journalist Craig Harris stated that "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career" and lists this as one of her best albums. The Sunday Sun reviewed the album and wrote "Lynsey de Paul has shown her fine smoochy new album "Taste Me Don’t Waste Me" that she consistent song-writing talent". It was also de Paul's personal favourite album and she wrote on her music store website some years later "The Taste Me... Don't Waste Me album was a romantic collection of songs that I wrote and recorded as a relaxing, late night album", echoing earlier comments to the music press. The LP was listed as one of the best album releases of 1975 by journalist Judith Simons. It has stood the test of time in that it is listed as one of the top albums released in 1974 by online site "Best ever albums", as well as one of the top 1000 albums released in the 1970s.
"Strange Changes" is a song that was co-written by Lynsey de Paul and Sue Shifrin, the former wife of David Cassidy and that is listed in the ACE database of ASCAP songs and also in the MusicBrainz database.
Tigers and Fireflies is an album recorded in 1978 and released by Lynsey de Paul in April 1979 on the Polydor record label in the UK, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and South America. It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. The album was recorded at Long View Farm Studios with additional recording at Mediasound Studios, New York and produced by Rupert Holmes. In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget". The collaboration between de Paul and Holmes on Tigers and Fireflies was mentioned on the Ray Shasho Show, when Shasho interviewed Holmes on his BBS radio show on 7 August 2018. The story behind the recording of the album was also discussed in the book Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn. Speaking to Music Week about the album, Jim Cook said "Throw away all of your preconceived ideas about Lynsey de Paul" and the Scottish press reported "Nifty production by Rupert Holmes has the petit blonde back on form Not a weak song on the album".
Surprise is the first album released by Lynsey de Paul on the MAM record label in 1973. In Australia, the album name was changed to Sugar Me, after de Paul's first hit single. All of the songs on the album were written or co-written by de Paul. On the album, de Paul was accompanied by some of the UK's leading session musicians including Terry Cox, Ralph McTell, Ray Cooper, Jeff Daly, John Gustafson, Chris Rae, Danny Thompson, Gary Boyle, Barry de Souza, Dick Katz, Robert Kirby, Francis Monkman, John Richardson and violinist Johnny Van Derrick. The album front cover is a portrait photo of de Paul photographed by Clive Arrowsmith, and a gatefold sleeve with illustrations provided by de Paul, a nod to her previous career of designing album sleeves and song lyrics.
"Miss Hit and Run" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue. Blue released the single in 1974 as a follow-up single to "School Love" on Bell Records in the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain and on the Barclay label in France and recorded it with a "Beach Boys" type of arrangement. Indeed, the Liverpool Echo wrote "Barry Blue could easily have a case of mistaken identity on his hands this week - for on his new release "Miss Hit And Run" he sounds more like the "Beach Boys" than they do themselves". The single sided acetate label of the single reveals that the original title was "Little Miss Hit and Run", confirming what was reported in the music press at the time. The song was Blue's fourth consecutive hit, reaching number 26 on the official UK Singles Chart in August 1974. It also reached number 9 on Capitol Radio's "Capitol Countdown" chart, number 24 on the Melody Maker singles chart and it spent three weeks on the Dutch Tipparade. In some UK regional charts based on sales, it reached the Top 20 The original single version of the song performed by Blue was also a track on the K-Tel album, Music Explosion, Music Power and the Polydor LP "20 Super Power Hits".
"Hollywood Romance" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and David Jordan. It was released as a single on Polydor Records on 20 October 1978 in a picture sleeve, almost six years to the day after the release of their last hit collaboration "Getting a Drag", and it was play-listed on BBC Radio 1. The record label for this single was unusual in that it was printed in silver instead of the usual Polydor red label. The release was announced in a full page advert "Hollywood Romance - a new single from a very special lady" published in Music Week. In Japan, it was released in February 1979 in the same picture sleeve cover with the title in Japanese added, plus the lyrics were included on the back cover. It was listed as a major release in Hong Kong. It was also released as a track on the 1978 BBC transcription album Servicio Latinoamericano de la BBC vol. 44 together with "Don't Take Love for Granted" by Lulu and "Got to Get You into My Life" by Earth, Wind and Fire.
"House of Cards" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Barry Blue and is one of their most covered songs. It was first released as a single by Chris Kelly on the CBS label on 7 April 1972, credited as being written by Rubin and Green (Blue). The song was a radio hit in Italy, receiving multiple plays on national radio stations.
"So Good to You" is a song that was written by Lynsey de Paul, and first released by Zakatek as the B-side to his 1973 single, "I Gotcha Now", which also penned by de Paul. The single was released on 2 March 1973 and both songs were produced and arranged by de Paul. Her own version appeared in October 1973 as the B-side to her award-winning single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me", which was arranged by Christopher Gunning and produced by de Paul. In Japan and some South American countries, however, "So Good to You" was released as the A-side of the single release with "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" being relegated to the B-side on its release in 1974. AllMusic lists "So Good to You" as one of De Paul's song highlights. It was also a radio hit in Italy and ranks as one of de Paul's biggest songs there according to Radiocorriere magazine. It is still played on radio stations around the world.
"I Gotcha Now" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and released as a single by Zakatek on the Bell Records label on 2 March 1973. The release of the single received interest from the British music press. The song features a pounding piano, fuzz guitar and "I Am the Walrus"-esque strings. De Paul's own demo of the song, with the title "Got You Here Now" and recorded at Orange Studios, London, by David Humphries in early 1973 resurfaced in 2022 and features a xylophone in place of the piano break in the middle of the song. The B-side is also a de Paul song, "So Good To You", and both songs were recorded at 10cc's Strawberry Studios with Eric Stewart, the lead guitarist and singer of The Mindbenders and later a member of 10cc, being the co-engineer. De Paul recorded her own version of "So Good To You" and released it in October 1973 as the flip side to her single "Won't Somebody Dance with Me". In Japan, this was the A-side of the release. Both songs were however, originally written by de Paul for Zakatek, after she co-discovered him together with the actor Dudley Moore, her boyfriend at the time. However, some years later de Paul revealed that she had offered "I Gotcha Now" to Slade. Lenny Zakatek discussed recording the song in an interview given to Black Music & Jazz Review.
Love Bomb is the fourth album released in 1975 by the British singer-songwriter Lynsey de Paul, and her second album released on Jet Records in the UK and Polydor in Germany, Australia and Japan. In the US and Canada, it was released in January 1976 on Mercury Records. The album was recorded at the Marquee Studios, London, England, produced by de Paul and arranged by Tony Hymas, with Terry Cox playing drums, John Dean percussion, Chris Rea guitar and Frank McDonald bass. The striking sleeve cover photo of de Paul in U.S. military style clothing was taken by Brian Aris.
Just a Little Time is an album by Lynsey de Paul. It was originally released on 30 September 1994 on the Music Deluxe label but has since been released on the Tring International PLC label and on Arc Records/The Magic Collection. All of the songs on the album are written or co-written by de Paul.
"Rhythm and Blue Jean Baby" is a song that was written and produced by Lynsey de Paul, and released in July 1975 as her third single on the newly designed yellow Jet Record label in the UK, as a follow-up to the hit single "My Man and Me". It was released on Polydor in Belgium, France and Germany ; backed with another de Paul composition "Into My Music". The release of the single was also announced in the American music industry magazine Cashbox. The song as well as the lyrics and credits are listed on the Italian music resource "Rockol".
"All Night" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Ron Roker. De Paul released her version of the song on 27 April 1973 as her third single released on MAM Records, with arrangements by Martyn Ford and John Bell and produced by de Paul. The song is listed in the U.S. Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries and in "The Directory of American 45 R.p.m. Records". It features an uncredited male vocal. A slinky, sexy song, it compares a love relationship to that of the spider and a fly. The single is backed by the more socially aware song "Blind Leading the Blind", composed and produced by de Paul. The song was an unusual release since neither the A-side or the B-side featured as tracks on her debut album. Surprise had been released a little more than a month earlier - presumably it was not included since "All Night" has a very different style than the tracks on Surprise.
"Get Your Gun" is a song written by Lynsey de Paul and Terry Cox. It was released as a single by Zakatek on Bell Records on 12 October 1973. The b-side was another de Paul and Cox penned song "Gotta Runaway". Both sides were produced by de Paul and the strings were arranged by Christopher Gunning and de Paul. The single was reviewed by the British DJ John Peel for the music magazine Sounds. It has been described as "Freaky, bizarre and ultimately interesting and a definite one-off". In an interview some years later Lenny Zakatek said "I was singing at a night club called Gulivers In London five nights a week when Lynsey De Paul and Dudley Moore came in, they both thought I had the X-Factor, Lynsey introduced me to the legendary Dick Leahy and he signed me to his U.S.A. label Bell Records".