This was Petula Clark's first hit in the US, which was slow to discover her talents. In the UK, she was a star as a singer and as a television performer, where she was a regular on the BBC. In the early '60s, she also caught on in France when she started recording her songs in French. Oddly, she didn't get an American record deal until late in 1964 when a Warner Bros. executive named Joe Smith, who was vacationing in England, heard the song and signed her to a deal.
When "Downtown" was released in the US, it shot to #1, making Petula the first female singer from the UK to hit #1 in the US during the rock era (after 1955). Remarkably, she didn't even promote the song before it hit the top spot, as she was touring French-speaking countries at the time. "The Ed Sullivan Show had been calling every day while I was on tour in Canada saying, 'You've got to get here,'" Petula told us. "I couldn't get there. Eventually I got there, and the record was #1.
The song composed by Tony Hatch:"She was not very enthusiastic about [the material] and asked me if I was working on anything new myself." According to Clark, besides the title lyric, Hatch had only written "one or two lines." Hatch recalled: "Reluctantly, I played her the tune of my New York inspiration and slipped in the word 'Downtown' in the appropriate places". Clark, who first heard "Downtown" from her kitchen having stepped away to make a pot of tea, told Hatch: "That's the one I want to record." "Get that finished. Get a good lyric in it. Get a great arrangement and I think we’ll at least have a song we’re proud to record even if it isn’t a hit."
On the surface, this song is about having a delightful time during a trip downtown. But what happens when the night is over and the singer returns to her everyday life? After all, the trip into the city is merely an escape. While many listeners don't process the song on this level, Petula does. An accomplished actress, she thinks of her songs as "mini movies" when she performs them, and considers the feelings behind them. This song, to her, isn't so chipper. "I've always thought there was this loneliness and there's even a slight feeling of desperation in it".
This was Petula Clark's first hit in the US, which was slow to discover her talents. In the UK, she was a star as a singer and as a television performer, where she was a regular on the BBC. In the early '60s, she also caught on in France when she started recording her songs in French. Oddly, she didn't get an American record deal until late in 1964 when a Warner Bros. executive named Joe Smith, who was vacationing in England, heard the song and signed her to a deal.
When "Downtown" was released in the US, it shot to #1, making Petula the first female singer from the UK to hit #1 in the US during the rock era (after 1955). Remarkably, she didn't even promote the song before it hit the top spot, as she was touring French-speaking countries at the time. "The Ed Sullivan Show had been calling every day while I was on tour in Canada saying, 'You've got to get here,'" Petula told us. "I couldn't get there. Eventually I got there, and the record was #1.
The song composed by Tony Hatch:"She was not very enthusiastic about [the material] and asked me if I was working on anything new myself." According to Clark, besides the title lyric, Hatch had only written "one or two lines." Hatch recalled: "Reluctantly, I played her the tune of my New York inspiration and slipped in the word 'Downtown' in the appropriate places". Clark, who first heard "Downtown" from her kitchen having stepped away to make a pot of tea, told Hatch: "That's the one I want to record." "Get that finished. Get a good lyric in it. Get a great arrangement and I think we’ll at least have a song we’re proud to record even if it isn’t a hit."
On the surface, this song is about having a delightful time during a trip downtown. But what happens when the night is over and the singer returns to her everyday life? After all, the trip into the city is merely an escape. While many listeners don't process the song on this level, Petula does. An accomplished actress, she thinks of her songs as "mini movies" when she performs them, and considers the feelings behind them. This song, to her, isn't so chipper. "I've always thought there was this loneliness and there's even a slight feeling of desperation in it".
This was Petula Clark's first hit in the US, which was slow to discover her talents. In the UK, she was a star as a singer and as a television performer, where she was a regular on the BBC. In the early '60s, she also caught on in France when she started recording her songs in French. Oddly, she didn't get an American record deal until late in 1964 when a Warner Bros. executive named Joe Smith, who was vacationing in England, heard the song and signed her to a deal.
When "Downtown" was released in the US, it shot to #1, making Petula the first female singer from the UK to hit #1 in the US during the rock era (after 1955). Remarkably, she didn't even promote the song before it hit the top spot, as she was touring French-speaking countries at the time. "The Ed Sullivan Show had been calling every day while I was on tour in Canada saying, 'You've got to get here,'" Petula told us. "I couldn't get there. Eventually I got there, and the record was #1.
The song composed by Tony Hatch:"She was not very enthusiastic about [the material] and asked me if I was working on anything new myself." According to Clark, besides the title lyric, Hatch had only written "one or two lines." Hatch recalled: "Reluctantly, I played her the tune of my New York inspiration and slipped in the word 'Downtown' in the appropriate places". Clark, who first heard "Downtown" from her kitchen having stepped away to make a pot of tea, told Hatch: "That's the one I want to record." "Get that finished. Get a good lyric in it. Get a great arrangement and I think we’ll at least have a song we’re proud to record even if it isn’t a hit."
On the surface, this song is about having a delightful time during a trip downtown. But what happens when the night is over and the singer returns to her everyday life? After all, the trip into the city is merely an escape. While many listeners don't process the song on this level, Petula does. An accomplished actress, she thinks of her songs as "mini movies" when she performs them, and considers the feelings behind them. This song, to her, isn't so chipper. "I've always thought there was this loneliness and there's even a slight feeling of desperation in it".