Today’s classic song of the day from a female artist is “To Sir With Love” by the British singer, Lulu. Her single was released in September of 1967 and went all the way to #1 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Cash Box Top 100. It was also a #1 smash in Canada, but only hit #11 on the UK charts.
“To Sir With Love” was the theme song for the 1967 movie of the same name. To Sir, With Love, the movie, was directed by James Clavell and starred Sidney Poitier as an initially reluctant teacher at a British school full of misfits and miscreants. His students were played by Judy Gleeson, Suzy Kendell, and Lulu herself.
The song, “To Sir With Love,” was written by Mark London (music) and Don Black (words). In addition to composing a number of film soundtracks, Mr. London also wrote several additional songs for Lulu. Mr. Black wrote lyrics for many musicals, movies, television shows, and more; he supplied the words to a number of James Bond theme songs, including “Thunderball,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” and “Man with the Golden Gun” (which was sung by Lulu!).
“To Sir With Love” ended up as the number-one best-selling single for all of 1967, according to Billboard magazine. It was not, however, nominated for either an Oscar (for Best Original Song) or a Grammy, which was unfortunate. (The nominees that year included “Alfie,” “Georgy Girl,” and “Born Free”—the last of which won the Oscar.)
So here’s your daily bonus video of the day, Lulu singing “To Sir With Love” over a montage of scenes from the movie. It’s a really good song matched to a really good film.
