For today’s classic song of the day we return to Swinging London in the mid-60s and another terrific tune by Brit songbird Petula Clark. The song is “I Know a Place” and, when it was released in March of 1965, it went all the way to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #17 on the UK charts.
Like most of Pet’s best tracks, “I Know a Place” was written and produced by her longtime collaborator, Tony Hatch. It was designed as the follow-up to her big hit, “Downtown,” and had much of the same energy and brassy vibe. Hatch brought some of England’s best studio musicians, including drummer Bobby Graham, into Pye Studios in Marble Arch, and the resulting single was released on Pye Records in the UK, Warner Bros. Records in the U.S., and Vogue Records elsewhere in the world. It won Ms. Clark a Grammy for Best Contemporary (R&R) Vocal Performance, Female.
Here’s what Petula remembers about the song:
“Warner Bros., they had this great #1 record [‘Downtown’], they said, ‘Come on, we want another one.’ I wasn’t writing, Tony was doing all the writing. I was just singing the songs. He came up with ‘I Know A Place,’ which I thought was a good song. I didn’t think it was quite up to the standards of ‘Downtown,’ but it went in on the wave of ‘Downtown,’ really.”
Some claim that “I Know a Place” was inspired by a particular place, Liverpool’s Cavern Club, where the Beatles made their bones. Certainly, the song’s line about “a cellar full of noise” mirrors the title of Beatles manager Brian Epstein’s 1964 autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise. So, maybe.
In any case, the lyrics of “I Know a Place” describe a hip, happening little club that sounds like a lot of fun:
I know a place
Where the music is fine and the lights are always low!
I know a place
Where we can go
At the door there’s a man who will greet you
Then you go downstairs to some tables and chairs
Soon, I’m sure, you’ll be tapping your feet
Because the beat is the greatest there
All around there are girls and boys
It’s a swingin’ place
A cellar full of noise!
It’s got an atmosphere of its own somehow
You gotta come along right now!
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s Petula Clark singing “I Know a Place” live on the March 14, 1965, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Damn, she was a great performer, wasn’t she?
