“Downtown” (Petula Clark)

Yesteday’s classic song of the day was “Girl Don’t Come” by Pye Girl Sandie Shaw. While we’re on a Pye Records kick, let’s go to the biggest Pye Girl of them all, the legendary Petula Clark and her equally legendary hit, “Downtown.” This classic single was released in November of 1964 and hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the next year. It was a worldwide hit, placing in the Top 5 in Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, West Germany, and, of course, the UK. It also won a Grammy for Best Rock and Roll Recording that year.

Like most of Ms. Clark’s big hits, “Downtown” was written and produced by Tony Hatch and recorded at Pye’s Marble Arch studios. The session was on October 16, 1964, and Mr. Hatch brought in the best of England’s session players for this one, including a 12-piece string session, 4 trumpets, 4 bones, 5 woodwind players, and guitarist Jimmy Page. (Yes, that Jimmy Page.) They did three takes, because that’s all it took back then, and kept the second one.

By the way, who played drums on this one is in dispute—and I’ve kind of gotten into the middle of it over the years. Back when I wrote the first edition of my Complete Idiot’s Guide to Playing Drums book, I used “Downtown” as an example of how you don’t have to play the same beat throughout a song; the drums on “Downtown” start, stop, go to just a soft cymbal ride and then kick in with the whole kit on the choruses, and more. It’s a masterclass in drumming for the song. In the first edition of my book I credited the song to drummer Gary Chester, because he listed it among the tracks on which he played. In retrospect I should have questioned that; Chester was a New York session ace and “Downtown” was definitely a London record.

When I was working on the second edition of my book, famous drummer Steve Smith (of Journey fame) contacted me to let me know that the drummer on “Downtown” was actually British studio ace Bobby Graham. I appreciated the info (and getting to talk to Steve Smith—what a great guy!) and credited Mr. Graham with the track in my book’s new edition. Imagine my surprise a few months later when I got a long-distance phone call from Bobby Graham himself, thanking me for the credit and sharing stories (not all of which I can tell) from his days in the studio. (Another great guy—can you imagine!)

However, in subsequent years, Mr. Graham’s memory of the “Downtown” date has been called into question. The session’s recording engineer, Ray Prickett, later claimed that it was equally legendary UK drummer Ronnie Verrell behind the skins, not Bobby Graham. I don’t know which recollection is true, only that Bobby told me about that session (and others) in great detail and that whomever played the drums on “Downtown” did a terrific job.

(Sadly, Bobby Graham passed away in 2009. I treasure the conversation I had with him.)

Back to the song. “Downtown” just screams 1965 London, although composer/producer Tony Hatch got his inspiration from a trip to New York. As he later recalled:

“I was staying at a hotel on Central Park and I wandered down to Broadway and to Times Square and, naively, I thought I was downtown. … I loved the whole atmosphere there and the [music] came to me very, very quickly”.

Hatch says he was standing on the corner of 48th Street waiting for the traffic lights to change, looking towards Times Square when “the melody first came to me, just as the neon signs went on.”

He took the song, not yet completely finished, to a few artists who all turned it down. He subsequently played it for Ms. Clark, who was at that moment making a cup of tea in her kitchen, and she liked it. “That’s the one I want to record,” she told him, gently sipping her tea. “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.”

Well, it was a hit. In fact, “Downtown” was the first of 16 consecutive Top 40 hits for Miss Clark, including “I Know a Place” (#3 in 1965), “My Love” (#1 in 1965), “A Sign of the Times” (#11 in 1966), “I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love” (#9 in 1966), “Colour My World” (#16 in 1967), “This Is My Song” (#3 in 1967), “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” (#5 in 1967), and “Kiss Me Goodbye (#15 in 1968). Listening to “Downtown” you know why it was so popular. It’s filled to the brim with youthful energy and just nails a time and place. It’s also one of the best-produced songs of that or any era.

Petula Clark’s professional career started way back in 1949 as a 17 year-old singer on the BBC. She had her first UK chart hit (“The Little Shoemaker”) in 1954 and quickly became a sensation throughout Europe. Her ’60s hits were a revival of sorts and she continues performing today, most recently singing on the Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends concert for the BBC in January of this year. She’s 90 years old.

Just for kicks, here’s Pet singing her most famous song live on The Ed Sullivan Show on March 14, 1965. That girl can sing—and looks like she’s having fun doing it!