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"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch following a first-time visit to New York City. It was his original intention to present it to The Drifters, but when British singer Petula Clark heard the incomplete tune, she proposed that if he could write lyrics to match the quality of the melody, she would be interested in recording it. Thirty minutes before the song was scheduled to be recorded, Hatch was still completing the lyrics in the studio's washroom. "Downtown" was released in late 1964 and became a best seller in English, French, Italian, and German versions, topping music charts worldwide (with 3 million copies sold in the US alone)[1] and introducing Clark, who had been a popular recording artist and actress in Europe for nearly 20 years, to the American record-buying public. She continued her success in the United States with a string of fifteen consecutive Top 40 hits. "Downtown" was the first song by a British female artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 chart[2] and went on to win the Grammy Award for Best Rock and Roll Song. It was enrolled in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2004. Clark re-recorded the song three times, in 1976 (with a disco beat), in 1984 (with a new piano and trumpet intro that leads into the song's original opening), and in 1996. In addition, the original 1964 recording was remixed and re-released in 1988, 1999, and 2003. Clark, who in the early 1960s maintained a concurrent non-English musical career throughout Europe, also recorded French, German and Italian versions in 1964. While the German version retained the original title, the French version was retitled Dans le Temps and the Italian version was called Ciao Ciao. Following 9/11, New York City adopted Clark's version of "Downtown" as the theme song for a series of commercials encouraging tourism to Lower Manhattan. The song has been used by other metropolitan areas — including Chicago, Indianapolis, and Singapore — for promotional purposes as well.
Awards
Covers
"Downtown" has been covered numerous times by other artists since Clark's original recording, notably by Dolly Parton in 1984. After she recorded the track in December 1983, "Downtown" appeared on Parton's album of cover versions, The Great Pretender. It was followed by a single release of the track on RCA Records in April 1984 and proved to be a moderate success, peaking at number eighty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart and number twenty-seven on the Hot Country Songs chart in the United States. Parton's version altered some of the lyrics: "Listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova" became "Listen to the rhythm of the music that they're playing". Clark's fellow British songbird Sandie Shaw covered the song on her debut 1965 album Sandie. Allan Sherman's 1965 parody (same melody, comedy lyrics) called "Crazy Downtown" was his second-biggest selling single. Frank Sinatra covered the song on his 1966 album Strangers in the Night. The B-52's recorded a revamped version for their 1979 debut album The B-52's. Skinny Puppy vocalist Nivek Ogre and Invisible Records owner Martin Atkin's one-off collaboration project Rx (aka Ritalin) covered the song on their album Bedside Toxicology. In the mid-1990s, jazz group the Holly Cole Trio recorded a version with updated lyrics. The song was also covered by Icelandic singer Björk and the Brodsky Quartet in a concert at London's Union Chapel. Iida Kaori, a J-Pop singer within Hello! Project, covered the French version of this song on her album, Osavurio ~Ai wa Matte Kurenai~, in 2003. The Killer Barbies released their version of "Downtown" in 2000. In 2007, Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden covered the song for her album, Uncover Me. Emma Bunton version
English singer Emma Bunton released "Downtown" in November 2006. The single was selected as the 2006 BBC Children in Need single, with all proceeds from the release going to the charity. It is the lead single from Bunton's third studio album entitled Life in Mono. Music video
Directed by Harvey & Carolyn, (the directors who also directed her video for her single "Maybe") the sexually suggestive music video for the single is set in a hotel bedroom featuring Bunton as a maid. It includes appearances from contestants from the BBC's reality television show Strictly Come Dancing (the format to which has been sold worldwide under the name Dancing with the Stars) and features cameos from Matt Dawson, Louisa Lytton, Carol Smillie, Spoony, Mark Ramprakash, Claire King, Peter Schmeichel, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton du Beke, Brendan Cole, Erin Boag, Lilia Kopylova, Karen Hardy, and Darren Bennett. Though the lyrics are innocuous, in the video Bunton's body language clearly twists the song title into a euphemism for sexual activity. Bunton, however, has denied this repeatedly, for example in this interview with online music magazine Popjustice:[4]
Track listings and formatsThese are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Downtown".
Chart performanceUpon release, "Downtown" entered the UK Singles Chart at number twenty-four on digital sales only; it rose to number three the following week when it received its full release, making the song Bunton's highest-charting single since "What Took You So Long?" in 2001.[5]
Appearance in popular culture
Notes and references
External links
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