Downtown (Petula Clark song)

Composition

Tony Hatch first crossed paths with Petula Clark in 1961, when he helped her producer Alan A. Freeman on the number-one hit "Sailor." Two years later, Freeman handed Hatch the reins as Clark's regular producer. The five English-language singles Hatch made with her after that all failed to chart. In late 1964, Hatch took his inaugural trip to New York City, hunting for songs from publishers over three days.

He remembered standing at a Midtown intersection on 48th Street, waiting to cross, when the tune struck him as the neon lights flickered on. He pictured the unfinished piece as a doo-wop R&B number, initially planning to offer it to the Drifters. A story claims Hatch first gave Julie Grant a shot at "Downtown," which she refused, but that conflicts with Hatch's own account: he played it for Clark just days after the melody came to him, finishing the lyrics only after she asked to record it. Hatch has also flatly denied that the Drifters were ever in line for the song.

Impact

Tony Hatch recalled playing the completed “Downtown” track for Pye Records executives, saying: “Nobody knew what to make of it and no release date was set. Then Pye's general manager called and said Joe Smith – Warner Bros.' head of A&R – was in London looking for British material. When Hatch asked if Smith didn't consider “Downtown” to be a “very English record,” Smith replied: “It's perfect. It's just an observation from outside of America and it's just beautiful and just perfect.

In the wake of Smith's interest, “Downtown” was released in the UK on 23 October 1964. It entered the UK Top 50 dated 14 November 1964, ending a virtual two-year UK chart absence for Clark. “Downtown” rose to number two UK in December 1964, remaining there for three weeks, kept out of the number-one position by the Beatles' “I Feel Fine. Clark was awarded a silver disc by Disc Weekly for the sale of over 250,000 copies in the UK.

The song reached number one in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, and was also a hit in several other countries. In the United States, released by Warner Bros. in November 1964, “Downtown” debuted at number 87 on the Hot 100 chart in the Billboard issue dated 19 December 1964. It shot up to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 23 January 1965, retaining that position a further week before being overtaken by the Righteous Brothers' “You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'. The song became the first number-one hit for the year 1965.

Emma Bunton version

BBC News announced 20 October 2006 that Emma Bunton would record a remake of “Downtown” to be the 2006 official BBC Children in Need single. Bunton recorded the track at AIR Studios' Lyndhurst Hall location with Simon Franglen producing; the orchestra was recorded at Angel Recording Studios with Gavin Wright conducting. The track was released on 13 November 2006, and Bunton premiered her version on the 2006 Children in Need telethon which began broadcast 17 November 2006.

Although Bunton said that she knew composer Tony Hatch “quite well,” Petula Clark said that neither she nor Hatch had prior knowledge of Bunton's remake. Clark also stated that she considered Bunton's remake to be an “outright copy” of her original recording, but added that Bunton's recording was “wonderful and...for a great cause.” “Downtown” by Emma Bunton debuted on the UK singles chart 25 November 2006 at number 24. The single jumped to number three on the chart for 2 December 2006, having sold 30,582 units in the relevant week. Total UK sales for the Bunton version were 83,000 units.

Saw Doctors version

In October 2011, Irish band the Saw Doctors remade “Downtown” with Petula Clark singing some lines; the track is credited to the Saw Doctors featuring Petula Clark. According to Saw Doctors' member Leo Moran, the group habitually played snippets of well-known songs during their encore numbers, and one night they did “Downtown” and could see people loved it. Some time later the Saw Doctors learned their producer Philip Tennant was friends with Petula Clark's manager John Williams, and an invitation was conveyed to Clark to sing on a Saw Doctors' remake.

Clark being agreeable, a session was booked in a London recording studio. The song was recorded over two days, with Clark arriving to record her vocal on the second day. Moran recalled that the song was in the wrong key, so they had to scrap all of the first day's work and put down the backing track with Clark because she only had a few hours that evening. Top Irish cinematographer Eugene O' Connor directed the video for the Saw Doctors' “Downtown,” which was uploaded to YouTube on 17 November 2011.

Shot on the nights of 9–10 November 2011, the video focuses on the band's members walking through the town center of Galway. Footage of Clark was shot in Paris and spliced into the completed video, in which she mainly appears on the screens of televisions displayed in a shop window.

Did You Know?

• The original 1964 recording was remixed and released in 1988 as “Downtown '88,” which became a top ten UK hit.
• Clark's own 2013 album Lost in You features a new version of “Downtown,” which she said felt like a new song after hearing the instrumental track.
• The session personnel for the original recording included eight violinists, two viola players, two cellists, four trumpeters, four trombonists, five woodwind players, percussionists, a bass player and a pianist.