'Downtown' - Sandie Shaw / Petula Clark

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About 2 years ago, Brian Matthew (on R2 Sounds of the 60's)played 'Downtown' but by Sandie Shaw. I'm sure he said that her version was the original, but that it was consigned to an album track, while Petula then released it as a single, and, of course, had a world-wide hit.

Is this correct?

― chris dunn, Sunday, 9 October 2005 20:10 (twenty years ago)

I think you may mean the version by Jackie Trent, (partner of Tony Hatch, who produced both versions) - it turns into a swing version halfway through. It isn't half as good, imo.

― Jez (Jez), Monday, 10 October 2005 06:05 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

One music critic, Henry Pleasants, whose specialty was the voice, singled this out as a maybe the perfect example of a British singer impersonating an American singing accent.

― Cunga, Monday, 4 October 2010 08:02 (fifteen years ago)

Really? It sounds very pronounced/'Received' English to me.

(unless you mean the unconfirmed Sandie Shaw version)

― Mark G, Monday, 4 October 2010 08:45 (fifteen years ago)

There is a Sandie Shaw version. In fact, probably every female singer around then had a go. The plummiest version, I think, is Marianne Faithfull's.

― Eyeball Kicks, Monday, 4 October 2010 09:09 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyOuDGqHY1Q

― modest marky (m coleman), Monday, 4 October 2010 09:54 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tL0jIGm3Js

― Mark G, Monday, 4 October 2010 09:57 (fifteen years ago)

I think Gelu's is the original; it came out in '62. Weird enunciations: movie chose, forget all your troblems, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI9Rr7Wu_HI

― clemenza, Monday, 4 October 2010 10:09 (fifteen years ago)

Also good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzUICBMQBNU

― clemenza, Monday, 4 October 2010 14:51 (fifteen years ago)

two years pass...

Covered on The Singles Jukebox but not here (yet), "Cut Copy Me" from this year's Lost in You sounds surprisingly relevant. The video suggests its GLADos fronting St. Etienne:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iM48qNM8xI

― Sanpaku, Thursday, 21 March 2013 16:19 (thirteen years ago)

one month passes...

Just listened to the whole record and while its a bit too covers-heavy (another version of Imagine? Really?) I'm liking a lot of it every bit as much as I liked the single.

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:27 (thirteen years ago)

That said, the new version of "Downtown," which looked like a terrible idea when I saw the track listing, is quite stunning.

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Thursday, 9 May 2013 16:49 (thirteen years ago)

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