This Is My Song (1967 song)
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| “This is My Song” | |||||
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| Single by Petula Clark from the album 'These Are My Songs' |
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| B-side | "High" (US)/"The Show is Over" (UK) | ||||
| Released | February 1967 | ||||
| Recorded | 1966 | ||||
| Label | Warner Bros.(US)/Pye (UK)/Vogue (France) | ||||
| Writer(s) | Charlie Chaplin | ||||
| Producer | Tony Hatch | ||||
| Petula Clark singles chronology | |||||
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This Is My Song was an international hit song for British singer Petula Clark.
It was composed by Charles Chaplin as the instrumental theme for his 1967 film A Countess From Hong Kong, which starred Marlon Brando and Sophia Loren. When he added lyrics, he decided to offer the song to Al Jolson to record, unaware that the entertainer had long been deceased. Finally convinced of the fact only after seeing a photograph of Jolson's tomb, Chaplin presented it instead to his neighbour in Switzerland, Petula Clark.
Clark recorded it in French, Italian, and German, but found the English lyrics to be insipid and overly sentimental, and only after considerable pressure did she agree to release it in English as well. Despite Clark's misgivings, "This is My Song" became an immediate international best-seller: in her native UK, she topped the charts for the first time in six years and remained on the charts for 14 weeks [1], in Canada the French and English versions occupied the #1 and #2 slots, and it was a huge hit in the USA, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Rhodesia, and India. To this day, Clark includes the song - usually in a mix of English and French - in her concert repertoire.
It was Clark's first single in nearly three years to have been written by someone other than Tony Hatch. Her 1983 biography by Andrea Kon takes its title from the song.
The song was also a UK chart hit for Harry Secombe, reaching #2 in 1967.
It was also recorded in 1967 by Judith Durham of The Seekers during the "Seen in Green" sessions, but was not included on the album. It was released in the 90s as part of a compilation set and was recorded live and released on "Night of Nights...Live!" in 2002.
| Preceded by "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees |
UK number one single 16 February 1967 for two weeks |
Succeeded by "Release Me (And Let Me Love Again)" by Engelbert Humperdinck |
