| "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Lou Johnson | ||||
| B-side | "Wouldn't That Be Something" | |||
| Released | 1964 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
| Lou Johnson singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
| "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Sandie Shaw | ||||
| B-side | "Don't You Know" | |||
| Released | 1964 | |||
| Format | 7" single | |||
| Recorded | 1964 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Label | Pye, Reprise (US) | |||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
| Sandie Shaw singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
| "Always Something There to Remind Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Naked Eyes | ||||
| from the album Burning Bridges | ||||
| B-side | The Time Is Now | |||
| Released | January 1983 (United States) | |||
| Format | 45 | |||
| Recorded | September 1982 | |||
| Genre | New Wave, Synthpop | |||
| Length | 3:18 3:35 (7" & LP) |
|||
| Label | EMI EMI America Records (North America) |
|||
| Writer(s) | Burt Bacharach, Hal David | |||
| Producer | Tony Mansfield | |||
| Certification | Gold (US) | |||
| Naked Eyes singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written in the 1960s by songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
Contents |
First recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson whose version reached #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1964.[1]
British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw who resultantly covered the song for the UK market in September 1964 that same month premiering the song with a performance on the Ready Steady Go! pop music TV program. Shaw's "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" was rush released to reach #1 on the UK charts in three weeks, spending three weeks at #1 in November 1964 and that same month debuting on the Billboard Hot 100; however despite reaching the Top Ten in some markets including Detroit and Miami[2] Shaw's version of "...Always Something There to Remind Me" failed to best the national showing of the Lou Johnson original as the Hot 100 peak of Shaw's version was #52.[3]
A #1 hit in Canada and South Africa, Shaw's "...Always Something There to Remind Me" was also a hit in Australia (#16), Ireland (#7) and the Netherlands (#10), the track's success in the latter territory not precluding hit status for the Dutch rendering by Edwin Rutten entitled "Ik moet altijd weer opnieuw aan je denken" (#12). Shaw herself recorded "...Always Something There to Remind Me" with French lyrics (by Ralph Bernet) as "Toujours Un Coin Qui Me Rappelle" to reach #19 in France; a cover by Eddy Mitchell was more successful reaching #2 in France in April 1965 also hitting #3 in on Belgium's French language chart. Shaw also made a bid for a German hit rendering "...Always Something There to Remind Me" as "Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander'n"; this was not a success.
Dionne Warwick recorded "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on 13 April 1967 in the same session which produced her Top 40 hit "The Windows of the World" and it was on the July 1967 album release The Windows of the World that the first-named track was debuted. Warwick's "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" had a belated single release in August 1968 as the intended B-side of the Top 40 hit "Who Is Gonna Love Me"; the first-named track received sufficient airplay to reach #65 on the Hot 100.[4]
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" - as "Always Something There to Remind Me" - reached the US Top 40 for the first time in 1970 via a version by R. B. Greaves which reached #27 in February 1970; this version, recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969 with production by Ahmet Ertegun and Jackson Howe, was also a #3 Easy Listening hit.[5]
Twenty years after its composition, "Always Something There to Remind Me" (so titled) reached the US Top Twenty for the first time via a synthpop reinvention of the song by Naked Eyes which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1983.
Vocalist Pete Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher first cut "Always Something There to Remind Me" as one of a number of demos recorded in Bristol upon forming the duo later known as Naked Eyes in early 1982. Byrne would recall: "I had always loved [the] song ["Always Something There to Remind Me"], so we called a friend who had the record, he read the lyric over the phone and we put it together from memory."
On the strength of the demos cut in Bristol Byrne and Fisher were signed to EMI Records in May 1982 and the track "Always Something There to Remind Me" was cut 1 September 1982 in a session at Abbey Road Studios produced by Tony Mansfield. Byrne would recall: "The record was recorded at Abbey Road, and we were invited to a party downstairs, with Paul McCartney and many other stars...When we returned upstairs to the studio around 1 a.m., I decided to have a go at the vocal, It was the first time I have ever recorded a vocal in one take".[6]
Released in the US in January 1983, Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me" gradually gained attention entering the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983 to peak at #8 that June.[7] The cachet of entering the US Top Ten allowed the single, previously overlooked in its performer's United Kingdom homeland, to make a July 1983 UK chart debut but only to rise no higher than #59. "Always Something There to Remind Me" did afford Naked Eyes' Top 10 success in other countries besides the United States: Australia (#7), Canada (#9) and New Zealand (#2).[6]
Other artists who have covered this song include: Ted Neeley, Lou Christie, José Feliciano, Wayne Fontana, The Four Seasons, The Hippos, Jay and the Americans, Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles, Brenda Lee, Juice Newton, Peggy Lee, Lill Lindfors (as "Alltid nåt som får mig att minnas"), Martha and the Vandellas, Barbara Mason, La Lupe, Johnny Mathis, Don Williams, Butch Walker (formerly of Marvelous 3), Blue Swede, Braid, Viola Wills, Brian Whitman on the Serendipity soundtrack, Espiritu, Dusty Springfield, The Troggs, All Saints in 1998, and Karina (as "Siempre hay algo que me recuerda a ti").
Michael McDonald made his recording debut singing lead vocal on a 1968 single version by the Del-Rays.[8]
Sandie Shaw re-recorded the song in 1985 for the soundtrack of the movie, Letter to Brezhnev.[9]
The Carpenters also performed this song as part of a Bacharach/David medley.
The Xena: Warrior Princess musical episode "Lyre, Lyre, Hearts on Fire" also featured a thrash metal cover of the song, sung by Jay Laga'aia.
| Preceded by "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison |
UK number-one single (Sandie Shaw version) 22 October 1964 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison |
| Preceded by "Mr. Lonely" by Bobby Vinton |
Canadian RPM number-one single (Sandie Shaw version) 21 December 1964 (1 week) |
Succeeded by "I Feel Fine" by The Beatles |