Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart

"Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart"
Single by Gene Pitney
from the album Just One Smile
B-side "Building Up My Dream World"
Released September 1967
Format 7" vinyl
Genre Rock and roll
Length 3:37
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Roger Greenaway & Roger Cook
Gene Pitney singles chronology
"Tremblin"
(1967)
"Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart"
(1967)
"The More I Saw of Her"
(1968)
"Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart"
Single by Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney
from the album The Stars We Are
Released 2 January 1989
Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl, CD single
Genre Pop
Length 4:41
Label EMI
Writer(s) Roger Greenaway & Roger Cook
Producer(s) Bob Kraushaar
Marc Almond chronology
"Bitter Sweet"
(1988)
"Something's Gotten Hold of my Heart"
(1989)
"Only the Moment"
(1989)

"Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" is a song written by Roger Greenaway and Roger Cook.

Originally recorded by David and Jonathan, and then Gene Pitney in 1967, the latter's version of the song reached No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1967,[1] but failed to chart in the United States. The song was subsequently covered by a number of other acts including Cilla Black, Terry Reid and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds on their 1986 album of covers Kicking Against the Pricks. It was sung in French by Herbert Léonard in 1968 with the title "Quelque chose tient mon cœur" and in Italian by Pitney himself with the title "Uomo, non sai" ("You don't know, man").

It achieved its greatest success in 1988 when it was covered by Marc Almond. Originally recorded by Almond alone for his 1988 album The Stars We Are, the single version reunited it with its original singer Gene Pitney; their version became a number one single in the UK for four weeks in January 1989.[2] The music video for this version was filmed on-location in Las Vegas.[3]

The song was covered by Vicky Leandros in 1968, along with a Greek version the same year titled "To Mistiko Sou" (Your secret) on her Greek album Vicky (To Mistiko Sou) which became a hit. Following Marc Almond's success across Europe, in 1989 Leandros released a 12-inch remix of "To Mistiko Sou" in Greece which topped the Greek charts.[4] Since its release, both the English and Greek versions of the song have appeared on various Leandros compilations worldwide. In 2010, Greek singer Maro Lytra covered Leandros' Greek version of the song produced by Dimitris Kontopoulos, and released it as the second single off her upcoming album. In 1986, the song was covered by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds on the album Kicking Against the Pricks.

In 2012, the song was covered by Joe McElderry and is featured on his fourth studio album, Here's What I Believe.[5] In 1990, The Shadows did an instrumental cover of the song of their studio album Reflection.

Chart positions

Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney (1989)

Charts (1989) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[6] 24
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[7] 2
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] 2
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[9] 1
France (SNEP)[10] 8
Germany (Media Control Charts)[11] 1
Ireland (IRMA) 1
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[12] 5
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[13] 4
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[14] 7
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 1
UK Singles (The Official Charts Company)[2]
1

Finnish version

Pate Mustajärvi recorded Finnish version Sydän syrjällään as a duet with Sakari Kuosmanen in 1995. Finnish lyrics were by Juice Leskinen. The song appeared on the B-side of Emmanuelle-single.

References

  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 428. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. 2.0 2.1 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 497–8. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. "International Songwriters Association (ISA) Songs And Songwriting • Gene Pitney". Songwriter.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  4. "Joe McElderry Here's What I Believe CD Album at Universal Music". Store.universal-music.co.uk. 2012-09-17. Retrieved 2014-03-30.
  5. "Australian-charts.com – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  6. "Austriancharts.at – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  7. "Ultratop.be – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  8. Nyman, Jake (2005). Suomi soi 4: Suuri suomalainen listakirja (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN 951-31-2503-3.
  9. "Lescharts.com – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart" (in French). Les classement single.
  10. "Chartverfulgong > Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney > Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart – musicline.de" (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
  11. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  12. "Charts.org.nz – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart". Top 40 Singles.
  13. "Swedishcharts.com – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart". Singles Top 60.
  14. "Swisscharts.com – Marc Almond feat. Gene Pitney – Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart". Swiss Singles Chart.

External links

Preceded by
"Especially for You" by
Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue
UK number one single
(Marc Almond and Gene Pitney version)

January 22, 1989
Succeeded by
"Belfast Child" by Simple Minds