Downtown (Petula Clark song)

"Downtown"
File:Downtownsleeve.jpg
Single by Petula Clark
from the album Downtown
B-side	"You'd Better Love Me" (non-LP track)
Released	November 1964
Format	Vinyl
Recorded	16 October 1964, Pye Studios, London
Genre	Pop
Length	3:05
Label	Pye 7N 15722 (United Kingdom) Warner Bros. 5494 (United States) Vogue EPL.8301 (France) Vogue DV 14256 (Netherlands) Vogue DV 14297 (West Germany) Vogue STU 42207 (Denmark) Vogue US-105 (Japan)
Writer(s)	Tony Hatch
Producer(s)	Tony Hatch
Petula Clark singles chronology
"True Love Never Runs Smooth" (UK-1964) "Downtown" (1964) "I Know a Place" (1965)
Audio sample file info · help

"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark in 1964, became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 in UK Singles Chart. Hatch received the 1981 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

The song has been covered by many singers, including Dolly Parton and Emma Bunton.

As recorded by Petula Clark

Background

Tony Hatch had first worked with Petula Clark when he assisted her regular producer Alan A. Freeman on her 1961 No. 1 hit "Sailor". In 1963 Freeman had asked Hatch to take over as Clark's regular producer: Hatch had subsequently produced five English-language singles for Clark none of which had charted.

In the autumn of 1964 Hatch had made his first visit to New York City, the purpose being to seek material from music publishers for the artists he was producing. Hatch would recall: "I was staying at a hotel on Central Park and I wandered down to Broadway and to Times Square and, naively, I thought I was downtown. Forgetting that in New York especially, downtown is a lot further downtown getting on towards Battery Park. I loved the whole atmosphere there and the [music] came to me very, very quickly". According to Hatch he was standing on the corner of 48th St waiting for the traffic lights to change, looking towards Times Square when "the melody first came to me, just as the neon signs went on."

Hatch envisioned his embryonic composition "as a sort of doo wop R&B song" which he thought to eventually pitch to the Drifters: Hatch had scored his biggest success to date with the Searchers' "Sugar and Spice" modelled on the Drifters' hit "Sweets for My Sweet", and had also produced a cover of the Drifters' "Up on the Roof" for Julie Grant. It has been alleged that Hatch gave Julie Grant the opportunity to record "Downtown" which Grant turned down but this does not accord with Hatch's statement that he played "Downtown" for Petula Clark within a few days of conceiving the melody and only completed the song's lyrics after Clark had asked to record it: also Hatch has said that prior to Clark's expressed interest in "Downtown" "it never occurred to me that a white woman could even sing it."

Within a few days of his New York City junket Hatch visited Paris to present Clark with three or four songs he'd acquired from New York publishers for Clark to consider recording at a London recording session scheduled for 16 October 1964 which was roughly two weeks away: Hatch – "she was not very enthusiastic about [the material] and asked me if I was working on anything new myself. Reluctantly (because the song was still so unfinished)" – according to Clark besides the title lyric Hatch had only written "one or two lines" – "I played her the tune of my New York inspiration and slipped in the word 'Downtown' in the appropriate places. 'That's the one I want to record,' she said" – "'Get that finished. Get a good lyric in it. Get a great arrangement and I think we’ll at least have a song we’re proud to record even if it isn’t a hit.'"

"Downtown" was recorded 16 October 1964 at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch. Thirty minutes before the session was scheduled, Hatch was still touching up the song's lyrics in the studio's washroom. Of his arrangement for the session Hatch would recall: "I had to connect with young record buyers...but not alienate Pet[ula]'s older core audience...The trick was to make a giant orchestra sound like a rock band." The session personnel for the recording of "Downtown" who were assembled in Studio One of Pye Recording Studios – Hatch insisted that all session personnel on his productions be recorded performing together – included eight violinists, two viola players and two cellists, four trumpeters and four trombonists, five woodwind players with flutes and oboes, percussionists, a bass player and a pianist: also playing on the session were guitarists Vic Flick, Jimmy Page and Big Jim Sullivan and also drummer Ronnie Verrell, while the Breakaways served as vocal chorale. Hatch's assistant Bob Leaper acted as conductor. According to Petula Clark, the session for "Downtown" consisted of three takes with the second take ultimately chosen as the completed track [yet, elsewhere, an "extended" version, instrumental+backing vocal track, most likely from a session tape makes claims questionable].

Impact

Tony Hatch would recall 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 Joe heard Pet[ula]'s record, he loved it and scheduled the single for urgent release in the [United] States". When Hatch, surprised by Smith's enthusiasm for releasing "Downtown" in the US, 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 in November 1964. It entered the UK Top 50 dated 14 November 1964, ending a virtual two-year UK chart absence for Clark; of the ten singles she'd had released in the UK during that period only one, "Chariot", had appeared in even the lower charts (No. 39 the spring of 1963). "Downtown" rose to No. 2 UK in December 1964, remaining there for three weeks, kept out of the No. 1 position by the Beatles' "I Feel Fine". Certified a Gold record for sales in the UK of 500,000, "Downtown" also reached No. 2 in Ireland and No. 1 in Australia, New Zealand, Rhodesia and South Africa, and was also a hit in Denmark (No. 2), India (No. 3), the Netherlands (No. 4) and Norway (No. 8).

But "Downtown" had its greatest significance in the reception it was afforded in the United States, where it was released by Warner Bros. in November 1964: after early regional break-outs, notably in Detroit, Miami, and Washington D.C., "Downtown" debuted at No. 87 on the Hot 100 chart in the Billboard issue dated 19 December 1964. Despite the Christmas season typically being the worst time to break a new hit, "Downtown" shot up to No. 41 in its second week on the Hot 100 chart ascending in its third and fourth charting weeks to respectively No. 12 and No. 5; then after a subsequent single point advance to No. 4 "Downtown" leapt to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 23 January 1965, retaining that position a further week before being overtaken by the ascendancy of the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'". The song became the first No. 1 hit for the year 1965. Petula Clark thus became the first UK female artist to have a US No. 1 hit during the rock and roll era and the second in the annals of US charted music, Vera Lynn having hit No. 1 US with "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" in 1952. "Downtown" also made Clark the first UK female artist to have a single certified as a Gold record for US sales of one million units. "Downtown" would be the first of fifteen consecutive hits Clark would place in the US Top 40 during a period when she'd have considerably less chart impact in her native UK, there reaching the Top 40 eight times.

Petula Clark, who had been playing to her French speaking fans in small venues in Quebec when "Downtown" entered the US charts, swiftly cut non-English versions of the song for the markets in France, Italy and Germany; the absence in each region's language of a two-syllable equivalent of "downtown" necessitated a radical lyric recasting for the versions aimed at France ("Dans le temps"), Italy ("Ciao Ciao", winning the Festivalbar, a juke-box contest) and Spain ("Chao Chao") which respectively charted at No. 6, No. 2 and – for three weeks – No. 1: "Dans le temps" also reaching No. 18 on Belgium's French-language chart. The title and lyric "Downtown" was retained for an otherwise German version which was the most successful foreign-language version, reaching No. 1 in Germany, No. 3 in Austria, and No. 11 on the charts for the Flemish region of Belgium.

Charts

Chart (1964-65)	Peak position	Chart (1964-65)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	2	Ireland (IRMA)	2
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)	3	Netherlands (Single Top 100)	4
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)	11	Norway (VG-lista)	8
Canada Top Singles (RPM)	1	UK Singles (Official Charts Company)	2
Germany (Official German Charts)	1	US Billboard Hot 100	1

Awards & Certifications (1964 recording)

Region Certification Sales/shipments United States (RIAA) Gold 1,000,000 *sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Grammy Award for "Best Rock and Roll Song" 1965 Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Song of the Year" 1964 Silver Record (1964) Awarded for 250,000 UK sales Gold Record (1965) Awarded for 400,000 UK sales Gold Record (1965) Awarded for One Million US sales Cash Box International Gold Award (1965) Radio Caroline Bell Award (UK) (1965) Festivalbar 1965 winner ("Ciao ciao") Grammy Hall of Fame (2003) Film & TV Music Award for Best Use of a Song in a Television Program (2007)

Preceded by "Come See About Me" by The Supremes

Billboard Hot 100 number one single 23 January 1965 (two weeks)

Succeeded by "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers

Preceded by "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers

RPM number one single February 1965 (one weeks)

Succeeded by "Let's Lock the Door" by Jay and the Americans

Re-recordings

Petula Clark has re-recorded "Downtown" seven times, in 1976 (with a disco beat), in 1984 (with a new piano and trumpet intro that leads into the song's original opening), in 1988 with Dutch producer Eddy Ouwens for the album "My Greatest" for exclusive UK/Germany/Benelux release, in 1996 and in 2013. In October 2011 Clark recorded several lines of "Downtown" for inclusion in the remake by Irish band the Saw Doctors which was credited to the Saw Doctors featuring Petula Clark – (see below). Clark's 2013 album release Lost in You features a new version of "Downtown": Clark said she was uninterested when it was first suggested she again record "Downtown", then "I was played this beautiful [instrumental] track ...And I said it was lovely, and they told me it was [intended for] 'Downtown.' I got to the microphone and I didn't know how I was going to sing it, and it really feels like a new song." Reviewing Lost in You for MusicOHM.com, Philip Matusavage writes of the "Downtown" remake: "already a song loaded with melancholy, the stately version here acquires new meaning with its weary but amiable delivery summoning forth powerful nostalgia and the sense of someone fondly remembering their youth."

In addition, the original 1964 recording was remixed and re-released in 1988, 1999, and 2003. The 1976 remake – titled "Downtown 76" – was a minor hit in Germany at No. 45; the 1988 remix – titled "Downtown 88" – reached No. 10 in the UK also charting in Australia (No. 62), Belgium (Dutch chart No. 19), Finland (No. 3), Germany (No. 13) and Ireland (No. 14).

Reportedly an overture was made to Petula Clark to sing on "Cheltenham" a 2010 charity single recording of a lyrically abridged version of "Downtown" referencing Cheltenham Festival and featuring a chorale of British and Irish horse-racing personalities: however Clark did not participate in the recording of "Cheltenham" which was released in March 2010 credited to the Favourites and featuring Laura Critchley as lead vocalist.

Dolly Parton version

"Downtown"
Single by Dolly Parton
from the album The Great Pretender
Further information B-side "The Great Pretender" Released April 1984 Recorded December 1983 Genre Country Label RCA Nashville Writer(s) Tony Hatch Producer(s) Val Garay
Dolly Parton singles chronology
"Save the Last Dance for Me" (1983) "Downtown" (1984) "Tennessee Homesick Blues" (1984)

Dolly Parton recorded "Downtown" in Nashville in October 1983 in the sessions for her covers album The Great Pretender, a Val Garay production which focused on hits from the 1950s and 1960s. "Downtown" served as the album's second single release in April 1984 reaching No. 36 on the Billboard C&W chart and crossing over to No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart: to date "Downtown" marks Parton's final solo Hot 100 appearance. Parton's version altered some of the lyrics: "Listen to the rhythm of a gentle bossa nova" became "Listen to the rhythm of the music that they're playing". Petula Clark has described Parton's take on "Downtown" as "cute, because she didn’t even try to sound like my recording."

Chart positions

Chart (1984)	Peak position
US Billboard Hot Country Singles	36
US Billboard Hot 100	80
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	20
Canadian RPM Country Tracks	20

Emma Bunton version

"Downtown"
Single by Emma Bunton
from the album Life in Mono
B-side	"Something Tells Me (Something's Going to Happen)" "Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps"
Released	13 November 2006
Format	CD single digital download
Recorded	2006
Genre	Soul
Label	Universal
Writer(s)	Tony Hatch
Producer(s)	Simon Franglen
Emma Bunton singles chronology
"Crickets Sing for Anamaria" (2004) "Downtown" (2006) "All I Need to Know" (2007)
Audio sample noicon file info · help Music video "Downtown" on YouTube

Background

BBC News announced 20 October 2006 that Emma Bunton would record a remake of the Petula Clark hit "Downtown" to be the 2006 official BBC Children in Need single, with Bunton quoted as saying: "I've always loved 'Downtown'...and I'm really looking forward to putting my own stamp on it. The track's good fun and one everyone will know." Bunton, whose admiration for Petula Clark was evident on the 2004 Free Me album, recorded "Downtown" at AIR Studios (Lyndhurst) with Simon Franglen producing; the orchestra for the track was recorded at Angel Studios with Gavin Wright conducting. The track was released on 13 November 2006 and Bunton premiered her version of "Downtown" on the 2006 Children in Need telethon which began broadcast 17 November 2006.

Although Bunton would allege knowing "Downtown" composer Tony Hatch "quite well", Petula Clark would state that neither she [i.e. Clark] nor Hatch had prior knowledge of Bunton's remake. Clark also stated that she considered Bunton's remake to be an "outright copy" of Clark's original recording: "I could ask: 'What's the point'...but Emma's recording is wonderful and...for a great cause" (i.e. Children in Need).

Impact

"Downtown" by Emma Bunton debuted on the UK singles chart 25 November 2006 at No. 24. Central FM noted Bunton's chart debut, declaring "Downtown" "the song she was born to cover...One of the all time great pop songs, ['Downtown'] was long overdue for a revival and Emma Bunton pays it the respect it deserves." The Spanish radio station predicted "Downtown" would rise to the Top 3 in its second week and the single did indeed jump to No. 3 on the chart for 2 December 2006 having sold 30,582 units in the relevant week: the mid-week stats had ranked "Downtown" at No. 2 behind "Patience" by Take That but on the chart for the full week Bunton was bested not only by Take That at No. 1 but by the previous week's No. 1 "Smack That" by Akon which outsold "Downtown" by 57 copies.

While affording Bunton her highest charting single since her No. 1 solo debut "What Took You So Long?" in 2001, "Downtown" would prove to have little staying power, spending only three weeks in the Top 20, performances by Bunton on a Christmas Day broadcast of Top of the Pops and New Year Live failing to significantly buoy its popularity. Total UK sales for "Downtown" by Emma Bunton were tallied at 77,039 units.

Chart (2006)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	3
Slovakia (IFPI)	13
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles	32
Ukraine (FDR Pop)	6
Irish Singles Chart	36
Ukraine (FDR Dance)	7
Scottish Singles Chart	2

Track listings and formats

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Downtown" by Emma Bunton.

• Children in Need EP

1. "Downtown"
2. "Something Tells Me (Something's Going to Happen)"
3. "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps"

• UK CD 1

1. "Downtown"
2. "Downtown" (Element Remix)

• UK CD 2

1. "Downtown"
2. "Something Tells Me (Something's Going to Happen)"
3. "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps"
4. "Downtown" (Video)

Music video

Directed by Harvey & Carolyn, (the directors who also directed her video for her single "Maybe") the sexually suggestive music video for the single is set in a hotel bedroom featuring Bunton as a maid. It includes appearances from contestants from the BBC's reality television show Strictly Come Dancing and features cameos from Matt Dawson, Louisa Lytton, Carol Smillie, Spoony, Mark Ramprakash, Claire King, Peter Schmeichel, Craig Revel Horwood, Anton du Beke, Brendan Cole, Erin Boag, Lilia Kopylova, Karen Hardy, and Darren Bennett. According to Mark Ramprakash the video was shot at "a big house near Baker Street".

The video drew negative reaction for evidently skewing the phrase "go downtown" into a sexual term. Bunton would constantly evade or deny this allegation, as when Michael Baggs of Popjustice put to her: "The dancers in the 'Downtown' video seem to know you very well indeed. So well that they are all pointing at your fanny. Was this your idea?", Bunton's response being: "I don't understand where this has come from. It is a dance routine and it is nothing to do with anything like that. It is everyone else's dirty little minds. Especially yours. It worries me because it is a classic and you can't make classics rude." Singer Jann Arden who recorded "Downtown" for her 2007 album Uncover Me reacted to Bunton's "Downtown" video with the statement: "Petula Clark would slap [Bunton's] face" though in fact Clark herself would state to being untroubled by Bunton's evidently salacious interpretation of "Downtown": "It's a pop song, for God's sake. It's not a hymn!"

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: "One night for no particular reason we did 'Downtown' and you could see people loved it. All ages. You could see it brought joy to people’s faces." 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 of "Downtown"; Clark being agreeable, a session was booked in a London recording studio to allow the Irish group to liaison with the European-based Clark and "Downtown" was recorded over two days with Clark arriving to record her vocal on the second day. Moran recalls: "We [the Saw Doctors] did a whole lot of work the first day. [Petula Clark] came in the second evening and we discovered that the song was in the wrong key. So we had to scrap all of the first day's work and put down the backing track with Petula because she only had a few hours that evening and wasn’t able to come back the following day. It was exciting, exhilarating, scary and privileged … rolled into one."

Top Irish cinematographer Eugene O' Connor (Father Ted) directed the video for the Saw Doctor's "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 (lead vocalist Davy Carton is also seen briefly riding in a car). 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 (the shop is in fact clothing retailer Anthony Ryans) outside of which the Saw Doctors perform on the street in the company of eight members of the Galway City Cougars cheerleading squad and also a fire juggler.

Radio presenter Ray Foley (Today FM) began a campaign to make the Saw Doctors' "Downtown" the Christmas No. 1 in Ireland for 2011 encouraging sales of the track upon its 16 December 2011 release with the intent of propelling it to the No. 1 position on the Irish Singles Chart for the week ending 22 December 2011 and the Saw Doctors' "Downtown" was indeed No. 1 on iTunes Ireland for the relevant period. However, on the Irish Singles Chart dated 22 December 2011 the track debuted at No. 2 with "Cannonball" by Little Mix retaining the No. 1 position largely because of "Cannonball"'s greater availability as a CD single – 10,000 units as opposed to "Downtown"'s 2000 – making "Cannonball" a more attractive prospect for gift-buyers.

On the Irish Singles Chart dated 29 December 2011 "Downtown" by the Saw Doctors featuring Petula Clark was ranked at No. 43 in its second and final week on the chart.

Other versions

1964• Isabella Bond: single release cover of English original from her album

Everything's Allright With Isabella Bond – also had a single release of "Downtown" German

• Anina as "Luces de la ciudad" Spanish=Lights of the city

• Lourdes Baledón as "Al centro de la ciudad" Spanish=At the center of the city

• Hermanas Benítez (es)

as "Chao Chao" Spanish

also recorded by

• Los Mustang • Los Pekes (es) • Los Sírex

• Hugo Blanco on his album Bailables con Hugo Blanco as "Ciao Ciao" Italian

•

Celly Campello (pt)

as "Não me abandone" Portuguese=Do not leave me

also recorded by • Trio Esperança

• Chris Connor on her album Sings Gentle Bossa Nova
• Dick Contino on his album Dick Contino Plays & Sings the Hits
• (inst.) Xavier Cugat & his orchestra on his album Feeling' Good!

•

Danny

as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time]

No. 1

also recorded by • Ann-Christine

• Marianne Faithfull on her album Marianne Faithfull
• (inst.) Ferrante & Teicher on their album Only the Best
• Eddie Fisher on his album Eddie Fisher Today!
• Gelu (es) as "Downtown" Spanish
• (inst.) Sounds Orchestral on their album Cast Your Fate to the Wind
• The Tony Hatch Sound on their album The Tony Hatch Sound

also issued on Downtown with Tony Hatch (1968)

• Bianca Holl as "Downtown" German

also recorded by • Ina Martell (de) • Michaela Prunerova

•

Margot Lefebvre (fr)

on album Gala 65 Avec Margot Et Michel as "Dans le temps" French=in time

also recorded by • Claude Steben

• The Lettermen on their album Hit Sounds of the Lettermen

•

(inst.)

Enoch Light & the Light Brigade

on their album Discotheque Vol. 2: Dance, Dance, Dance

• Toldi Mária (hu)
• Olivia Molina on her album Juego De Palabras as "Canta" Spanish="sing"
• Jane Morgan on her album In My Style
•(inst.) Gerry Mulligan on his album If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em
• The New Christy Minstrels on their album Chim Chim Cher-ee
• Gabi Novak on multi-artist EP Melodija Tjedna V as "Down Town" Croatian

•

The Osmond Brothers

on their album The New Sound of the Osmond Brothers

• Brigitte Petry (de)

•(inst.)

Franck Pourcel et Son Grand Orchestre

on his album Un Orchestra Nella Sera N. 5

• Billy Preston on his album Early Hits of 1965
• Renata as "Cantant" Catalan=singer
• (inst.) Shirley Scott on her album Latin Shadows
• Sandie Shaw on her 1965 album Sandie

• Allan Sherman as "Crazy Downtown"

Billboard Hot 100 #40 Easy Listening No. 6

parody version from his album The Best of Allan Sherman

• Helena Vondráčková as "Pátá" Czech=the fifth

1965• Alvin and the Chipmunksfor their album Chipmunks à Go-Go

1966 • (inst.) John Barry on The Quiller Memorandum soundtrack album
• (inst.) Thumbs Carllile on his album Roger Miller Presents Thumbs Carllile
• Ray Conniff Singers on their album Somewhere My Love

• Mrs. Miller

Billboard Hot 100 No. 82 Easy Listening No. 9

from her album Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits

• Frank Sinatra on his album Strangers in the Night
• Connie Smith on her album Downtown Country

1967 • (inst.)

Bob Florence Big Band

on their album Pet Project which comprises songs associated with Petula Clark

• (inst.) Shake Keane on his album That's the Noise
• Siw Malmkvist as "Downtown" Swedish
• (inst.) San Remo Golden Strings on their album Hungry For Love
• Lita Torelló (es) as "Ciao Ciao" Catalan
• Jackie Trent on her album Stop Me & Buy One
1975• (inst.) Klaus Wunderlich on his album The Hit World of Klaus Wunderlich

1978 •

Neoton Familia

on their album Neoton Disco as "Belváros" Hungarian=downtown

1979 • The B-52's on their album The B-52's
• Stacy Lattisaw on her album Young & in Love
1981 • Bel Ami (de) on their album Großstadtmelodie as "Downtown" German
1985 • Guy Mitchell on his album A Garden in the Rain

1987 •

Topi Sorsakoski & Agents

on their album Besame Mucho as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time]

1988 • Christine Lavin

on her album Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind as a duet with Livingston Taylor

• Anita Meyer on her album The Ahoy Concert
1989 • Bill Bruford's Earthworks on their 1989 album Dig?

1990

•

Hämäläis-Osakunnan Laulajat (fi)

on their album Ghosts in Hollywood as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time]

1991 • Karen Mason

on her album When the Sun Comes Out medley: "Downtown"/"I Know a Place"

1993 • Yölintu (fi)

on their album Yölintu Laskeutuu as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time]

1995• (inst.)

Booker T. & the M.G.'s

on their Soul Men compilation of long unreleased tracks (a.k.a. ...Play the Hip Hits)

1996 • Mary Chapin Carpenter: B-side of her single "Let Me into Your Heart"
• Ilona Csáková on her album Pink as "Pátá" Czech=the fifth

•

Nancy LaMott

on her compilation album What's Good About Goodbye (track recorded 1993)

1997 • The Candyskins: B-side of their single "Hang Myself on You"

• Sarah Cracknell

on her single "Desert Baby" also on Japanese release of her album Lipslide

1998 • Holly Cole Trio on their album Yesterday & Today lyrics updated
• Rx on their album Bedside Toxicology
• Jane McDonald on her album Jane McDonald

• Wendy Van Wanten (nl)

on her album Denk aan mij as "Nachtblauw" Flemish=blue night

1999 • Ann-Mette Elten (da) on her album Close to You
• Bonnie Langford in the "Sixties Medley" on her Now album

•

Menneisyyden Vangit (fi)

on their Live! Elossaja lujaa album as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time]

2000 • The Killer Barbies
• Andrea Marcovicci on her album Here There & Everywhere
2001 • Liz Callaway on her album The Beat Goes On

•

Ireen Sheer

on her album Zeitlos which features remakes of "Downtown" with both the English & German lyrics.

2002 •(inst.) James Last on his album New Party Classics
2003 • Kaori Iida on her album Osavurio: Ai wa Matte Kurenai French
• Dana Winner on her album One Way Wind
2004 • Irene Cara for Downtown: a Street Tale film soundtrack
• Michelle Hunziker on multi-artist album Best of Starduell
• Nancy Martinez on her album Downtown

2006 •

Erin Crosby & ensemble

on the cast album of Shout! The Mod Musical which also includes a dance remix of the track

• Yo La Tengo

on their albumYo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics (track recorded 1998)

2007 • Jann Arden on her album Uncover Me
•(inst.) James Last on his concert album Live in Europe
2008 • Tina Arena on her album Songs of Love & Loss 2 digital release bonus track
• Anke Pietrangeli on her album Tribute to the Great Female Vocalists
• Michèle Torr on her album Ces années-là! as "Dans le temps"French=in time

2010•

Markku Aro

on multi-artist album Reino & Aino – Rakkaustarina as "Kauan" Finnish=long [time] also recorded by

• Matti Ojala (fi) on his album Opetuslapset

• The Favourites as "Cheltenham"

#14

: Lyrics of "Downtown" were tweaked

for this charity single saluting Cheltenham Festival sung by Laura Critchley
& a chorale of British & Irish horse-racing personalities.

•

Maria Friedman

on her album Maria Friedman Celebrates the Great British Songbook medley: "Georgy Girl"/"Downtown"

• Hanny-D [2] on her album Ma Passion as "Dans le temps" French=in time

2011

•

Ann Hampton Callaway/ Liz Callaway

on their album Boom! Live at Birdland medley: "I Know a Place"/ "Downtown"

•

Maxine Linehan

[3]

on her album What Would Petula Do? which comprises songs associated with Petula Clark

2012 • Something Big on their Tony Hatch tribute EP Hatched

2014 • Cast of Glee for the episode "New New York"

2014 • Lance in Topeka for The Jim Rome Show

In popular culture

• In the fourteenth espisode in season 5 of Glee, the main characters sing the song together after meet each other in New York.
• A 2013 Filipino TV ad for McDonald's features a grandmother and granddaughter singing along to a recording of "Downtown": the grandmother is played by veteran actress Marita Zobel.
• Following 9/11, New York City adopted Petula Clark's version of "Downtown" as the theme song for TV-commercial campaign encouraging tourism to Lower Manhattan. The song has also been utilised by other metropolitan areas – including Chicago, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Singapore – for promotional purposes.
• In a Season 1 episode of Will & Grace, Will (Eric McCormack) meets Val (Molly Shannon) in an elevator when she completes the song after he begins humming it.
• In the 1999 movie Girl, Interrupted, Susanna (Winona Ryder) and Lisa (Angelina Jolie), sing the song together after Polly (Elisabeth Moss) is confined in a room alone; the original version is played during the closing credits.
• The song is used as the opening number to Priscilla Queen of the Desert – the Musical, a stage musical based on the 1994 movie The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
• In the Season 3 premiere episode of Lost, "A Tale of Two Cities", Elizabeth Mitchell's character Juliet Burke had this song playing in her home in the opening scene. The song was heard again in a flashback sequence in the season 3 episode "One of Us".
• The song also was used in episode 272 ("Uncle Charley's Aunt") of the television series My Three Sons. Originally aired on 17 February 1968, the episode had Tina Cole as Katie singing the popular song with the rest of the Douglas family. They then decide to perform the song at Uncle Charley's local lodge when he's forced to put together a matinee performance, but all but one member of the family ends up not being able to attend.
• In the 1991 movie Flight of the Intruder, starring Willem Dafoe and Brad Johnson, Defoe and Johnson sing it together in an A-6 Intruder cockpit on their way back from a prohibited bombing run on a Hanoi SAM missile depot. (see the entry for Operation Rolling Thunder below)
• The song is briefly mentioned in the movie Short Circuit 2, as part of a plot device using the names of songs as clues. The Downtown they refer to is Downtown New York.
• In 1987, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (later to become better known as The KLF) sampled large chunks of "Downtown" to make their new single "Down Town."
• The pop-punk band Green Day uses the melody of "Downtown" for their song "Waiting", on their 2000 album Warning.
• The song was sung by Lucille Bluth to General Anderson to get her son Buster out of military service in the Arrested Development episode "Switch Hitter".
• The song was heard on the soundtrack of the 1993 film Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould. The classical pianist considered Petula Clark the best female vocalist of his generation and published several essays praising her talent and achievements.
• In the 1993 episode of The Simpsons entitled "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", the Be Sharps hold an audition to replace Chief Wiggum. Groundskeeper Willie performs the song in his audition and, with his Scottish accent, pronounces the title as "Doontoon."
• The song was used to introduce a feature on Children's BBC in 1986 where viewers could send in pictures of themselves in their town (hence "Downtown") to presenter Phillip Schofield.
• The French-language version of the song was used in the Canadian movie waydowntown.
• The song was used during the opening scenes of Jaws 2 in 1978.
• Amanda Price sings it to Elizabeth Bennet's peers in Lost in Austen which sees a modern-day Londoner trapped inside Jane Austen's fictional world of Pride and Prejudice. This scene is deleted from some DVD and broadcast versions of the show.
• The song was used in an episode of Coronation Street for the episode where Liam Connor is murdered. This was aired on 16 October 2008.
• Rick Moranis performs a jazz version of the song as lounge singer Tom Monroe on SCTV. The song is arranged to include Petula Clark's other hits, "Don't Sleep in the Subway," "A Sign of the Times" and "I Know a Place."
• A Mad Men character sings a cappella an improvised version of the song to mock a coworker and her lesbian girlfriend (Season 4).
• In 2011 Australian retailer Coles Supermarkets featured an abridged version of "Downtown" as a jingle alleging the store's prices were "down down" which was performed by store clerks and customers in a television ad notable for the extreme negative media reaction it drew.
• In Seinfeld, George Costanza erroneously believes his boss is sending him a crypted message about an assignment through the lyrics in the song.
• In the 1985 St. Elsewhere episode "Remembrance of Things Past" Petula Clark's recording of "Downtown" can be heard in the background during a scene flashing back to 1965, in which Dr. Westphall meets Nurse Rosenthal for the first time; as is frequently the case when pop music is used in episodic television, Clark's recording was cut from the version of that appears in syndication (it was replaced by generic background music), presumably due to copyright issues.
• A 1960s feature in Mad Magazine titled "Songs About Food" featured lyrics, sung to the melody of "Downtown," which went "When you eat meat but hate the meat that you're eating then you've surely got . . . ground round!"
• A 1997 Bob Rivers parody "Downtown in the 90's" describes a dystopic, crime-infested city centre in which "When you've got jewellery or a coat that is furry, It's not safe you know, Downtown."
• A chorale of an estimated several hundred cast members of current Off-Broadway shows sang "Downtown" in Washington Square Park on the afternoon of November 30, 2001 (scheduled start time was 2:00 pm). The event was a promotion for Off-Broadway theatre whose box office had dropped severely in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
• John Eddie did a spoof of the song, as "Dahntahn", on WDVE radio in Pittsburgh. The song has been uploaded to YouTube. It has Pittsburgh references ("Mt. Washington/ They got a cool view up there/ You can hop on the incline, down to Station Square").
• Downtown was used in a scene of Britains Got More Talent 2015.
• In the last episode of the first season of The CW's iZombie the song is played on the background in Blaine's butcher shop.

External links

• Downtown lyrics at Dolly Parton On-Line
• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics