Songfacts®:

• This song originally made #95 on the US pop chart and #9 on the Country chart for American country superstar Sonny James in 1963. It was the second UK #1, after Tab Hunter's "Young Love," to have been recorded earlier by Sonny James.
• In this song, the guy gets desperately lonely the minute his girl leaves him. It's a love song, but a very needy one.
• This was Cliff Richard's first #1 not to feature The Shadows.
• The three sessions Cliff did in Nashville in August 1964 yielded 12 songs, including "The Minute You're Gone." The producer, Billy Sherill, later produced Elvis Costello's Nashville album Almost Blue.
• The backing vocals are provided by The Jordanaires, who were known as Elvis Presley's backing singers.
• This was Cliff's 26th consecutive UK Top 10 hit, but the last in this run of consecutive Top 10s. The follow-up single, "On My Word," which was also recorded in Nashville, peaked at #12.
• Although this reached #1 in Britain, it wasn't even released in America, which upset Richard. He told the Mail on Sunday November 2, 2008. "At that time, The Beatles were taking off in the States and anyone who had a #1 here was guaranteed a Top 5 there, including The Bachelors, who weren't rock artists as such but had a huge hit. I thought it was my big chance but the US record company said it wasn't right for their market. Hello? What wasn't right? It was #1 in many countries."