Happy Endings (Give Yourself A Pinch)

Album: released as a single (1989)
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Songfacts®:

  • Lionel Bart wrote this song for a commercial advertising the Abbey National Building Society as part of their "Abbey Endings" (a play on "Happy Endings") campaign. Bart appeared in the spot, playing piano and singing along with a group of children. The commercial was so popular that the song was released as a single, becoming Bart's last popular song released during his lifetime. Copyright EMI Records Ltd and running to a mere 2 minutes 35 seconds, it was unusually recorded by the composer himself, with his very young co-performers.

    Bart was a revered British composer whose plays included La Strada and Oliver!. Known also for his eccentricities and lavish parties, he died of liver cancer in 1999 at age 68. In 2013, his unfinished musical Quasimodo was completed and performed in London 14 years after his death.

    As for the Abbey National Building Society, it was taken over by Santander in 2010, renamed and forgotten. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England

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