Come Outside by Mike Sarne

Album: The Definitive Collection (1962)

Charted: 1

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The novelty song "Come Outside" topped the UK singles chart for Mike Sarne in 1962; written by producer/composer Charles Blackwell, released on Parlophone and backed by "Fountain Of Love", it knocked Elvis off the #1 spot and stayed in the charts for a respectable nineteen weeks. The song is a duet of sorts between Sarne and a then youthful Wendy Richard, who didn't sing but played the would-be girlfriend/conquest who Sarne kept asking her to come outside to see the lovely moon (among other things). Richard's replies including "What for?" were delivered in a broad Cockney accent by the Middlesbrough-born actress who trained at the same academy as Noël Coward.
Wendy Richard died February 26, 2009, succumbing to cancer - which she had beaten twice before. In a TV tribute broadcast the same night she said she was paid the princely sum of £15 for her performance, for which she didn't even receive a credit. >>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 2
An article in the Daily Telegraph May 9, 1998 about the music/movie producer Robert Stigwood revealed how the then unknown Wendy Richard was chosen to partner Mike Sarne on this song. It appears that Wendy was employed as a secretary for Stigwood at the time the song was being developed. To quote the newspaper: "From her desk, Wendy started lobbing sardonic comments in her native Cockney. Stigwood had the notion of including them on the record, making it a duet." Apparently in doing so he overruled the objections of the song's writer Charles Blackwood.

Comments: 3

AnonymousWill I what didn't have Wendy Richard on it the female voice was that of Billie Davis who had a later hit with tell him
Phil Worley from BerksireWill I What was with Billie Davis who later went on to have a solo career. her biggest hit was "Tell Him"
Michael from Bradford, EnglandMike Sarne was not a one-hit wonder. Although he didn't achieve N°1 status again he had "Will I What?" with Wendy Richards that went to N°18 in the UK, "Just for Kicks", that made N°22 (with a motor bike that sounded more like a moped) and finally "Code of Love" at N°29.
"Will I What?" was probably his best, it was the funniest!

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