My Love by Petula Clark

Album: My Love (1966)

Charted: 4 1

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This '60s pop nugget was a huge hit for the British singer Petula Clark; it was her second #1 in the US, following "Downtown," released the previous year. This made her the first British solo act to have two #1 singles in the States, an impressive feat considering she was competing with The Beatles, who dominated the charts in the mid-'60s.

And speaking of The Beatles, Paul McCartney went to #1 with his "My Love" seven years later in 1973, but that's a very different song. McCartney's is very sentimental while Clark's is pure joy, with her shouting from the rooftops to let us know the boundless nature of her love - it's deeper than the deepest ocean and wider than the sky.
Tony Hatch wrote this song as he flew from London to Los Angeles, where Clark recorded it. The air travel gave him the idea for the idea of love transcending distance.

Hatch wrote many of Petula Clark's hits, including "Downtown," "I Know a Place" and "Don't Sleep In The Subway."
"My Love" was one of three songs Clark recorded at the session, and she hated it. She had to leave right after she was done with her vocals, but on the way out implored her American record label representative, Joe Smith, not to release "My Love."

Smith, sensing a hit, put it out anyway, telling Petula, "Trust me, baby." He was right about he song being a hit, but this didn't appease Petula, who now had to perform it. When Songfacts asked her in 2013 why she didn't like the song, Petula explained: "I thought it was a bit ordinary. I had got so used to these wonderful songs that Tony [Hatch] had been writing with all these different moods and I thought it was just a bit flat. You know what, I still do. But I do sing it now. For a long time I wouldn't sing it on stage, but I sort of play around with it a little bit now and that makes it a bit easier for me to do it."
"My Love" was recorded at Western Studios in Los Angeles and features the backing of the Wrecking Crew, a group of elite session musicians in the 1960s and 1970s known for backing artists like The Beach Boys and Frank Sinatra.

In an interview, Petula Clark shared her experiences recording with The Wrecking Crew. She described feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness as she entered the studio. Though Clark had always worked with talented musicians in London, she felt a special energy in Los Angeles, where the vibrant music scene and the city's electric atmosphere inspired her. However, when Clark entered the studio, her stomach twisted in knots, as she wondered, "Can I do this? Am I truly prepared for this level of musical collaboration?"

Comments: 8

Redball from Shelby OhJust going through my senior (1966) yearbook. — seniors were asked to list our favorite song below their name — “My Love” was the most frequent pick with 7..
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn June 24th 1966, Petula Clark performed "The Thirty-First of June" on the Dick Clark produced ABC-TV network weekday-afternoon program 'Where The Action Is'...
The song was track two of side two on her 'My Love' album, the album peaked at #68 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart and was her first album that was completely recorded in the U.S.A...
As noted in a post below, two tracks from the album made Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; "My Love" and "A Sign of the Times".
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn May 10, 1970, Sonny James performed his covered version of "My Love" on the CBS-TV variety program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
At the time the song was in it's first of three weeks at #1 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart; it was also the 11th in a string of sixteen consecutive #1 records by Mr. James on the Hot Country Singles chart...
Between 1952 and 1985 'The Southern Gentleman' had seventy-two records on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, forty-three made the Top 10 with twenty-three reaching #1*...
* He just missed having twenty-six #1 records when he had three peak at #2; "I'll Keep Holding On (Just To Your Love)" {1965}, "Room In Your Heart" {1966}, and "Only Love Can Break A Heart" {1971}.
Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 27th 1966, Petula Clark performed "My Love" on the CBS-TV program 'The Ed Sullivan Show'...
Two months earlier on December 25th, 1965 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and on February 5th it peaked at #1 (for 2 weeks) and spent 13 weeks on the Top 100...
And on February 14th it also reached #1 (for 1 week) on the Canadian RPM Tracks chart...
Peaked at #4 in both the U.K. and Australia...
Was track one on side one from her album of the same name,the album peaked at #68 and spent 12 weeks on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart...
One other track from the album also made the Top 100 chart, "A Sign of the Times" (#11)... weeks)...
Ms. Clark celebrated her 81st birthday three months ago on November 15th (2013).
Camille from Toronto, OhThis is an amazing song sung by a woman with an amazing voice. I love the rhythm, the speed, and the words. They all melt together like butter...mmmm....yummy good. The song leaves you feeling good. The song with a similar approach is Randy Travis's "(My Love Is) Deeper than the Holler". Well done, Petula.
Glenn from Simi Valley, CaActually, its not that Petula Clark didn't like the song, it would be more accurate to say that she didn't like the recording. She thought it was way too fast and wanted to do it as a slow ballad (she still feels that way, by the way!) But Tony Hatch felt differently, and thus we have the great recording we have now.
Daevid from Glendale, CaOnce again, Hal Blaine puts his signature style in this song with his drumming.
Tom from Largo, FlTony Hatch was putting the finishing touches on "The Life and Soul of the Party," scheduled to be Clark's follow-up single to "Round Every Corner," on a flight from London to Los Angeles, when the passenger sitting next to him commented that the title phrase held no significance in the States. Why he thought that is a mystery - but his incorrect info resulted in Hatch's quickly writing "My Love" as a substitute. Clark hated the song, was coerced into recording it, and then lost the battle when she fought Warner Brothers not to release it. The tune went to #1, Clark eventually recorded it in French, German, and Italian, as well, and to this day it's a staple of her concert repertoire.

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