This Is My Song

Album: These Are My Songs (1967)
Charted: 1 3
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Songfacts®:

  • This song was written by the silent movie giant Charlie Chaplin for his movie A Countess From Hong Kong, starring Sophia Loren and Marlon Brando. Chaplin was a talented composer, his most famous work being "Smile," which he wrote as an instrumental for his 1936 film Modern Times.

    Petula Clark (known as "Pet Clark" in her native England) said of the song: "I heard it and I thought it was a charming, slightly old fashioned love song. I could hear it being a hit in French, Italian and German."
  • Clark recorded versions of the song in French, Italian, and German for the European market. At the same time, her husband Claude recorded the original English version used in the movie. At the end of her recording session, Petula Clark recorded her English version using her husband's backing track.

    Clark didn't want to record the song in English, as she didn't think it would work, but her producer Sonny Burke convinced her to do it. Reluctantly, she recorded the song. The English version was the first one released, issued in the UK where it quickly rose to #1.
  • An English-language version by Harry Secombe was released in the UK before Clark's - his version spent a week at #1 there.
  • Clark recorded the song in Los Angeles with Ernie Freeman handling the arrangements. Freeman did a lot of work with Frank Sinatra and became a top arranger for many of the '60s hits recorded with the talented LA session musicians who performed on this track. Clark says he did "this absolutely perfect arrangement" on "This Is My Song."

Comments: 5

  • Gary from Lindenwold, NjI had the 45 RPM version of this song. Maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly, but I believe the 45 version cut off the first two verses and began with the chorus.
  • Maggie from St Paul, Mn UsaI keep thinking this was used in her movie "Goodbye, Mr. Chips", but I don't see anything about it...
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 26th 1967, "This Is My Song" by Petula Clark entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #90; and on April 9th it peaked at #3 (for 1 week) and spent 12 weeks on the Top 100 (and for 5 of those 12 weeks is was on the Top 10)...
    It reached #1 in Australia, France, Italy, and in her native England...
    Was track one on side one of her album 'These Are My Songs', and the album peaked at #28 on Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart...
    One other track from the album also made the Top 100; "Don't Sleep In The Subway" (it reached #5 and stayed on the Top 100 for 10 weeks)...
    Ms. Clark will celebrate her 82nd birthday this coming November 15th (2014).
  • Samuel from Kilsyth, United Kingdomat one time a saudi prince, wanted to buy her,as his wife.(FACT)
  • Tom from Largo, FlCharles Chaplin, unaware he had long been dead, initially wanted Al Jolson to record "This is My Song." When finally convinced that his first choice wasn't available, Chaplin offered the song to Clark, who was his neighbor in Switzerland. She recorded the tune in French, Italian, and German, but thought the English lyrics were insipid and had to be coerced into recording it in that language. As she had with her earlier single "My Love," Clark fought Warner Brothers not to release "This is My Song," but lost the battle. One week after its release, it went to #1 on the US charts. (For the sake of brevity, the US single eliminated the introduction included on the UK release; the complete song was featured on the LP "These Are My Songs.") To this day, Clark includes the song in her concert repertoire, usually singing an English/French combination of the tune. (Note: "This is My Song" is heard in "A Countess from Hong Kong" only as an instrumental. The comments re: Clark's husband Claude "recording" the song - or anything, for that matter - is inaccurate, as he served only as her manager, and had no musical ability himself.)
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