My, a lot of Petula Clark fans read this blog. A number of you wrote to tell me that Ms. Clark had recorded a new version of "Downtown" in 2019 with a group called the Saw Doctors. I not only knew about it, I put it up on this site at the time.
And a lot of you wrote to remind me that Allan Sherman once recorded a parody of "Downtown" and that while in junior high school, I wrote my own parody of it and he threatened to take legal action over it. Believe me — I could never forget that but I've told that story three times on this blog. Here was its most recent appearance.
And a couple of you wrote to tell me — and this, I didn't know — that in 2013, Petula recorded a new, slower and sadder version of the song. I don't care for it as much, perhaps because I'm so used to the original tempo…but if you want to hear it, here it is…
After I listened to that, I had an urgent need to listen to the song the way I always heard it except when Allan Sherman was singing it. Fortunately, a few of you told me that two years ago, a new "mix" of the original song was released. That, I didn't know and here it is. This one, I like…
It's stunning that a simple song like this has had such a long life. It doesn't even really convey a message of any import and even when it first came out, downtown in most cities was the last place you'd go if you were alone and life was making you lonely. Downtown in most cities is not the best place to be. Still, there was something about the song…and the arrangement…and the way she sang it that made this record an all-time classic.
A few years ago, as I mentioned, Shelly Goldstein and I went to see Ms. Clark perform. She sang all her hits and she had a lot of them…but it was an especially thrilling moment for everyone present when she got to this one. My hands still hurt from applauding.