"A Voice in the Wilderness" is a song by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

and

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

, released as a single in January 1960. It peaked at number 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and also received a

silver disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

for 250,000 sales.

Background and reception

"A Voice in the Wilderness" was featured in the film

Expresso Bongo ''Expresso Bongo'' is a 1958 West End musical and a satire of the music industry. It was first produced on the stage at the Saville Theatre, London, on 23 April 1958. Its book was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Julian More, with music by David ...

and had been included on an EP from the film released in December 1959. Richard first performed the song on 17 January on ''

Tonight at the London Palladium ''Tonight at the London Palladium'' is a British television variety show that is hosted from the London Palladium theatre in the West End theatre, West End. Originally produced by Associated Television, ATV for the ITV (TV network), ITV network ...

''. The version included on the EP was recorded on 8 September 1959 at

EMI Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music co ...

, later renamed Abbey Road Studios. The version released as a single was recorded on 20 December and there are some subtle differences in the vocals. When the song was in the charts, Richard was asked to record it for ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' before he went on a tour of the US and Canada. Being a shift from rock and roll, Richard wasn't very enthusiastic about "A Voice in the Wilderness" and instead he decided to record the B-side "Don't Be Mad at Me", which he felt would be more popular. His manager,

Tito Burns Tito Burns (born Nathan Bernstein, 7 February 1921 – 23 August 2010) was a British musician and impresario, who was active in both jazz and rock and roll. Biography Early life The son of a cabinet maker, he was the sixth and youngest chil ...

, was not happy when he found out that Richard hadn't recorded "A Voice in the Wilderness" and began telling him about the importance of plugging the A-side. Richard stubbornly replied to this by saying that it was his choice and he preferred "Don't Be Mad at Me". Whilst in the US, upon hearing that "A Voice in the Wilderness" was at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, Richard asked Burns if he thought it would get to number one, to which the reply was that "with a good plug on the radio just now it might". Burns also pointed out that "Those Top Of The Pops programmes will be being broadcast about now, won't they? Now you see why I wanted you to record ''Voice In The Wilderness''". However, television and record producer Jack Good echoed Richard's thoughts on the record, describing "Don't Be Mad at Me" as "the best ecordingCliff has ever made" and "A Voice in the Wilderness" as "an interminable drag of the first order".

Track listing

# "A Voice in the Wilderness" – 2:10 # "Don't Be Mad at Me" – 2:08

Personnel

– vocals *

Hank Marvin Hank Brian Marvin (born Brian Robson Rankin, 28 October 1941) is an English multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter. He is widely known as the lead guitarist for The Shadows, a group which primarily performed instrumentals and was the ba ...

– lead guitar *

Bruce Welch Bruce Welch (born 2 November 1941 as Bruce Cripps) is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, singer and businessman best known as a founding member of the Shadows. Biography Welch's parents (Stan Cripps and Grace Welch) moved him to 15 B ...

– rhythm guitar *

Jet Harris Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

– bass guitar *

Tony Meehan Daniel Joseph Anthony Meehan (2 March 1943 – 28 November 2005), professionally known as Tony Meehan, was a founder member of the British group the Drifters, with Jet Harris, Hank Marvin and Bruce Welch, which would evolve into the Shadows. ...

– drums

Charts

Cover versions

* In 1960, English singer

Johnny Worth John Worsley (21 June 1931 – 6 August 2021), more widely known under the pseudonyms Les Vandyke and Johnny Worth, was an English popular music songwriter from the 1950s to the 1980s, who started his career as a singer. As "Les Vandyke", he wr ...

released a cover of the song as a single. * In 1962, South African singer

Sharon Tandy Sharon Tandy (born Sharon Finkelstein; 18 September 1943 – 21 March 2015) was a South African singer who achieved some success in the United Kingdom in the 1960s as part of the blue-eyed soul and psychedelic movements. In 1966, she recor ...

covered the song on her album ''Sharon Loves You Know Who?''. * In 1981, Dutch singer

Albert West Albertus Petrus Enricus Gerardus Westelaken (2 September 1949 – 4 June 2015), better known by his stage name Albert West, was a Dutch pop singer and record producer. He was the lead singer of The Shuffles from 1963 to 1973. He was born in ...

covered the song on his album ''A Part of Me''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Voice in the Wilderness 1960 singles 1960 songs Cliff Richard songs Columbia Graphophone Company singles Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor