"Carrie Anne" is a song written by Allan Clarke,

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...

, and

Tony Hicks Anthony Christopher Hicks (born 16 December 1945) is an English guitarist and singer who has been a member of the British rock/pop band the Hollies since 1963, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His main rol ...

and released by British

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

group

The Hollies The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...

. The song was recorded on 1 May 1967 and was released as a single in the same month by

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 19 ...

in the United Kingdom and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in the United States. It became a hit in 1967, reaching #3 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 ...

. It was also a hit in the US and Canada, peaking at #9 on both pop charts. It also reached No. 4 in the Irish charts.

Conception and recording

According to Allan Clarke the song was written during a concert the group did with Tom Jones and the song was written mainly by Graham Nash and Tony Hicks with Allan Clarke supplying the lyrics for the

middle eight The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

. The introduction features vocal harmonies strongly influenced by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

. The song features a

steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan, steel drum, and sometimes, collectively with other musicians, as a steelband or steel orchestra) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. Descriptio ...

solo, likely the first use of the instrument on a pop record. The solo (mostly a harmonized restatement of the vocal melody) was probably played by Trinidadian Ralph Richardson, though others argue it may have been Mario Gibbins. The song was recorded in only two takes on 1 May 1967 at EMI's

Abbey Road 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 c ...

. The first take was a false start and can be heard on the compilation ''The Hollies at Abbey Road: 1966 to 1970''. ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' called it "a gently driving, pulsating, soft-rock venture that is likely to stir up a lot of activity with the teens." The song is a shy tribute to

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

, as was Gene Clarke's "My Marie". The song appeared on the soundtrack of Michael Apted's

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

movie '' Stardust''. It was also used in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

'', episode “Down Neck” (Season 1, Episode 7), during one of Tony’s flashbacks.

Charts

Cover versions

*The Slovak-language rendering "Je môj sen" was recorded in 1968 b
Tatjana Hubinská
*American singer-songwriter Tommy Keene recorded a version that was included on his 2004 rarities compilation, ''Drowning—A Tommy Keene Miscellany''. It was also included on the 1995 Eggbert Records release '' Sing Hollies in Reverse'' * Ali Campbell covered the song on his 2010 album 'Great British Songs'. It was released as a UK single on 8 November 2010 *The B-side "Signs That Will Never Change" was recorded first by

the Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly (February 1, 1937 – August 21, 2021) and Phillip "Phil" Everly (January 19, 1939 ...

, released in 1966 on the ''

Two Yanks in England 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many culture ...

'' album. *

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( , ; née Edwards; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her the best-selling female artist in country music history and one of the best-s ...

performed this song as a cover in her

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

show, Shania: Still the One, running from December 2012 to December 2014. *

Game Theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions among rational agents. Myerson, Roger B. (1991). ''Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict,'' Harvard University Press, p.&nbs1 Chapter-preview links, ppvii–xi It has appli ...

recorded a live version of the song that was included on the 2016 reissue of their album Lolita Nation. *

Claude François Claude Antoine Marie François (; 1 February 1939 – 11 March 1978), also known by the nickname Cloclo, was a French pop singer, composer, songwriter, record producer, drummer and dancer. François co-wrote the lyrics of "Comme d'habitude" (c ...

covered the song in November 1967 under the French title "L'Homme au traineau"

In popular culture

Actress

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

reportedly was named (by her mother) in honour of the song, which was released three months before her birth.

References

External links

Lyrics
{{authority control 1967 singles The Hollies songs Parlophone singles Songs written by Graham Nash Songs written by Allan Clarke (singer) Songs written by Tony Hicks 1967 songs Epic Records singles