"Durham Town (The Leavin')" is a song, written and sung by

Roger Whittaker Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is a British singer-songwriter and musician, who was born in Nairobi to English parents. His music is an eclectic mix of folk music and popular songs in addition to radio airplay hits. He is bes ...

, released as a single in 1969. It spent 18 weeks 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 ...

, peaking at No. 12. In 1976, the song reached No. 8 on

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' "Pop Music Playlist", while reaching No. 23 on '' Billboard'''s

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart. Whittaker's original intent, to set the song in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, had been abandoned in favour of nearby

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

because Whittaker agreed with his producer that "Durham" simply sounded better. While focusing the song on Newcastle, Whittaker had set its second verse "on the banks of the river Tyne", and as Whittaker had little or no familiarity with his chosen locale for the song he retained the verse with its Tyneside setting for the song's finalized version set in Durham. In fact the Tyne flows eastwards through Newcastle but it is the

Wear Wear is the damaging, gradual removal or deformation of material at solid surfaces. Causes of wear can be mechanical (e.g., erosion) or chemical (e.g., corrosion). The study of wear and related processes is referred to as tribology. Wear in ...

, 20 miles to the south, which flows through Durham. Under its original title "The Leaver", the song first appeared on Whittaker's 1969 album release ''This is...Roger Whittaker,'' recorded with producer

Denis Preston Sidney Denis Preston (''né'' Prechner, 16 November 1916 – 21 October 1979) was a British record producer, recording studio owner, radio presenter and music critic. He was particularly influential in the British jazz and associated skiff ...

at Preston's studio in

Lansdowne House Lansdowne House now 9 Fitzmaurice Place is the remaining part of a building to the south of Berkeley Square in central London, England, not to be confused with 57 Berkeley Square – opposite – a much later quadrilateral building which take ...

. When the track - renamed "Durham Town (The Leavin')" - was issued as a single in October 1969, Whittaker would recall: "I just didn't have any faith in that song at all. Far from promoting the single in Britain, I went off to Finland for a cabaret season and television appearances." Whittaker returned to Britain in November to find "Durham Town..." ascending the UK Singles chart towards a No. 12 peak in January 1970: on the Irish Singles Chart "Durham Town..." was afforded a chart peak of No. 17.Song Title Search Results for "Durham Town"
''The Irish Charts''. Accessed July 30, 2016. In Australia the single - titled "The Leavin' (Durham Town)" - attracted enough regional success to chart nationally at No. 80. "Durham Town (The Leavin')" was included on the US release of Whittaker's 1970 album ''New World in the Morning'' whose title cut was coupled with "Durham Town..." to form Whittaker's first US single. Whittaker recorded a French rendering of "Durham Town..." entitled "Mon Pays Bleu (Durham Town)" which was issued in France and also in Canada. The wake of the success Whittaker enjoyed with "

The Last Farewell "The Last Farewell" is a song from 1971 by British folk singer Roger Whittaker. Whittaker hosted a radio programme in The United Kingdom in 1971, backed by an orchestra with arrangements by Zack Lawrence. Whittaker says "one of the ideas I had wa ...

" in the summer of 1975 caused the re-release of "Durham Town..." in the US and Canada, where the track became an

hit. "Durham Town..." was also included on the 1975 Whittaker album ''The Last Farewell & Other Hits''. The song has also been recorded by Anne and Laura Brand (album ''The Pride O' The North''/ 1970),

Val Doonican Michael Valentine Doonican (3 February 1927 – 1 July 2015) was an Irish singer of traditional pop, easy listening, and novelty songs, who was noted for his warm and relaxed style. A crooner, he found popular success, especially in the ...

(as "Leaving (Durham Town)"/album ''Just A Sittin' And A Rockin'/'' 1971), and Finnish singer Robin as "Jäähyväiset" (1970).

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 1969 songs 1969 singles Roger Whittaker songs Columbia Records singles Songs about England