"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by
Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show'', featured on a number of hit comic songs ...
and
Sophia Loren
Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress. She was named by the American Film Institute as one of the greatest female stars of Classical Hollywood ci ...
. Released by
Parlophone
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 192 ...
, it was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love.
Conception and composition
The song was conceived and instigated by
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...
, who was the producer at that time of Peter Sellers's comedy recordings. Martin commissioned
Dave Lee and
Herbert Kretzmer
Herbert Kretzmer (5 October 192514 October 2020) was a South African-born English journalist and lyricist. He was best known as the lyricist for the English-language musical adaptation of ''Les Misérables'' and for his long-time collaboration ...
to write the song. Martin himself produced the recording. Martin envisaged the song as a recording to be incorporated in the soundtrack of the film ''
The Millionairess
''The Millionairess'' is a 1960 British romantic comedy film directed by Anthony Asquith, and starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers. Set in London, it is a loose adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's 1936 play of the same name.
Plot
By the t ...
'' which was being filmed at that time starring Sellers and Loren. However, the film's producers did not share his enthusiasm for including the song in the film's soundtrack and did not utilize it. The studio was however happy to see the song released as a stand-alone single to promote the film. In becoming a
chart hit
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...
it succeeded in publicizing the film.
Release history
Though the song did not feature in ''The Millionairess'' itself, some of the lyrics in the song refer to the film; for example, "There's nothing the matter with it; put it away please" referring to the scene when Epifania shows Dr. Kabir her tongue, pretending to be ill.
The song proved so popular in the United Kingdom that a follow-up song, "Bangers and Mash", was released. Sellers sang and spoke the part of a
Cockney
Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...
asking for plain and simple English cooking, Loren singing the part of his Italian wife wanting to serve him traditional Italian food. Both are featured on collections of Sellers' comedy recordings.
Since early 2010, videos have been created and posted using the scene of Sellers and Loren from the film, with the audio recording of the song as the soundtrack.
In popular culture
In 1979, heart transplant pioneer,
Christiaan Barnard
Christiaan Neethling Barnard (8 November 1922 – 2 September 2001) was a South African cardiac surgeon who performed the world's first human-to-human heart transplant operation. On 3 December 1967, Barnard transplanted the heart of accident-v ...
and Australian actress,
Chantal Contouri
Chantal Contouri (born 1950; sometimes credited as Chantal Cantouri, el, Σαντάλ Κοντούρη) is a Greek Australian television and film actress and former dancer, best known for her role in the 1970s soap opera ''Number 96'', as nurs ...
, performed the song together as part of Channel 7 Perth's annual
Telethon
A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or even days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other purportedly worthy cause.
Most telethons f ...
.
In the 1990s, the song provided the inspiration for the title and theme tune of the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
, starring British-based Indian characters.
In February 2013, the song was covered by
for a one off telethon ''From the Heart''.