"My Boy" is a popular song from the early 1970s. The music was composed by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre and

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 ...

, and the lyrics were translated from the original version "Parce que je t'aime, mon enfant" (Because I Love You My Child) into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Phil Coulter Philip Coulter (born 19 February 1942) is an Irish musician, songwriter and record producer from Derry, Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Gold Badge from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors in October 2009. Coulter has ...

and Bill Martin.

Song meaning

sentimental ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

, the song is sung in a first-person narrative from the point of view of a father to his young son under the presumption that the child is asleep and cannot hear what his father is trying to tell him. The father tells his son of the truth of the strained relationship between the child's parents, and that all the father has left is the love of his son. Rather than risk losing that through a painful divorce, the father makes the decision to stay in a loveless marriage for the sake of his child.

Richard Harris version

Actor

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in ''This Sporting ...

performed the song "My Boy" at a music contest sponsored by

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

in 1971. Despite not winning the contest, Harris recorded the song and released it as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

later that year. Appearing on Harris' album of the same name, the song reached #41 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

pop chart 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 ...

and peaked at #13 on the ''Billboard''

adult contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

Elvis Presley version

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

recorded a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of "My Boy" in late 1973 that was included on his 1974 album ''

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first African ...

''. Presley's version of the song reached #20 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart and #17 on ''Cash Box''. In the UK, where Presley's career had had something of a resurgence in the previous few years, it made the top 10 peaking at number 5 in the first week of January 1975. It was a bigger adult contemporary hit, spending one week atop the U.S. and Canadian charts in April 1975. "My Boy also peaked at #14 on the ''Billboard''

country chart Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

Charts

Richard Harris version

Elvis Presley version

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{authority control 1971 singles 1974 singles 1975 singles Richard Harris songs Elvis Presley songs Songs written by Bill Martin (songwriter) Songs written by Phil Coulter Songs with music by Claude François Songs written by Jean-Pierre Bourtayre 1971 songs Pop ballads RCA Records singles Songs about fathers Songs about children

Song meaning

Richard Harris version

Elvis Presley version

Charts

Richard Harris version

Elvis Presley version

Year-end charts

See also

References

External links