"Peaceful" is a song written by

Kenny Rankin Kenneth Joseph Rankin (February 10, 1940 – June 7, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter in the folk rock and singer-songwriter genres; he was influenced by jazz. Rankin would often sing notes in a high range to express emotion. Biogr ...

, and recorded by several artists. It is best known as hit singles for

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

(1969) and Helen Reddy (1973). Introduced by Rankin on his 1967 debut album ''Mind Dusters'' on

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

, "Peaceful" was recorded by

Bobbie Gentry Bobbie Gentry (born Roberta Lee Streeter; July 27, 1942) is a retired American singer-songwriter, who was one of the first female artists in America to compose and produce her own material. Gentry rose to international fame in 1967 with her Sou ...

for her 1968 album '' Local Gentry'' on Capitol Records. A 1969 single recording by Georgie Fame, produced by Mike Smith and arranged/conducted by

Keith Mansfield Keith Mansfield (born 1941 in London, England) is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the '' Grandstand'' theme for the BBC. Career Other works include "The Young Scene" (the ...

for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, reached number 16 in UK that summer. Fame's version of "Peaceful" had a concurrent single release in the US by Epic Records, prompting Mercury to issue Rankin's original track as a single, but neither single charted. "Peaceful" was also recorded in 1969 by

The Friends of Distinction The Friends of Distinction were an American vocal group founded by Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, best known for their late 1960s hits, "Grazing in the Grass", "Love or Let Me Be Lonely", and " Going in Circles". Career The Friends of Distincti ...

for their ''Grazin album on

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. Rankin re-recorded the song in 1972, in a new arrangement for his album ''Like a Seed'', his Atlantic Records debut and first chart appearance. That same year Helen Reddy recorded "Peaceful" for her 1972 ''

I Am Woman "I Am Woman" is a song written by Australian musicians Helen Reddy and Ray Burton. Performed by Reddy, the first recording of "I Am Woman" appeared on her debut album ''I Don't Know How to Love Him'', released in May 1971, and was heard durin ...

'' album. Issued as the follow-up to the number 1 hit "

" in February 1973, Reddy's version of "Peaceful" peaked at number 12 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 that May. "Peaceful" also became Reddy's second consecutive number 2

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 ...

hit: the follow-up "Delta Dawn" would be Reddy's first Easy Listening #1 (the first of six consecutive and eight overall). In Canada, "Peaceful" spent two weeks at number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. In September 1996

Rhino A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

issued a retrospective Kenny Rankin album with "Peaceful" as the title cut, the full title being ''Peaceful: The Best of Kenny Rankin''.

Chart performance

Georgie Fame version Helen Reddy version

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* * * Song lyrics and chords
The Pittsburgh Press
July 10, 1973, p. 41 {{1960s-single-stub 1967 songs 1969 singles 1973 singles Helen Reddy songs Georgie Fame songs CBS Records singles Capitol Records singles