"Soul Coaxing" or , written in 1967 by French singer/songwriter

Michel Polnareff Michel Polnareff (born 3 July 1944, Nérac, Lot-et-Garonne, France) is a French singer-songwriter, who was popular in France from the mid-1960s until the early 1990s with his penultimate original album, ''Kāma-Sūtra''. He is still criticall ...

, provided Raymond Lefèvre and His Orchestra with a 1968 instrumental hit.

Chart performance

Released in the States in January 1968, "Soul Coaxing" peaked at No. 4 on the

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 and at No. 37 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, in April, near the end of its 12-week run - though it reached the Top Ten in Boston, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Columbus and other markets. "Soul Coaxing" debuted on ''Billboard''s Hot 100 during the five-week run at No. 1 of the instrumental smash hit " Love Is Blue (L'Amour Est Bleu)" by Paul Mauriat and His Orchestra. As with Lefèvre, Mauriat was a well-known orchestral leader in his native France. In Britain the single was issued on the Major Minor label and in May 1968 stalled at No. 46 in the singles chart, though it served as a theme tune for certain radio stations including Chiltern Radio Supergold,

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly ...

and

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Other recordings

*Polnareff released his original vocal version ("Âme câline") across Europe in 1967. *In 1968, American singer

Peggy March Peggy March (born Margaret Annemarie Battavio, March 8, 1948) is an American pop singer. In the United States, she is primarily known for her 1963 million-selling song "I Will Follow Him". Although she is sometimes remembered as a one-hit wond ...

(formerly Little Peggy March) released an English-language version titled "If You Loved Me", but it failed to chart. *Other instrumental versions were recorded by

Norrie Paramor Norman William Paramor (15 May 1914 – 9 September 1979), known professionally as Norrie Paramor, was a British record producer, composer, arranger, pianist, bandleader, and orchestral conductor. He is best known for his work with Cliff R ...

Franck Pourcel Franck Pourcel (14 August 1913 – 12 November 2000) was a French composer, arranger, and conductor of popular and classical music. Biography Early life Born in Marseille, France, Pourcel started learning the violin at the age of six. Later, ...

and

Sounds Orchestral Sounds Orchestral was a British studio-based easy listening group, assembled by John Schroeder with Johnny Pearson in 1964. Career John Schroeder had worked with Johnny Pearson previously over at Oriole Records, producing Johnny Pearson's fi ...

. *In 1977, pioneering disco-era British-Indian musician and producer Biddu Appaiah (recording as the Biddu Orchestra) released a disco version of "Soul Coaxing".

Use in other media

* BBC Radio 2 occasionally broadcasts Lefèvre's 1968 recording, particularly on its Saturday morning show ''

Sounds of the 60s ''Sounds of the 60s'' is a long-running Saturday morning programme on BBC Radio 2 that features recordings of popular music made in the 1960s. It was first broadcast on 12 February 1983 and introduced by Keith Fordyce, who had been the firs ...

''. *It is used as the hourly continuity signal on the online station

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References

{{Authority control 1968 singles 1967 songs Major Minor Records singles Songs written by Michel Polnareff 1960s instrumentals