''The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener'' is the ninth

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by Petula Clark in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It entered the ''Billboard'' 200 on February 17, 1968 and remained on the charts for 23 weeks, peaking at #93. It fared better in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, where it reached #37. After collaborating with producer/songwriter

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

on nine US

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

hits, Petula Clark had begun to work independently of Hatch in 1966 collaborating with Sonny Burke on " This is My Song" which would become Clark's most successful global hit in the spring of 1967: Burke also oversaw the resultant ''

These Are My Songs ''These Are My Songs'' is a 1967 album released by Petula Clark. In a break with longtime collaborator Tony Hatch, Clark joined forces with producer Sonny Burke and arranger/conductor Ernie Freeman for this release. The album includes two songs ...

'' album although that album did feature one Clark/Hatch collaboration: "

Don't Sleep in the Subway "Don't Sleep in the Subway" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by British singer Petula Clark, for whom it was an April 1967 single release. It received a 1968 Grammy award nomination for best contemporary song, losi ...

" which would provide Clark with a further Top Ten hit. Clark's next single: " The Cat in the Window (The Bird in the Sky)" was produced by

Charles Koppelman Charles Koppelman (March 30, 1940 – November 25, 2022) was an American musician, music producer, and businessman. He held executive positions at EMI and Steve Madden, and he was Chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. At the time of his d ...

and Don Rubin, and was released in August 1967 as the first advance single for what would become Clark's ''The Other Man's Grass is Always Greener'' album, although as "The Cat in the Window..." shaped up to become Clark's first US Top Twenty shortfall since she'd reached #1 with "

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

" in 1965 plans for Clark to record an entire album with Koppelman/Rubin were scrapped and in September 1967 Clark reunited with the producer Sonny Burke, and also "This is My Song" arranger Ernie Freeman, to record the nucleus of her next album release at Western Studios (Los Angeles) with the Wrecking Crew session players. The tracks which Sonny Burke had Clark record included his own composition: " Black Coffee", which had helmed the iconic 1953 debut album by

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalis ...

: '' Black Coffee'', which Petula Clark would eventually describe as "my Bible. I knew every note eggy Leesang, every note of the orchestrations." Clark would add that she herself "really shouldn't have touched" the song "Black Coffee". Burke also had Clark record " Smile", the signature composition by

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

, writer of "This is My Song" - ; the current Engelbert Humperdinck hit "

The Last Waltz ''The Last Waltz'' was a concert by the Canadian-American rock group The Band, held on American Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. ''The Last Waltz'' was advertised as The Band's "farewell concert a ...

"; the 1953

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American Singing, singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to hi ...

hit "

Answer Me, My Love "Answer Me" is a popular song, originally titled "Mütterlein", with German lyrics by Gerhard Winkler and Fred Rauch. "Mütterlein" was published on 19 April 1952. English lyrics were written by Carl Sigman, and the song was published as "Answer ...

"; and the

Lerner & Loewe Lerner and Loewe refers to the partnership between lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe.Kenny, Ellen, and James M. Salem. “A Guide to Critical Reviews, Part II: The Musical from Rodgers-and-Hart to Lerner-and-L ...

showtune " I Could Have Danced All Night". Burke also produced the only French language track to be included on a non-

Francophone French became an international language in the Middle Ages, when the power of the Kingdom of France made it the second international language, alongside Latin. This status continued to grow into the 18th century, by which time French was the l ...

album by Petula Clark: "L'île de France", which Clark herself wrote with lyricist Pierre Delanoë. With Burke's output seemingly too

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 ...

focused to yield the comeback single Clark required it was felt expedient to reunite the singer with Tony Hatch to produce a second advance single " The Other Man's Grass is Always Greener", as song written by Hatch with Jackie Trent which would eventually serve as the title cut for Clark's January 1968 album release. "The Other Man's Grass is Greener" would in fact become Clark's second consecutive US Top 30 shortfall peaking at #31 on the

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in ''

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 ...

'' for the last week of December 1967 and the first week of January 1968. The single fared better in the UK - where its title was formatted as "The Other Man's Grass (is Always Greener)" - spending six weeks in the Top 30 with a #20 peak on the UK chart dated January 16, 1968.

Track listing

;Side one #" Smile" (

, John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons) #" Black Coffee" ( Sonny Burke,

Paul Francis Webster Paul Francis Webster (December 20, 1907 – March 18, 1984) was an American lyricist who won three Academy Awards for Best Original Song, and was nominated sixteen times for the award. Life and career Webster was born in New York City, United St ...

) #"

" ( Les Reed,

Barry Mason John Barry Mason (12 July 1935 – 16 April 2021) was an English singer and songwriter. A leading songwriter of the 1960s, he wrote the bulk of his most successful songs in partnership with Les Reed. Mason gained many gold and platinum awar ...

) #"

" (

Fred Rauch Fred Rauch (Vienna, 28 September 1909 – Gmund am Tegernsee, 1 June 1997) was an Austrian singer and songwriter. He wrote the original German lyrics "Schütt die Sorgen in ein Gläschen Wein, Mütterlein" with Gerhard Winkler, which became ''An ...

, Gerhard Winkler,

Carl Sigman Carl Sigman (September 24, 1909 – September 26, 2000) was an American songwriter. Early life Born in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York to a Jewish-American family, Sigman graduated from law school and passed his bar exams to practice in ...

) #" The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" (

, Jackie Trent) (Produced by Tony Hatch) #"Today, Tomorrow" ( Norman Gimbel, Caetano Veloso) ;Side two #" I Could Have Danced All Night" (from '' My Fair Lady'') (

Frederick Loewe Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988) was an Austrian-United States, American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including ''Br ...

Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre bot ...

) #"At the Crossroads" (from '' Doctor Dolittle'') ( Leslie Bricusse) #"L'ile de France" (Petula Clark, Pierre Delanoë) #" The Cat in the Window (The Bird in the Sky)" (Garry Bonner, Alan Gordon) (Produced by

and Don Rubin; arranged by

Jack Nitzsche Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche ( '; April 22, 1937 – August 25, 2000) was an American musician, arranger, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spec ...

) #"For Love" ( Al Grant) #"Ballad of a Sad Young Man" ( Francis Landesman, Tommy Wolf)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener 1968 albums Petula Clark albums Albums arranged by Jack Nitzsche Albums produced by Sonny Burke Albums produced by Charles Koppelman Albums produced by Tony Hatch Pye Records albums Warner Records albums