"Saviour's Day" is a song by

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million ...

. It was the United Kingdom

Christmas number one single In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the vol ...

in 1990, the second occasion Richard had a solo Christmas number one (the first being " Mistletoe and Wine"). The video for the song was filmed in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

Composition

"Saviour's Day" was written by Chris Eaton and produced by Cliff Richard and Paul Moessl. Eaton wrote the song in October 1989, and took his original version of the song with him to a Christmas party to show to Richard. Eaton had been warned that all of Richard's songs for the following year were already booked in and there wouldn't be any space for it. However, Eaton insisted that Richard listen to the tape he brought along, and so they left the party and listened to it in Richard's

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. Richard immediately liked the song and predicted that it could be a number one record.

Music video

The music video for "Saviour's Day" was filmed in

, in the town of

Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civi ...

and at

Durdle Door Durdle Door (sometimes written Durdle Dor) is a natural limestone arch on the Jurassic Coast near Lulworth in Dorset, England.West, I.W., 2003.Durdle Door; Geology of the Dorset Coast. Southampton University, UK. Version H.07.09.03. It is priva ...

. The video was shot in September 1990. Richard and the extras in the video were asked to wear winter clothes for the Christmas song, but the day's filming took place on a warm September day with blue sky and sunshine. The video featured Richard and the extras singing together on top of the

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vau ...

of Durdle Door.

Release and reception

In the UK, "Saviour's Day" entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 8 December 1990 at number six. It went to number three the following week, and up a further spot in the week before Christmas. The song went to number one on 29 December 1990, becoming that year's

Christmas number one In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the volume ...

and replacing the previous week's UK number one, "

Ice Ice Baby "Ice Ice Baby" is a hip hop song by American rapper Vanilla Ice, K. Kennedy and DJ Earthquake. It was based on the bassline of the song "Under Pressure" by British rock band Queen and British singer David Bowie, who did not receive songwritin ...

" by

Vanilla Ice Robert Matthew Van Winkle (born October 31, 1967), known professionally as Vanilla Ice, is an American rapper, actor, and television host. Born in South Dallas, and raised in Texas and South Florida, Ice released his debut album, ''Hooked'', ...

. A week later "Saviour's Day" dropped back down to number three, and spent only one more week in the top 40 at number twenty. The final charted spot in the top 100 was on 19 January 1991, when "Saviour's Day" was at number 53. The song was Richard's second solo Christmas number one in the UK, after " Mistletoe and Wine" in 1988. In 2017, ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history".

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day
on

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{{UK Christmas No. 1s in the 1990s, song 1990 singles Cliff Richard songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles British Christmas songs Songs written by Chris Eaton (UK musician) 1990 songs Christmas number-one singles in the United Kingdom