HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

"Don't Sleep in the Subway" is a song written by
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 mu ...
and Jackie Trent and recorded by the British singer
Petula Clark Sally "Petula" Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child actor, child performer and has had the longest career of any British entertainer, spanning more than 85 y ...
, who released it as a single in April 1967. It received a 1968
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
nomination for best contemporary song, losing to " Up, Up and Away" by
The 5th Dimension The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular music ...
.


Background

The song was constructed from three different sections of music previously composed by Hatch; it changes in musical style from pop to symphonic and then, for the chorus, to a
Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...
-like melody. In the lyrics the narrator advises her sweetheart against storming out after an argument due to his "foolish pride". If he does, he will "sleep in the subway" or "stand in the pouring rain" merely to prove his point. Although in
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
there has long existed the Glasgow Subway metro line, in England the term "subway" refers to a pedestrian underpass rather than to an underground transit system. Hatch employed the term in the North American sense. According to the song's co-writer Jackie Trent the title lyric was suggested by the 1961–62 Broadway
musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...
'' Subways Are for Sleeping''.''Daeida'' April 2010 p.2 'Don't Sleep in the Subway' peaked at No.5 on the US charts in July 1967, becoming Clark's final US Top Ten single and was also, for three consecutive weeks, the second of her two No.1 hits 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 advertis ...
''
Easy Listening chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary music, adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on ...
, following the 1966 release of ' I Couldn't Live Without Your Love'. In the UK where her previous single ' This Is My Song' had given Clark her best chart showing with two weeks at No.1, 'Don't Sleep in the Subway' had a July 1967 chart peak of No.12, a decline in Clark's UK chart profile which would continue until Clark made her last UK Top 40 appearance 'Song of My Life', which peaked at No.32 in March 1971. (Clark would subsequently peak at No.47 UK with ' I Don't Know How to Love Him' in 1972 and in 1988 a
remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...
of her 1964 recording '
Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in American and Canadian English 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 district ( ...
' would peak at No.10 UK.) 'Don't Sleep in the Subway' reached No.3 in
Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
, No.5 in Canada, No.7 in New Zealand, No.10 in South Africa and No.16 in Germany. In Australia, it was at No.1 on the charts dated 16 and 23 September 1967, marking Clark's final appearance at No.1 on an official national chart. Cited by Clark—with " I Couldn't Live Without Your Love"—as her favourite of her hits, "Don't Sleep in the Subway" has also been recorded by Betty Chung, Rita Hovink, Marilyn Maye,
Matt Monro Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons; 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMus ...
,
Patti Page Clara Ann Fowler (November 8, 1927 – January 1, 2013), better known by her stage name Patti Page, was an American singer. Primarily known for Pop music, pop and Country music, country music, she was the top-charting female vocalist and b ...
,
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
, Caterina Valente, and
Mari Wilson Mari Macmillan Ramsay Wilson (born 29 September 1954, Neasden, London) is a British pop and jazz singer. She is best known for her 1982 UK top-10 hit single " Just What I Always Wanted". She had a further UK top-40 hit in 1983 with a cover of ...
. A Spanish rendering, "No duermas en el metro", was recorded by both Gelu ( es) and Los Stop ( es).
Siw Malmkvist Siw Gunnel Margareta Malmkvist (born 31 December 1936) is a Swedish schlager singer and actress popular in Scandinavia and West Germany (today's Germany). She represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 and West Germany in the Eurovi ...
recorded the Swedish rendering "Sov inte på tunnelbanan" (Swedish lyrics by Peter Himmelstrand) in 1970. The song's title was used as part of a candidate's name in " Election Night Special", a sketch on ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal humour, surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, w ...
'': another of that series' episodes featured
Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
(
Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...
) lip-synching to Clark's record on the show-within-a-show ''Historical Impersonations''. It also makes a brief appearance in the ''
Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons consisting of 151 episodes. The ...
'' episode "Emancipation"—Lois blasts the song on her car stereo to avoid confronting Francis about his legal emancipation. The song was performed by Rachel Berry (
Lea Michele Lea Michele Sarfati ( ; born August 29, 1986) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She began her career as a child actress on Broadway, appearing in productions of ''Les Misérables'' (1995–1996), ''Ragtime'' (1997–1999), ''Fid ...
) and Artie Abrams ( Kevin McHale) in the 2014 ''
Glee Glee may refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 3000 album) * ''Glee'' (Logan Lynn album) * Gle ...
'' episode " New New York".


Charts


See also

* List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1967 (U.S.)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Don't Sleep in the Subway Petula Clark songs Caterina Valente songs 1967 singles Songs written by Tony Hatch Number-one singles in Australia Songs written by Jackie Trent Song recordings produced by Tony Hatch 1967 songs Pye Records singles Warner Records singles Disques Vogue singles