To Sir with Love (song) explained

To Sir With Love
Cover:To_Sir_With_Love_-_Lulu.jpg
Caption:US vinyl release (Epic Records)
Type:single
Artist:Lulu
Album:To Sir, with Love
Released:September 1967
Genre:Pop[1]
Length:2:47
Label:Epic
Composer:Mark London
Lyricist:Don Black
Producer:Mickie Most
Prev Title:Shout
Prev Year:1964
Next Title:Shout
Next Year:1967

"To Sir with Love" is the theme from James Clavell's 1967 film To Sir, with Love. The song was performed by British singer and actress Lulu (who also starred in the film), and written by Don Black and Mark London (husband of Lulu's longtime manager Marion Massey). Mickie Most produced the record, with Mike Leander arranging and conducting. The song peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and became the best-selling single of 1967 in the United States.

Background

At the time, it made Lulu only the second British female artist to top the US charts during the listing's Rock era after Petula Clark's "Downtown" in 1965—and third in the overall history of the US charts after "Downtown" and Vera Lynn's "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" in 1952—and so far the first of two Scottish female solo artists to achieve the feat. Sheena Easton became the second when she topped the US charts with "Morning Train (9 to 5)" in May 1981.

For 44 years, Lulu and Easton were the only Scottish solo artists to have topped the Billboard Hot 100—a record that ended when Calvin Harris topped the chart alongside Rihanna on their collaboration "We Found Love" in November 2011.

Oscar nomination

The film's director, James Clavell and Lulu's manager Marion Massey were angered and disappointed when the title song was not included in the nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 40th Academy Awards in 1968. Clavell and Massey raised a formal objection to the exclusion, but to no avail.[2]

Chart performance

"To Sir With Love" was initially recorded by Lulu (with The Mindbenders, who also acted in the film). It was released as a single in the United States in 1967 and in October reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for five weeks. The single ranked No. 1 in Billboard's year-end chart. It became a gold record.[3]

Canada's RPM magazine put the song at No. 2 for the year 1967 although it did not appear on the weekly charts. Instead the A-side The Boat The I Row reached No. 1. Both sides were charted on the CHUM Charts reaching No. 1.[4] [5] [6] "To Sir with Love" did not chart in the UK, as it appeared only as a B-side to "Let's Pretend" (released in the UK on 23 June 1967), which reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1967–1968)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)18
Canada RPM Top Singles1
New Zealand12
UK Singles Chart (The Official Charts Company)11
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 1
U.S. Billboard Top Selling R&B Singles[8] 9
US Cash Box Top 100[9] 1

Year-end charts

Chart (1967)Rank
Canada2
US Billboard Hot 100[10] 1
US Cash Box Top 100[11] 5

All-time charts

Cover versions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Tom . Breihan . The Number Ones: Lulu's "To Sir With Love". . October 22, 2018 . And its theme song, from the 19-year-old Scottish singer Lulu, was a dominant pop smash.... June 14, 2023.
  2. Lulu: I Don't Want To Fight. Sphere Books (2 Dec. 2010) Paperback Edition.
  3. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955–1990 -
  4. Web site: Archived copy . 2016-10-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20160812082630/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.100151&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=dtlhqtcdftn9t40n27r4hds2h0 . 12 August 2016.
  5. Web site: RPM Top 100 Singles - October 2, 1967.
  6. Web site: CHUM Hit Parade - August 21, 1967.
  7. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 -
  8. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 366.
  9. Web site: Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1967. Tropicalglen.com. 14 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180930105232/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1967YESP.html. 30 September 2018. dead.
  10. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1967/Top 100 Songs of 1967. Musicoutfitters.com. 14 October 2018.
  11. Web site: Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1967. Tropicalglen.com. 14 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180930105232/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/60s_files/1967YESP.html. 30 September 2018. dead.
  12. Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart. Billboard. 10 December 2018.
  13. Adult Contemporary Music Chart . Billboard . 14 October 2018.
  14. Web site: Suzette With The The Lyn Taitt Orch.* / The Sensations – To Sir With Love / Born To Love You . Discogs . 22 January 2024.
  15. Web site: Kent Music Report No 548 – 31 December 1984 > National Top 100 Singles for 1984. Kent Music Report. Imgur.com. 23 January 2023.
  16. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6.
  17. Web site: New Zealand Singles Chart . Audioculture.co.nz . 13 September 2020.