"Kiss Me Goodbye" is a
Les ReedLes Reed O.B.E. is an English songwriter, musician and light orchestra leader.-Career:...
/
Barry MasonJohn Barry Mason is an English songwriter, originally from the village of Coppull, near Chorley in Lancashire....
composition recorded in 1968 by
Petula ClarkPetula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
.
Background
After recording the Reed/Mason composition "
The Last Waltz"The Last Waltz" is a song written by Barry Mason and Les Reed. It was one of Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest hits, spending five weeks at number one on the British charts in September and October 1967...
" for her 1967 album
The Other Man's Grass Is Always GreenerThe Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener is the ninth album released by Petula Clark in the United States. 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, where it reached #37...
Clark had rendered that song as "La derniere valse" for release in
FranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
to serve as the follow-up to her #1 hit "
C'est Ma Chanson"This Is My Song" is a song written by Charlie Chaplin in 1966 and performed by Petula Clark.-Origin/ Petula Clark recording:"This is My Song" was intended for the film, A Countess from Hong Kong, which Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed...
." The success of "La derniere valse," which reached #2 in France in January 1968, encouraged Clark to record an original Reed/Mason composition: "Kiss Me Goodbye" in a session at Pye Studios in
Marble ArchMarble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...
produced by
Tony HatchAnthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...
although the arranging/conducting duties were assigned Les Reed who played piano; the track also featured
Big Jim SullivanBig Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...
on guitar. Hatch also produced the B-side: "I've Got Love Going For Me," a composition by Clark herself, with Hatch's assistant Johnny Harris as arranger/conductor.
Reception
Released in February 1968, "Kiss Me Goodbye" rose swiftly up the
Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
to enter the Top 20 at #16 on the chart dated 23 March 1968 representing a considerable comeback for Clark whose last two U.S. singles had been Top 20 shortfalls. However despite being showcased on Clark's 2 April 1968
Petula NBC-TV special, "Kiss Me Goodbye" would rise no higher than #15 — although the track was ranked as high as #12 in
Cash Box and #10 in
Record WorldRecord World magazine was one of the three main music industry trade publications in the United States, along with Billboard and Cash Box magazines. It was founded in 1946 under the name Music Vendor, but since 1964 changed it to Record World, under the ownership of Sid Parnes and Bob Austin, both...
) — and would mark Clark's final appearance in the Top 30 of the
Billboard Hot 100 where the follow-up "Don't Give Up" would peak at #37. ("Don't Give Up" would peak at respectively #27 and #23 in
Cash Box and
Record World: in all three trades it would be Clark's last Top 40 hit.)
In the UK, "Kiss Me Goodbye" just reached the Top 50 dated 9 March 1968, effectively punctuating Clark's British hitmaking career. The track charted in several European territories but despite its pronounced
continentalContinental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....
flavour "Kiss Me Goodbye" attained a Top 20 European chart placing only in
BelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. In
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, a version which retained the lyric "kiss me goodbye", but otherwise featured Italian lyrics written by Misselvia, was released as "Kiss Me, Goodbye" and assisted by the Clark's performance on Italian television provided the singer with her final Italian chart entry at #26. Clark similarly also recorded a German language version of the song which retained the "Kiss Me Goodbye" title with lyrics otherwise rendered by Hans Bradtke; this version reached #36 in Germany, Clark's final chart single there (except for the 1988 remix of "
Downtown"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...
"). Clark also recorded a rendering of "Kiss Me Goodbye" for the French market by lyricist
Pierre DelanoëPierre Delanoë , born Pierre Leroyer, was a French songwriter/lyricist who wrote for dozens of singers such as Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour, Petula Clark, and Johnny Hallyday....
: "Dis-moi au revoir", which failed to chart.
"Kiss Me Goodbye" reached #12 in Australia becoming Clark's last Top 20 hit of the 1960s there. The best chart showing for "Kiss Me Goodbye" was in Malaysia at #2.
"Kiss Me Goodbye" was included on the album
PetulaPetula is the ninth US Warner Bros. album release by Petula Clark issued as WS 1743 in September 1968.The two albums precedent to Petula: These Are My Songs and The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener had been primarily produced by Sonny Burke with Tony Hatch, the producer/songwriter who'd...
released September 1968.
Having remade "Kiss Me Goodbye" and several other hits for her 1986 Jango CD
Give It a Try, Clark cut the similarly styled
My Song Album for the Dutch
DinoDino Entertainment was a firm specializing in the compilation market of the late 1980s and early 1990s, releasing records such as the That Loving Feeling and Energy Rush range of CDs, in competition with Telstar Records, Stylus and K-Tel....
label in 1988 and that album's version of "Kiss Me Goodbye"
1 became a hit in the Netherlands reaching #13, the most recent appearance of Clark on a major singles chart.
- 1The track was fully titled "Kiss Me Goodbye 88" referencing the year it was re-recorded.
Chart performance
AUSTRALIAAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
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BELGIUMBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
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CANADACanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
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GERMANYGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
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ITALYItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
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MALAYSIA |
NETHERLANDSThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
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UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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USThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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| #12 |
 #2
 #18 |
#10 |
German
version:
#36 |
Italian version:
"Kiss Me,
Goodbye"
#26 |
#2 |
#26
"Kiss Me Goodbye
88"
#13 |
#50 |
#15
Easy ListeningThe Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...
:
#2 |
Other versions
In 1968,
Jim NaborsJames Thurston "Jim" Nabors is an American actor and singer. Born and raised in Sylacauga, Alabama, Nabors moved to Southern California because of his asthma. While working at a Santa Monica nightclub, The Horn, he was discovered by Andy Griffith and later joined The Andy Griffith Show, playing...
covered "Kiss Me Goodbye" for an album on which it served as title cut. That same year the song was featured on albums by
Ray ConniffJoseph Raymond Conniff was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.-Biography:...
(
Honey),
Michele LeeMichele Lee is an American singer, dancer, actress, producer, director and frequent game show panelist of the 1970s. She is best-known for her role as Karen Cooper Fairgate MacKenzie on the 1980s prime-time soap opera, Knots Landing...
(
L. David Sloane), and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap (
Young Girl).