Sailor is a song written by Werner Scharfenberger & Fini Busch which as sung in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
by
LolitaDitta Zusa Einzinger is an Austrian pop singer who records under the stage name Lolita.-Biography:...
was a hit in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and in the US in 1960. With English lyrics written by
Norman NewellNorman Newell, OBE was born in Plaistow, Essex , and was a successful British record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as co-writer of many notable songs...
(credited as "David West") the song provided a comeback vehicle for two veteran
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
vocalists:
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...
and Anne Shelton whose respective versions of "Sailor" were both musical milestones for each singer marking Clark's first #1 on the
UK Singles chartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
and Shelton's final chart appearance.
The Lolita version - originally entitled "Seemann (Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer)" - entered the German Top 20 in March of 1960; peaking at #2 in June Lolita's single was in the Top 20 for ten months and was the fourth biggest German hit of the year.
Sailor is a song written by Werner Scharfenberger & Fini Busch which as sung in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
by
LolitaDitta Zusa Einzinger is an Austrian pop singer who records under the stage name Lolita.-Biography:...
was a hit in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and in the US in 1960. With English lyrics written by
Norman NewellNorman Newell, OBE was born in Plaistow, Essex , and was a successful British record producer in the 1950s and 1960s, as well as co-writer of many notable songs...
(credited as "David West") the song provided a comeback vehicle for two veteran
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
vocalists:
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...
and Anne Shelton whose respective versions of "Sailor" were both musical milestones for each singer marking Clark's first #1 on the
UK Singles chartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record industry. The full chart contains the top 200 singles based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 of this list...
and Shelton's final chart appearance.
Lolita version
The Lolita version - originally entitled "Seemann (Deine Heimat Ist Das Meer)" - entered the German Top 20 in March of 1960; peaking at #2 in June Lolita's single was in the Top 20 for ten months and was the fourth biggest German hit of the year. In December of 1960 the single's B-side "La Luna" also became a chart hit reaching #30.
There was immense US media interest in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
in 1960 due to the political situation in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
and also
Elvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as Elvis and is also sometimes referred to as The King of Rock 'n' Roll or The King....
's being stationed on a West German airbase: this likely factored into
Kapp RecordsKapp Records was a record label started in 1954 by David Kapp, brother of Jack Kapp . Kapp licensed its records to London Records for release in the UK....
' decision to release Lolita's German hit in the US. Re-entitled "Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)" the US single - which augmented Lolita's original German vocal with a spoken word translation by an unidentified apparently American female - reached #5 on
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...
in December of 1960.
Caterina ValenteCaterina Valente is a singer, dancer, and actress. She was born into an Italian artist family; her father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player, her mother, Maria Valente, a musical clown...
covered Lolita's hit for the
DutchDutch is a West Germanic language spoken by over 22 million people as a native language, and over 5 million people as a second language.
"1% of the EU population claims to speak Dutch well enough in order to have a conversation." Outside the European Union the number of second language...
market: in the autumn of 1960 her version - entitled "Zeeman" - charted in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
and reached #10 on the charts for the Dutch speaking sector of
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
. Even so the Lolita original entered the Dutch charts in the Netherlands and Belgium - its latter chart peak was #12 - in April of 1961 competing with Petula Clark's English rendition "Sailor" also became a hit for Lolita in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Estimate for global sales is two million.
Petula Clark version - "Sailor"
Petula Clark's recording of "Sailor" reached #1 on the UK singles chart dated for the week of February 23, 1961.
Prior to "Sailor" Clark's last hit had been "Baby Lover" which had reached #12 in March of 1958: her next ten UK single releases had all failed to chart.
Alan A. FreemanAlan A. Freeman is an English record producer, most known for being Petula Clark's producer from 1949 until 1963, when his role was taken over by Tony Hatch...
suggested Clark record "Sailor" which besides becoming Clark's first UK #1 became the third version of "Sailor" to become a hit in the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
(#13) and also reached #12 on the chart for the Dutch speaking sector of
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
. In 1962 "Sailor" became Clark's first chart hit in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
where it reached #2.
Although "Downtown" was to become Clark's signature song it did not match the UK chart success of "Sailor" as "Downtown"'s UK chart peak would be #2. The second Petula Clark single to reach #1 UK would be "
This is My Song-Origin/ Petula Clark recording:"This is My Song" was intended for the film, A Countess from Hong Kong, which Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed. Chaplin saw his film as a throwback to the shipboard romances which were popular in the 1930s and wrote "This Is My Song" with the intent of evoking that...
" in 1967.
Both of Clark's UK #1 hits would compete with rival versions: "Sailor" would be a #10 hit for Anne Shelton while
Harry SecombeSir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a noted fine tenor singing voice and a talent for comedy. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in The Goon Show , a BBC radio comedy series...
's version of "This is My Song" would rise as high as #2.
(The relevant recordings by both Shelton and Secombe have
Wally StottAngela Morley was an English composer and conductor.-Life:Morley was born in Leeds, Yorkshire on 10 March 1924...
perform arranging and conducting duties.)
Petula Clark version - "Marin"
Although absent from the UK charts through the late 1950's and the year 1960, Clark did during the same period enjoy a string of hit singles in
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and "Sailor" - recorded in French as "Marin" - was to reach #2 on the French charts in May of 1961. Clark's eighth French chart hit, "Marin" matched her previous #2 chart peak of "Java Pour Petula" in 1959: the follow-up to "Marin": "
RoméoRomeo was a 1961 hit single for Petula Clark peaking at #3 on the UK chart dated 26 August.The song was a 1921 composition by Robert Stolz for which Jimmy Kennedy wrote a new lyric...
" would be the first of Clark's five French #1's.
"Marin" reached #10 on the charts for the French speaking sector of Belgium and the single also entered the
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
charts (as "Sailor") in January of 1961 peaking at #13 marking Clark's first appearance on an accredited North American chart almost four years before her breakout hit "
Downtown"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch following a first-time visit to New York City.-History:Hatch had originally intended to present "Downtown" to The Drifters, but when British singer Petula Clark heard the incomplete tune, she proposed that if he could write lyrics to match the quality...
".
Anne Shelton version
Another veteran British vocalist: Anne Shelton, also utilized "Sailor" as a comeback vehicle. Shelton had spent four weeks at #1 UK with "
Lay Down Your Arms"Lay Down Your Arms" is a 1956 popular song with music by Ake Gerhard and Leon Landgren and lyrics by Gerhard and Paddy Roberts ....
" in 1956 but had since only had one further chart record: " The Village Of St. Bernadette" #27 in 1959, when her version of "Sailor reached #10 in January of 1961. Although she'd been recording since 1943 "Sailor" was only her fifth UK chart appearance as her most intense period of popularity had pre-dated regulated chart formatting in the UK (which began in 1952).
Shelton's strongest association was as an entertainer of the forces in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
: while this made "Sailor" a good thematic choice for her this association also probably made her seem more outdated than Clark (who was in fact only four years junior) and although Shelton's version of "Sailor" and Clark's both debuted on the UK Top 50 for 28 January 1961 there was immediate preference apparent for Clark's version at #18 over Shelton's at #27. The 4 February chart had Clark rise to #4 for the first of six weeks in the Top Five three of them at #2 and one at #1, while Shelton's version in its second week rose to #19 and in its third week to #10 which proved to be its peak as it subsequently descended the charts over the next five weeks for a total eight week chart span: Clark's version had almost double the chart span at fifteen weeks. After "Sailor" Shelton had eleven subsequent single releases, the last in 1965.
- Veteran Swedish singer Thory Bernhards had the hit version of "Sailor" in her native Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
: entitled "Sjöman" the lyrics were written by Åke Gerhard the co-composer of "Ann-Caroline" the original version of "Lay Down Your Arms". Bernhards, who had made the first recording of "Ann-Caroline", recorded "Sjöman" on 12 October 1960 - her fortieth birthday.