Background to the song
This is such a lovely song! It was a hit for Petula Clark in 1966.
The arrangement we’re using is by Livia Harris, Head of Music at La Sainte Union School – thanks Livia. The first Camden performance of this arrangement was by the massed primary choirs at the Camden Music Royal Albert Festival back in 1968, shortly after Petula Clark’s hit recording.
Learning the song
This is a classic pop song; it’s worth spending a little while looking at the structure of the song and maybe comparing it to the structure of other songs of the time.
- intro
- verse 1
- chorus
- interlude
- verse 2
- chorus
- interlude
- middle 8 (actually middle 10 here)
- chorus
- outro
Learn the melody line first – there is a version of the music that is just the melody, or you can use the version with both vocal lines (the melody is the bottom line of the two each time) You can use this sheet to see if you can spot the difference between the melody and harmony lines.
The harmony starts at the end of the verse and then continues throughout the chorus – mostly on the note Bb! The words “Just take the” are omitted in the harmony line to let the singers draw breath after their held note. In the second verse the harmony very much follows the contour of the melody. See if your children can explain what is happening – by listening, by following the sheet music as they listen.
The chorus lends itself to some actions. Your children will definitely come up with some! If we end up doing this as a joined up thing, we’ll standardise actions across the borough. Watch for a video.
It might be worth learning the outro (from b103) fairly early on, so when you get there, it just sings itself.
This is a real ear-worm. Enjoy!