1966 Songs: My Love

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There’s a video of the late, great Neil Sedaka on YouTube doing his song “Stairway to Heaven.” He prefaced the song by saying, “As you may know, or maybe you don’t know, song titles can’t be copyrighted…so Led Zeppelin, I forgive you.” I bring that up because there was another big hit with the same title as today’s song, but it came later (in the early 70s). Just so you’re not confused…here’s today’s 60-year-old song. My Love - Petula Clark No, this isn’t the Paul McCartney & Wings song (“my love does it good”). They might have the same title but you’d never confuse McCartney’s ballad for this one. This was an international top ten song in 1966, and what a joyous song it is!! Some factoids that’ll probably bore you to tears: this was written by Tony Hatch, who went on to do the theme song to one of my favorite syndicated British shows of the late 60s (which I didn’t see until the mid-70s), The Champions. (Stuart Damon and William Gaunt, hubba hubba. ) And Petula Clark is, as of this writing, still with us at the age of 92. She made the news in 2020 when a man detonated a bomb in his RV (“caravan” for other parts of the world) in downtown Nashville. Before the bomb went off there was a warning announcing that there would be a bomb, followed by the playing of Clark’s other massive hit, “Downtown.” After hearing about it, Clark issued a statement: “I feel the need to express my shock and disbelief at the Christmas Day explosion in our beloved Music City. I love Nashville and its people. A few hours later, I was told that the music in the background of that strange announcement — was me, singing ‘Downtown’!” (If you don’t remember the event, thankfully only the guy who devised the attack was killed, although there was considerable property damage.) Yeah, I don’t get it, either. It doesn’t diminish that song, this song, or the great discography of Petula Clark’s and its contribution to the soundtrack of the 1960s. My Love Written by Tony Hatch Recorded by Petula Clark From My Love, 1966 You are always on my mind no matter what I do: