Tuesday 10 March 2020

UK Number 40s: Jimmy Radcliffe - Long After Tonight Is All Over (1965)


No music act by this point in time had 2 singles peak at 40, and Jimmy Radcliffe isn't going to be the first either with this being his only UK Top 40 hit.

We do however have the first songwriter to achieve two Number 40's. That songwriter is Burt Bacharach. This may come as a surprise given he is one of the best known songwriters ever, but then if you write as many songs as he did, there's bound to be a few that didn't chart so well. Whilst his first Number 40 (Keep Away From Other Girls) was co-written by Bob Hilliard, this one was co-written by his more familiar writing partner Hal David.

Jimmy Radcliffe was also a songwriter himself and wrote for many well known names which you can find on his Wikipedia but none of them were big hits. He also recorded the song "My Ship Is Coming In" the same year, but never charted with it. Instead the Walker Brothers charted with their version at the end of the year eventually peaking at 3.

Being an obscure Number 40 record though no doubt helped give this song a new lease of life in the 70s as part of the Northern Soul scene. It was one of the '3 before 8' songs at Wigan Casino, i.e. one of the 3 songs always played at the end of the night.

Unfortunately Jimmy Radcliffe never lived to see this as he passed away around 2 months before Wigan Casino began in 1973.

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