Signs and Songs of Those Times
August 4th, 2007
A Pet Clark video that’s readily available online is “A Sign of the Times,” a perfect piece of Mod Sixties exuberance. I’m relatively sure it’s from “Where the Action Is,” an ABC-TV show produced by Petula Clark’s brother Dick. Kidding! The transfer on YouTube isn’t bad, but it’s not good enough to really appreciate the quality of the original source material, so I’ve made a better one.
Great stuff! The recording seems to be a different take from the studio release, and the sound quality is outstanding for a TV show. The British sports cars are a nice touch. Besides the fabled Jaguar XKE there’s an Aston Martin DB5, the James Bond car.
In the documentary This Is My Song, Pet says she enjoyed being on a set with dancers, and this video has a wild bunch of them doing some crazy moves! The choreography bears the unmistakably distinctive style of Toni Basil. Below is a video clip of Toni dancing with somebody that I assume you recognize. He was in a band with a guy named Mickey.
I’ll toss in the studio recording of “Daddy’s Song,” taken from a Japanese import LP I bought many years ago. Once again I point out that vinyl, at its best, sounded not too bad at all.
…and this is the song recorded by the guy who wrote it.
In 1982 Toni Basil had a hit single of her own, called “Mickey.” It went like this.
ADDENDUM: Mr. D.F. Rogers points out that the Petula Clark number is actually from, of all things, The Ed Sullivan Show. Although it seems a little too groovy for old Ed, it makes sense given the lavish production and the quality of the video tape and audio. This photo is from Sunday, April 17, 1966.
The Ed Sullivan Show was produced in New York, of course (David Letterman now originates from the same studio). This puts doubt into the choreography being that of Toni Basil, who primarily worked in California. Never let it be said the DogRat blog isn’t interested in getting the facts right!
Filed under: All Posts, Petula Clark
3 Comments Add your own
1. Jeanie Beanie | August 5th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Never mind the British cars; I STILL want a pair of those Go-Go boots! Petula really had her singing style down cold by then, smooth, slinky, sexy and she made it all look so easy!
At the last concert of Davy’s I went to, he sang “Daddy’s Song,” and LEAPED into the audience! I snapped a photo of that, but it’s on my old CPU, so I can’t access it at the moment. He truly adores his fans. He was always so sweet to me, except for the time his famous cream-colored limo nearly ran me off the road! Remind me to scan that picture of us together (remember, he lives 22 miles down the road!) He also sang “Where is Love?” from “Oliver” and half of us Boomers were weeping! I doubt he’ll ever be up for a knighting by the queen, especially since he pretty much lives over here now, anyway.
2. Jeanie Beanie | August 5th, 2007 at 11:03 am
D’oh! That song SCREAMS Nilsson! This is, of course, the theme to “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” but who ultimately recorded it?
3. Jeanie Beanie | August 5th, 2007 at 11:05 am
“Mickey” was one of those fun songs that stuck in your head all day, like ‘Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.” They did a great parody video of it with “Lucy” and Ricky,” and Toni was APPALLED that they didn’t ask HER to play “Lucy,” as she AND her friends say she can do a dead-on impersonation of the famous redhead!
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