Well, this was certainly something I didn't know. And no, this isn't what you think by that title. It's not one of my periodic Adorable Animal Videos. But that will be clear soon enough. I'm just as sure that others knew about this, since it's not secret, and the singer has her legion of fans and a long career -- but I still suspect it's not that well-known to most people. It's likely that folks know the big doo-wop hit from 1963, "I Will Follow Him," that was recorded by Little Peggy March when she was 15. It became a standard and is still performed to this day, almost 60 years later. What I didn't know until today, while searching for something else entirely, is that she didn't have the first recording of the song. Usually, that happens when someone who's little known has a recording, it goes nowhere and is found and brought to the attention of a much bigger artist. In some ways, this weirdly was the exact opposite. In fairness, though the other, original singer was very well know, she wasn't known in the United States. (At least not yet.) But the original version of "I Will Follow Him" was actually recorded in 1961 and released overseas -- by Petula Clark! But here's where it gets even more surprising. That original recording wasn't even in English, but rather was a French song called, "Chariot." And yes, that was recorded by Petula Clark, in French. The arrangement is slower and has a more mature sensibility to it. Adding to that, too, is her being 29 at the time, not 15. Here's a performance she made of "Chariot." And to make this all the more whimsical, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, she sings it while supposedly driving a covered wagon. The best I can guess is that it's an allusion to a "chariot" and in the original French she's singing about taking a chariot to her true love. Or maybe...oh, I don't know. But here it is. And we're going to go into bonus mode. Because in 1962, she recorded an English-language version of "Chariot," which became, of course, "I Will Follow Him." The words are essentially the same as the U.S. hit the next year, but there are a few changes, which (along with the same arrangement as before) adds more to the sense of maturity, making a life decision, as opposed to the doo-wop puppy love nature of the U.S. chart-topper sung by a 15-year-old. I'm not saying one is better than the other. Just that the subtle differences are there. To each their own. Or since we're dealing with a song originally in French, chacun son gout. And for fun, we're going to a final bonus. This is Petula Clark, I think around 2009 when she would be 77, singing the song in concert -- and her song, "Chariot," not the English translation version. I found another version of her singing "Chariot" in concert three years later at age 80, and in some ways it's even slightly better, since there's a deeper richness to her performance. But I chose this because the video continues for a couple minutes after the song ends, and you can see that this wasn't a case of someone who speaks English learning how to sing French phrases, but rather --- she's fluent in French. The concert is live at the Olympia in Pars, and her monologue is entirely in French.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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