The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde

"The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde"
Single by Georgie Fame
B-side "Beware of the Dog"
Released February 1967
Format 7"
Recorded 1967
Genre R&B
Length 3:03
Label CBS (CBS 3124)[1]
Writer(s) Mitch Murray
Peter Callander[1]
Producer(s) Mike Smith[1]
Georgie Fame singles chronology
"Try My World"
(1967)		 "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde"
(1967)		 "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
(1968)

"The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde" is a song recorded by the English R&B singer Georgie Fame.[1] Released as a single, the song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 24 January 1968, remaining for one week.[2] The song reached number seven in the United States later the same year. [3]

Song profile

The song was written by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander.[4]

Fame recorded the song after seeing the (then) controversial release of the now considered classic gangster film Bonnie and Clyde starring Warren Beatty (as Clyde Barrow) and Faye Dunaway (as Bonnie Parker).[5] The song, in the style of the 1920s and 1930s, features the sounds of gun battles, car chases, and police sirens, including the climactic gun battle that takes place when both Bonnie and Clyde meet their fate. The instrumentation of the song includes a piano, banjo, drums, trumpets, trombones, and a bass.

The song is geographically inaccurate in that in the first verse they meet in Savannah, Georgia. In reality, both were from East Texas and there is no evidence the couple ever ventured that far east.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1968) Peak
position
Australia (Go-Set) 4
Canada RPM Top Singles [6] 1
Canada RPM Country [7] 3
New Zealand [8] 2
UK [9] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] 7
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[11] 6

Year-end charts

Chart (1968) Rank
Australia (Go-Set) 18
Canada [12] 17
UK [13] 32
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [14] 29
U.S. Cash Box [15] 19

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 113. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  2. ↑ "Official Singles Chart UK Top 100". Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  3. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 219.
  4. ↑ "Details for Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde - featuring Georgie Fame". The Sheetmusic Warehouse. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  5. ↑ Philip French (2007-08-26). "Philip French: How violent taboos were blown away | Film | The Observer". Observer.guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  6. ↑ "Image : RPM Weekly - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  7. ↑ "Item: 7987 - Library and Archives Canada". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  8. ↑ "flavour of new zealand - search listener". Flavourofnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  9. ↑ "Top 100 1968". top-source.info. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  10. ↑ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002
  11. ↑ CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending MONTH DD, 19YY at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 September 2012). Cash Box magazine. Retrieved 16 June 2016.
  12. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  13. ↑ "Top 100 1968 - UK Music Charts". Uk-charts.top-source.info. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  14. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1968/Top 100 Songs of 1968". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
  15. ↑ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1968". Tropicalglen.com. 1968-12-28. Retrieved 2016-09-30.
Preceded by
"Hello, Goodbye"
by The Beatles		 UK number one single
24 January 1968
(One week) 		Succeeded by
"Everlasting Love" by Love Affair


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