IS THIS LENNON’S PET SOUNDS?

On the Petula Clark Sings Tony Hatch Songbook CD there’s an early collaboration entitled Darling Cheri which was released as a B-side in 1963 according to booklet notes. On listening to it for the first time, there was that nagging recognition of another tune which finally clicked as ... Woman Is The Nigger Of The World from the Sometime In New York album! The vocal melody and tempo is fairly similar, but the sax arrangement and final verse erase all doubts of any coincidence to my ears. The song has a four way authorship - Petula Clark, Gaunay, Pitkowsky & Mark Anthony (the last of whom is actually Tony Hatch). Petula did an Italian version first in 1962 followed by English, French & German versions the following year. Was this another obscure B side that the Beatles may have picked up on in the early sixties or was the arrangement on both tracks ‘borrowed’ from another record altogether?

I know the Petula Clark track will be relatively unknown outside the circle of her fans but I can’t believe the similarity hasn’t been spotted since the release of the Lennon/Ono album over thirty years ago. It really is that close to a He’s So fine/My Sweet Lord scenario. Can you shed any light on the connection that surely must exist between the two songs?

Pete Nash of the British Beatles Fan Club says: The only connection between the two songs that I can figure is that Woman Is The Nigger Of The World is a tuneless dirge and that Darling Cheri is a crock of s***. As for the ear-tormenting sax ‘arrangement’ on Lennon’s song, this is probably something honkster Stan Bronstein made up on the spot rather than anything deliberately arranged, being completely lacking in any melody.

Of course, Petula Clark WAS present at John and Yoko’s Bed-In for peace in Montreal during May 1969... AND this was just after the Yoko interview for Nova magazine from which John borrowed the ‘Woman Is The Nigger Of The World’ quote. If one cares to suspend belief you could conjure the image of Lennon composing the lyrics on acoustic guitar while Pet Clark suddenly suggests the tune of an old rubbish B-side that would fit the song perfectly - all while a flock of pigs fly majestically by the window of room 1742 of the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

By the way, George Harrison did NOT base My Sweet Lord on He’s So Fine. Just for the record, My Sweet Lord was based on the old spiritual hymn Oh Happy Day. Unfortunately He’s So Fine was also based on Oh Happy Day but He’s So Fine was copyrighted!

by Colin Morrison
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