60 albums
1967 - Pet Clark - These Are My Songs

I’ve always had a soft spot for Petula Clark, maybe because she was in a couple of my favourite films (IKWIG and The Card), and she’s danced with Fred Astaire. Plus, Downtown was apparently the first song I sang.

The front of These Are My Songs calls her Pet Clark, the back of the sleeve gives the album a more verbose title This Is My Song, Don’t Sleep in the Subway and other celebrations by Petula Clark which highlights the two biggest hits on the album, only one of which I really love, but there’s still plenty to love:

The sleeve, and the typography on the front of it.

The hilariously rambling sleeve notes:

• “There are those who celebrate firecrakcers, estrangemnets, hirings, refunds, dentures, solstices, elections, launchings, the end of gastric acidity”
• “Loosing her tinker tiny hands over her hips, waist, thighs in fitful caresses. Loosing an erotic psalm through a bent black microphone. Celebrating love through thirty-two bars of verse, and changing verse into poetry, and poetry into honesty”
• “The nerves, if any, wearing cosmetic smiles, disolving in genial hugs, suffocating under bi-cheek kisses”

Petula’s voice!

Most of this album comes after her break from long-time collaborators Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and given that the best song on the album dates from those days I might have done better to pick an earlier album. Not that the rest of the album is poor, it is mostly very lovely, but even the best of the rest are a long way shy of Don’t Sleep in the Subway.

There are a few clips of Pet singing Don’t Sleep in the Subway but sadly all are pretty low-res … this might be the best

Petula Clark - Don't Sleep in the Subway (play on YouTube)