B-side "Our Last Goodbye" Genre Easy listening Label Columbia Records 44818 | Released April 1969 Length 3:12 Writer(s) James Last, Jackie Rae | |
"Happy Heart" is a song written by James Last and Jackie Rae. The song was recorded by both Petula Clark and Andy Williams and released as a single for each at the same time in 1969. "Happy Heart" reached #12 on the Easy Listening chart and #62 in the UK for Clark, while Williams went to #22 on the 'Billboard Hot 100, #19 in the UK, and spent two weeks at #1 on the Easy Listening chart. Clark was reportedly dismayed when Williams was a guest star on her second TV special, with the plan to perform the song they were both launching as a single. In Australia both Clark's and Williams versions charted both peaking at #22.
It was notably used on the soundtrack for the British film Shallow Grave (1994), starring Ewan McGregor, Christopher Eccleston and Kerry Fox, and directed by Danny Boyle.
The female impersonator Holly Woodlawn lip-synced to the Clark version in the 1998 Tommy O'Haver film Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss. In 1977, the song was performed during a medley on an episode of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.