Released 5 March 1965 Genre Pop | Format 7" single Length 2:19 | |
B-side "Just Another Guy"
(Neil Diamond) Recorded 25 August 1964, Columbia Studios, Nashville, Tennessee | ||
"The Minute You're Gone" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard, that spent a week at number one in the UK Singles Chart in April 1965. The song was written by Jimmy Gately, a Nashville, Tennessee based fiddle player and singer. This song originally made No. 95 in the US charts and No. 9 in the country charts for Sonny James in 1963. It was also recorded by Al Martino, Faron Young and Loretta Lynn.
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Cliff Richard version
Richard's recording of the song had come about with the involvement of Richard's American label Epic Records, which wanted to present Richard in the US with more American songs. Bob Morgan, executive A&R producer from Epic met with Richard's A&R producer Norrie Paramor and Richard to map out recording plans and brought 50 songs of US origin for them to screen. About 15 songs were selected and plans were made to record in New York, Nashville and Chicago according to the different styles of the songs selected, which ranged from pop-country, pure country, ballad and medium tempo. In Nashville, Richard recorded the singles "The Minute You're Gone", "Wind Me Up (Let Me Go)" and "On My Word" with Billy Sherrill producing with backing by Nashville session musicians together with the Anita Kerr Singers. Arrangement and conducting on "The Minute You're Gone" was by Stan Applebaum.
"The Minute You're Gone" provided Richard with his eighth UK number one single. It was also his first UK chart topper he had recorded without The Shadows backing. However, at the corresponding time in the US, Epic curiously chose to release the soft ballad "Again" (another of his Nashville recorded tracks) as a single with "The Minute You're Gone" as the B-side. Although "Again" received a 4 star rating from Billboard, it had no chart success.
Meanwhile, "The Minute You're Gone" became another international hit for Richard outside the Americas. In an interview with The Mail On Sunday in 2008, lamenting the lost opportunity in America, Richard said of "The Minute You're Gone", "This is a real hidden gem in many ways because, although it reached No. 1 in Britain, it wasn't even released in America. At that time, The Beatles were taking off in the States and anyone who had a No. 1 here was guaranteed a top five there, including The Bachelors, who weren't rock artists as such but had a huge hit. I thought it was my big chance but the US record company said it wasn't right for their market. Hello? What wasn’t right? It was No. 1 in many countries."
Chart Performance
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