"To Sir With Love" is the theme from James Clavell's 1967 film To Sir, with Love. The song was written by Don Black and Mark London (husband of Lulu's longtime manager Marion Massey). Mickie Most produced the record, with Mike Leander arranging and conducting. In her recording, Lulu makes notable use of melisma.
"To Sir With Love" was initially recorded by Lulu (with The Mindbenders, who also acted in the film). It was released as a single in the United States in 1967 and in October reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for five weeks. The single ranked No. 1 in Billboard's year-end chart, though the Monkees' "I'm a Believer", which debuted in December 1966 and spent most of its chart life in 1967, was the overall bigger hit. It became a gold record.
Canada's RPM Magazine put the song at No. 2 for the year 1967. "To Sir with Love" has the distinction of being the only record by a British artist to reach No. 1 on the US charts while not charting in the UK, where it appeared only as a B-side to "Let's Pretend" (released in the UK on 23 June 1967), which reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart.
Australian singer Tina Arena released her version of the song as the first single from her 2007 album Songs of Love & Loss.
*Martha reeves and the Vandellas recorded in album Riding' High
Herbie Mann's instrumental rendition charted concurrently with Lulu's run on the pop chart, reaching number 93 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 11 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Madeline Bell recorded the song for her 1968 UK album Doin' Things.
Al Green covered the song in 1978 on the album Truth n' Time.
Vicki Sue Robinson covered the song in 1984.
Richard Reicheg performed a portion of the song in The Golden Girls 1991 episode, "The Monkey Show".
Trash Can Sinatras covered the song in 1996 on the album A Happy Pocket.
New Zealand songstress Ngaire had covered the song in 1991, resulting in a NZ no. 1 hit.
The song was performed by 10,000 Maniacs with Michael Stipe at the MTV inaugural ball for Bill Clinton in 1993.
Susanna Hoffs of The Bangles recorded a version in 1997 and included it as an uncredited bonus track on her self-titled CD.
Soul Asylum performed the song with Lulu for MTV Unplugged in 1993 and later included a different live version on the album After the Flood: Live from the Grand Forks Prom, June 28, 1997.
Canadian singer-songwriter Jann Arden included a cover of "To Sir With Love" on her 1997 album Happy?.
Luscious Jackson included a cover version of the song as a B-side to their Ladyfingers single released in 1999.
Nile covered the song in 2002 on the album Born.
Chaka Khan covered the song on her 2005 album "ClassiKhan". The Japanese edition included a remix of this song (the Barry Harris Club Mix).
On the ABC television show Boy Meets World, Eric Matthews sang this song in the episode "Graduation" in hopes to keep Mr. Feeny from retiring.
On the FX Channel television show Sons of Anarchy, Katey Sagal sang this song in the episode "J'ai Obtenu Cette" during the show's opening.
Al Green covered the song on Ally McBeal episode 49, "Seeing Green" (season 3, episode 3, 1999)
Glee produced by Fox Broadcasting Company cast members with soloists Lea Michele, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer covered the song in the episode "Journey to Regionals" (season 1, episode 22).
Jann Arden covered the song on her 1997 album Happy as an uncredited work (i.e., not shown in the track list) that begins following about 45 seconds of silence on the last track of the album.
Cecily Strong and Sasheer Zamata sang the song on Saturday Night Live as a tribute to former President Barack Obama, on the show aired January 21, 2017, one day after he left office.
