Released 2 October 1963 Recorded 1963 | Format 7" (45 rpm) Label Epic | |
Genre Pop, Dixieland jazz, instrumental Writer(s) Bobb Goldsteinn, David Shire | ||
"Washington Square" is a popular instrumental from 1963 by the New York City-based jazz group The Village Stompers.
Named after the famous park in New York City, "Washington Square" became a hit single on 23 November 1963, when it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, kept from the summit by Dale and Grace's hit song "I'm Leaving It Up to You" during the week that President Kennedy was assassinated. It did, however, top the Billboard Easy Listening chart for three weeks that November and made the top 30 on the Billboard R&B chart. In addition, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Instrumental Theme.
Other artists have recorded the song, sometimes as a vocal track. Among these acts are The Ames Brothers (their last national chart record), the Kirby Stone Four, Percy Faith, Lawrence Welk, Kenny Ball, Spike Jones, James Last, Chinese Man, Nightmares on Wax, Andre Kostelanetz, Kai Winding, The Ventures, Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra, and The Dukes of Dixieland. In Asia, a South Korean female vocalist band Lee Sisters released a recording of this tune. A Hong Kong artist Sam Hui has also released a recording, with lyrics regarding students. Another recent adaptation is by a Chinese folk/pop songwriter/singer, Hao Yun, named "Married (literal translation)".
"Washington Square" shares the same metre as many popular hymns, known as 86.86D or CMD [Common Metre doubled]. In the 1970s, some churches were singing hymns such as "The Lord Is My Shepherd" and "Amazing Grace" to the tune.