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The "Sweetest Girl"

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"The "Sweetest Girl""
Song
B-side"Lions after Slumber" (UK, US, Germany)
"Confidence" (France, Japan)

"The “Sweetest Girl”" (sic) is a song written by Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in 1981 as a single. The single peaked at number 64 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] The piano is played by Robert Wyatt.

The song became a marginally bigger hit 5 years later, when covered by Madness. Madness' version of the song reached #35 in the UK and #29 in Ireland in early 1986. Madness changed the title of the song slightly, losing both the definite article and the quotation marks around the last two words in "The “Sweetest Girl”", thereby rendering it as "Sweetest Girl"

Scritti Politti version

Track listing

The B-side, "Lions After Slumber" takes its title and quotes, in its final lines, from the 1819 political poem The Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

7" and 12" vinyl (UK, US, Germany)

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The "Sweetest Girl""4:34
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Lions After Slumber"4:58

7" vinyl (France, Japan)

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The "Sweetest Girl""4:37
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Confidence"3:04

Madness version

"The "Sweetest Girl""
Song
B-side"Jennie (A Portrait Of)"

The cover of the song by ska-pop band Madness was included on their 1985 album Mad Not Mad and released as a single the following year. The song spent 6 weeks in British charts peaking at number 35.

Video

The song video was featured in the 1986 BBC Omnibus documentary Video Jukebox.[2]

Track listing

7" vinyl

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl"Green Gartside4:20
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jennie (A Portrait Of)"Lee Thompson, Daniel Woodgate3:24

12" vinyl

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl" (Dub Mix)Gartside7:01
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl" (Extended Mix)Gartside6:34
2."Jennie (A Portrait Of)"Thompson, Woodgate3:05

Chart performance

Chart (1986) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[3][4] 35
Irish Singles Chart[5] 29

References

  1. ^ "Chart Stats - Scritti Politti - Sweetest Girl". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ "everyhit.com search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  4. ^ "Chart Stats - Madness - The Sweetest Girl". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  5. ^ "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.