It's Not Unusual

For other uses, see It's Not Unusual (disambiguation).

"It's Not Unusual"
Single by Tom Jones
from the album Along Came Jones (It's Not Unusual)
B-side"To Wait for Love" (Bacharach-David)
Released22 January 1965 (UK)
March 1965 (US)
Recorded11 November 1964
StudioDecca Studios, London
Genre
Length2:03
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Peter Sullivan[3]
Tom Jones singles chronology
"Chills and Fever"
(1964) 		"It's Not Unusual"
(1965) 		"Once Upon a Time"
(1965)
Music video
"It's Not Unusual" (Lyric Video) on YouTube

"It's Not Unusual" is a song written by Les Reed and Gordon Mills, first recorded by a then-unknown Tom Jones,[4] after it had first been offered to Sandie Shaw.[3] He intended it as a demo for her, but when she heard it she was so impressed with his delivery that she recommended he sing it instead.

The record was the second Jones single Decca released,[5] reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart in 1965.[6][7] It was his first hit in the United States, peaking at No. 10 in May of that year. It was released in the US by Parrot Records and reached No. 3 on Billboard's easy listening chart. The song was first aired on pirate radio in the UK, as the BBC rejected it because of Jones' sexual image. In the US, Jones performed the song on three occasions on The Ed Sullivan Show.[8]

"It's Not Unusual" is the theme song of his late 1960s–early 1970s television musical variety series, This Is Tom Jones. The first studio version was released in 1995 on the compilation album, The Legendary Tom Jones – 30th Anniversary Album.

  1. ^ Harcourt, Nic (2005). "The Call of Wales". Music Lust. Seattle: Sasquatch Books. p. 30. ISBN 1570614377.
  2. ^ "Spike Milligan". Gramophone: 34. June 1965. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 89. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  4. ^ "They can always go home to MAM". Life. 18 September 1970. p. 54. ISSN 0024-3019.
  5. ^ Browne, Ray Broadus; Browne, Pat (2001). The Guide to United States Popular Culture. Popular Press. pp. 448–. ISBN 978-0-87972-821-2.
  6. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 175. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  7. ^ Colin Larkin (27 May 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. pp. 488–. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  8. ^ "Tom Jones - Ed Sullivan Show". Edsullivan.com. Retrieved 30 October 2014.