Living Doll (song)

"Living Doll"
"Living Doll"
Single by Cliff Richard and the Drifters
from the album Serious Charge (EP)
B-side	"Apron Strings"; (Weiss/Schroeder);
Released	10 July 1959
Recorded	28 April 1959
Studio	EMI Studios, London
Genre	Rock and roll; pop; country;
Length	2:35
Label	Columbia DB4306
Songwriter(s)	Lionel Bart
Producer(s)	Norrie Paramor
Cliff Richard and the Drifters singles chronology

"Living Doll" is a song written by Lionel Bart made popular by Cliff Richard and the Shadows (then still known as 'the Drifters') in 1959. It was the top selling single in the UK in 1959.^[4] It has topped the UK charts twice: in its original version in 1959 (their first number 1 single) and a new version recorded in 1986 in aid of Comic Relief. It is one of the few songs released by a British singer to chart on the American Billboard charts before the British Invasion occurred.

^ Cite error: The named reference Cliff Richard The Biography was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ St John, Kevin (1991). Cliff Richard in His Own Words (First ed.). Omnibus Press, London. p. 23. ISBN 0-7119-2824-X.
^ Richard, Cliff (26 December 1998). "Musikbutikken (Denmark) - Interview with Cliff Richard". 1998. Season 1. Episode 13. Copenhagen. Retrieved 22 June 2014. Yes, well [the producers of Serious Charge] were doing a movie and they wanted somebody who was a new pop singer. And I guess they wanted a new pop singer because then they would be very cheap. And I was! I was really cheap. I mean, I was so happy to be asked to be in the movie, I would have done it for nothing. and that's what they paid me. [...] We didn't really like [Living Doll] very much. It's just a song. But we recorded it the way Lionel Bart had written it, which was... [Imitates original beat] And it was a sort of pseudo-rock. It didn't sound like real, American rock 'n' roll to us. And we didn't realize that in the contract, there was some small writing and it said there must be a single. And we said, 'Look, we can't release this record like this.' And one day, while we were on tour, Bruce Welch... Well, look, he was sitting by these two big, stone lions in a place called the Sheffield City Hall. And he was just going... [strums acoustic guitar] And he said, 'Why don't we do it like a country and western song?' And yeah, so we just went... [sings song].
^ "Biggest Songs of Every Year". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2018.

[Cliff_Richard_The_Biography-1] Cite error: The named reference Cliff Richard The Biography was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[Cliff_Richard_in_His_Own_Words-2] St John, Kevin (1991). Cliff Richard in His Own Words (First ed.). Omnibus Press, London. p. 23. ISBN 0-7119-2824-X.

[Musikbutikken_-_Interview_with_Cliff_Richard-3] Richard, Cliff (26 December 1998). "Musikbutikken (Denmark) - Interview with Cliff Richard". 1998. Season 1. Episode 13. Copenhagen. Retrieved 22 June 2014. Yes, well [the producers of Serious Charge] were doing a movie and they wanted somebody who was a new pop singer. And I guess they wanted a new pop singer because then they would be very cheap. And I was! I was really cheap. I mean, I was so happy to be asked to be in the movie, I would have done it for nothing. and that's what they paid me. [...] We didn't really like [Living Doll] very much. It's just a song. But we recorded it the way Lionel Bart had written it, which was... [Imitates original beat] And it was a sort of pseudo-rock. It didn't sound like real, American rock 'n' roll to us. And we didn't realize that in the contract, there was some small writing and it said there must be a single. And we said, 'Look, we can't release this record like this.' And one day, while we were on tour, Bruce Welch... Well, look, he was sitting by these two big, stone lions in a place called the Sheffield City Hall. And he was just going... [strums acoustic guitar] And he said, 'Why don't we do it like a country and western song?' And yeah, so we just went... [sings song].

[4] "Biggest Songs of Every Year". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 18 March 2018.

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