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"When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart" is a 1961 hit by Cliff Richard written by the songwriting team of Sid Tepper and Roy Bennett who would contribute fifteen songs to the Cliff Richard canon including his career record "The Young Ones". Produced by Richard's regular producer Norrie Paramor, "When the Girl in Your Arms..." featured backing by the Norrie Paramor Orchestra. Richard's own group the Shadows backed him on the B-side "Got a Funny Feeling".

History

Recorded in January 1961, "When the Girl in Your Arms..." was not released until that October as the first advance single for the Cliff Richard movie vehicle The Young Ones. The track reached a chart peak of #3 in the UK and gave Richard a #1 hit in the Netherlands, Norway (for eight weeks) and South Africa. A #2 hit in Australia and Ireland, Richard's "When the Girl in Your Arms..." was also a hit in Belgium/Flemish Region (#4), Belgium/Wallonia (#10) and New Zealand (#7).

Although Cliff Richard had a deal for US distribution with ABC-Paramount - who in 1959 had released his only US hit (as of 1961) "Living Doll" (#30) - "When the Girl in Your Arms..." was not given a US release concurrent with its UK charting, as ABC-Parmamount felt it prudent to await the American opening of the track's parent movie The Young Ones.

Connie Francis heard Richard's hit while visiting the UK and in an unusual move Francis - whose singles were typically remakes of traditional pop standards or original material - covered Richard's UK hit in a 2 November 1961 session in New York City produced by Arnold Maxin with Don Costa as arranger/conductor. Entitled "When the Boy in Your Arms (Is the Boy in Your Heart)", Francis' version reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1962 and #8 in Cash Box. The single's B-side "Baby's First Christmas" also became a chart hit over the 1961 holiday season reaching #26.

In light of the Cliff Richard original's success in the UK, Francis version of "When the Boy in Your Arms (is the Boy in Your Heart)" did not have a parallel release in the UK where instead "Baby's First Christmas" - backed by "I'm Falling in Love With You Tonight" - was released as an A-side reaching #30. The lack of a late 1961 mainstream release by Francis had a strong negative impact on her UK career where previously her singles had equaled or exceeded their US impact. Francis' next single release "Don't Break the Heart That Loves You" despite hitting #1 in the US only reached #39 in the UK

and Francis would have only four subsequent UK chartings with "Vacation" at #10 her only Top Twenty entrant.

Despite the success of Cliff Richard's "When the Girl in Your Arms..." in Australia and New Zealand, Francis' "When the Boy in Your Arms..." was released in these territories to reach #40 in Australia and become a Top Ten in New Zealand, the latter in March 1962 despite the success of the Cliff Richard original in New Zealand the previous month. "When the Boy in Your Arms..." also gave Francis a #1 hit in Hong Kong.

Cliff Richard was "very unhappy" at losing a potential US Top Ten breakthrough hit to the Connie Francis cover; his displeasure led his home label EMI to reassign the US rights for Richard's releases to Bigtop Records as of February 1962. Richard would remain absent from the US charts until August 1963: over the following twelve-month period he would make four appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 with only one of these releases - Epic was now Richard's US label - becoming a Top 40 hit: "It's All in the Game". Except for a #99 appearance in 1968 with "Congratulations", Richard was subsequently absent from the Hot 100 until 1976 when he had his first (of three) US Top Ten hits with "Devil Woman" (#6).

Charts

Cliff Richard version

Connie Francis version

Other cover versions

A version of "When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart" became the first chart record for Ricky Shayne reaching #33 on the charts in Germany in 1967.

The song was also recorded as "When the Girl in Your Arms" by Dominic Kirwan on his 2002 album Golden Dreams

and by Michael English on his 2008 album All My Life.

In December 1961, Lale Andersen cut a German cover version of the song entitled "Roter Rubin".

A Dutch rendering: "Op die dag in de zon" (on that day in the sun), has been recorded by Willeke Alberti 

the Alberti version was on a 1962 single release coupled with Alberti's rendition of the Sue Thompson hit "Norman".

and John Spencer;

Hank Marvin did an instrumental of the song on his album Hank Plays Cliff.

When the girl in your arms - instrumental cover by Dave Monk

By Associated British Pictures - Fair use, Link

The Young Ones (US title: Wonderful to Be Young!) is a 1961 British comedy musical film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Cliff Richard, Robert Morley as his character's father, Carole Gray as his love interest, and the Shadows as his band. The screenplay was written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass, who also wrote most of the songs. Herbert Ross choreographed the dance scenes.

Although Richard had appeared in two pictures prior, The Young Ones was his first major film in a string of musical films including Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life. Its soundtrack spawning numerous hits including the title track.

The film was produced by the Associated British Picture Corporation and shot at their Elstree Studios. It had its World Premiere on 13 December 1961 at the Warner Theatre in London's West End.

Production

This was Cliff Richard's third film, following Serious Charge and Expresso Bongo. Producer Kenneth Harper hired Sidney J. Furie as director and Ronald Cass and Peter Myers as writers, and during a meeting in Harper's flat, the four agreed to borrow the storyline of the film musical Babes In Arms (1939), where youngsters Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland put on a show with their friends to raise money.

The film was originally intended to feature the Shadows in acting roles, but it was decided that more professional young actors needed to be cast instead, so the roles originally intended for Hank Marvin and Jet Harris were given to Richard O'Sullivan and Melvyn Hayes, while the Shadows themselves appear only as non-speaking band members.

A number of actresses were considered to be Cliff Richard's co-star. An early suggestion from the film's choreographer Herbert Ross was New York performer Barbra Streisand. Harper flew to New York and saw her in a show, but did not think that she was suitable. Another early consideration was German singer and actress Heidi Bruhl, while Richard himself in an interview expressed an interest in engaging the very young Helen Shapiro for the role.

In May 1961 it was announced that a 21-year-old actress from London's East End, Annette Robinson (aka Robertson), would be the female co-star, but within weeks the part was given to Carole Gray, a dancer known for her roles in West End theatre musicals, while Robinson was given the smaller role of Barbara. When Carole Gray sings in the film, it is actually the voice of Grazina Frame, who also provided the singing voice for Lauri Peters in Cliff Richard's next film Summer Holiday (1963).

The standing set constructed for this film remained in situ for well over a decade, featuring in many television productions filmed at Elstree throughout the 60s and early 70s including The Avengers, The Saint, The Baron, UFO and The Protectors.

Vaudeville routine

Scenes set both outside and inside the fictional Countess Theatre (bought by Nicky's father Hamilton Black in the film) were filmed on location at the Finsbury Park Empire Theatre. In the film, a medley of songs known as the "Vaudeville routine," framed by the song "What D'You Know, We've Got A Show", is performed by Nicky and his friends. The entire sequence was recorded in one day (9 August 1961) at the Abbey Road studios, London. While session singers – the Mike Sammes Singers – were used on the album, the film version deployed the actors.

As Victor Rust describes it: "having broken into the dilapidated Finsbury Park Theatre, the members of the youth club, initially despondent, pick up the props, wardrobe, scenery and lighting, and enter into an extensive song and dance routine that features slapstick routines, jokes, songs and dancing". It is this mixture of performance techniques that characterises vaudeville.

The eclectic references in the sequence includes "vaudeville, melodrama, the country house mystery and Astaire and Rogers". At the end, Nicky, to a rapturous reception from screaming female fans, "high-kicking his way centre-stage", sings the chorus of "Living Doll". Thus the quotations from "the performers of yesteryear" merge with "self-quotation" by Cliff. This weaving of the present into the nostalgia creates a sense of continuity and forges a "common bond". Napper reads the reprise of the Edwardian-inspired number at the end, complete with a reconciled Hamilton Black onstage, as "the point at which the generational conflict of the film is resolved, significantly through a continuity of entertainment values and styles".

Soundtrack

All songs by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, unless otherwise listed.

1. "Friday Night" (A.B.S. Orchestra, The Michael Sammes Singers)

1. "Got a Funny Feeling"

1. "Peace Pipe" (The Shadows)

1. "Nothing's Impossible" (Cliff Richard and Grazina Frame, A.B.S. Orchestra)

1. "The Young Ones"

1. "All for One" (Cliff Richard, The Michael Sammes Singers, A.B.S. Orchestra)

1. "Lessons in Love"

1. "No One for Me But Nicky" (Grazina Frame, A.B.S. Orchestra)

1. "What D'You Know, We've Got a Show & Vaudeville Routine / Have a Smile for Everyone You Meet / Tinkle, Tinkle, Tinkle / Algy the Piccadilly Johnny / Captain Ginjah / Joshuah / Where Did You Get That Hat / What D'You Know, We've Got a Show / Living Doll" (Cliff Richard, The Michael Sammes Singers, A.B.S. Orchestra)

1. "When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart" (Cliff Richard, Norrie Paramor Orchestra)
2. "Mambo: A) Just Dance B) Mood Mambo" (The Michael Sammes Singers, A.B.S. Orchestra)

1. "The Savage" (The Shadows)

1. "We Say Yeah"

Reception and legacy

The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1961, following The Guns of Navarone, grossing over £750,000. (Films and Filming said it was the third most popular for Britain for the year ended 31 October 1962 after Navarone and Dr No.)

The title of the film was also used for the British television series The Young Ones (1982-1984), which contained many references to Cliff Richard throughout its twelve-episode run.

Stage adaptation

The film has been adapted into a stage musical by John Plews, which premiered at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in London in December 2007. The stage adaptation follows the film story closely, but includes several additional songs. In February 2013 it premiered in Scotland at Eastwood Park Theatre in Giffnock, performed by the EROS Musical Society.

Watch the movie