CLIFF RICHARD AND THE SHADOWS - “Summer Holiday”
(16th March 1963)
I’m writing this on one of the dampest, greyest, most uninspiring days of the year; the kind of day people imagine when they think of “British weather”. I don’t imagine February 1963 was much nicer: a canny release date choice for Cliff and company, making this dandelion-light song sound wistful and hopeful.
In ‘63 the concept of a “Summer Holiday” abroad (let alone driving around Europe in a customised bus, like Cliff does in the film) was slowly turning from jet set dream to mass-market reality. “We’ve seen it in the movies / Now let’s see if it’s true” - this is a song about new prosperity, new possibilities. That’s why it struck such a chord, and that’s probably why it endures as one of Cliff’s signature tracks.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that it’s one of the songs where his matey big brother persona grates least. I’ve been generally harsh on Cliff Richard because (especially in his ‘romantic’ singles) he often turns the winsome knob way too high, but with the harmless breeziness of the early 60s about to be shunted mostly to one side I can afford a little generosity. 6
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Rosalind Mitchell on May 27th, 2005
Can’t think how I missed this. Nor do I know if anybody’s going to read it but the point needs making for the archive.
February 1963 wasn’t at all damp and grey. It was bloody freezing - literally! The snow started falling on Boxing Day 1962 and it stayed on the ground for weeks and weeks, well into March. At my Junior School we weren’t allowed out at dinner time (we had dinner time, not lunch time, up there on the Wirral). No wonder the country yearned for an overland trip to Greek sunshine, even if all there was at the end of it was Cliff in his string vest (!) before the Acropolis!
‘Summer Holiday’, the film, also has the distinction of being the first film I ever saw in a cinema. My Mum took me to the now defunct Plaza in Birkenhead, mainly because she wanted to see it herself!
FT's richard thompson on May 12th, 2008
It was a harsh winter then, I hadn’t long been born and had to sleep downstairs, there was no central heating, we had a log fire. This was Cliff at his peak, the Beatles were influenced by the shadows. They were at Pauls 21st in this year when Lennon had a fight with DJ bob Wooler who was at Beatle week 2000 when someone asked him about this incident he refused to comment on it.