ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK – “Release Me”
“Release Me” spent 56 weeks on the UK charts, but its position in modern pop history is as a footnote – the single that kept The Beatles’ “Penny Lane”/”Strawberry Fields Forever” off number one, an injustice so apparently staggering that it’s often the first case cited when critics want to cast disdain on the entire singles chart, or the public who help create it.
I’m not going to argue that “Release Me” is a better record than the Beatles’ one – because it’s not – but I was interested in exactly why it gripped the charts so hard. Listening to it on the train home tonight what struck me was its directness – “Release Me” is a three-minute divorce plea, never cruel but frank, reasonable and allowing no way back. I can’t offhand think of another huge hit which had tackled that sort of subject – break-ups yes, but the word “release” implies a contract. (The line about “your lips are cold” suggests that the lady might be dead, but Engelbert doesn’t play it goth!)
A quick bit of research turned up a couple of intriguing facts. During the mid-late 1960s the median age of first marriage was at a historical low point – the lowest it would be through the entire 20th centry, barely over 21 for women and 23 for men. I can think of a few possible reasons for this – higher affluence, increased sexual pressure, earlier puberty – but whatever the reason the median age had been falling since the end of the war. So the generation of teens who had been buying cheap gramophones and records by the ton in the late 50s had also been getting married earlier than ever.
The divorce rate, meanwhile, was rising – it hit a post-war low at the turn of the 60s and then increased sharply every year since. In 1969 the Divorce Reform Act was passed, making “irretrievable breakdown of marriage” grounds for divorce and cutting the legal barriers which had made it such a difficult (and humiliating) experience. It came into force in 1971 and the divorce rate skyrocketed. It almost trebled over the next three years, suggesting that there were a lot of unhappy marriages which could now be mercifully ended.
A lot of young people in the mid-60s, in other words, were caught between a pressure to marry young (for whatever reason) and the ever-increasing possibility that this decision need not be irreveraible. In 1967 though, divorce was still difficult even if it was more common, and it’s hardly a surprise that in these circumstances “Release Me” struck a massive chord. The particular genius of the record was its slow, soothing arrangement – too stark and the lyrical pill would have been entirely unsugared. As it is, for someone in the agony of a failing relationship, Humperdinck’s appeal to reason might well have seemed like a sympathetic and necessary shoulder.
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Agree that Engelbert is a fabulous professional singer. As for his showmanship it is exceptional He is totally charismatic. Once you’ve seen him you never forget him. His voices is just fabulous – this being the reason why Michael Boublay (spelling) and others just listen and listen to Engelbert’s music today. He has sold so many records and he is truly, truly professional and a lovely person.
Release Me has been one of the favorites since 1967. I attended my first Engelbert concert this month and found his voice to be as great as ever and his performance outstanding. I think some of the earler comments above are way off base… Engelbert is great and so are his hits.
EH Fan 4/17/06
A little information for you on the song “Release Me” written by Eddie Miller. It was first recorded by The songwriter himself and then Jimmy Heap made a hit with it. after Ray price recorded it, it was off and running. Humperdinck made it #1 around the world. It has been recorded by so many artists that I have lost track. For those of you who think it is a terrible song, The songwriter’s royalties last year (2005), fifty two years after it was written, was in excess of $120,000.00. I bet any of you would love to write a bad song just like it. As one of Eddie;s four heirs I have to leave now and go to the bank. HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!
Best comment ever!
I agree with those who say that Engelbert has a wonderful voice and is a wonderful performer. I have had the pleasure to meet him several times in my life and I for certain will never forget or cease to admire and care for him He is a truly lovely and talented person. How many of those coming to your website are worth over $100M? This must surely be a reflection of a special man.
Engelbert Humperdinck never had enough the respect and recognition he deserved! Apart from his star on the Walk of fame, Golden Globe for Entertainer of the year and 5 Grammy Nominations, Honorary Degree in Music – University of Leicester UK and his fanbase who’s the largest in the world by 8 million members !!! He’s truly a wonderful all round performer and a voice to die for. I’ve met him several times and he is really lovely. He is one of the last real performers who can entertain an audience just with his charisma, stage presence,voice and a good band. HE IS TOTALLY AMAZING :-)
Michael 12/14/06
You are so totally on the ball. There will never be another Engelbert Humperdinck, who can hold a sold out crowd in awe of his charisma and stage presence for 90 minutes. He is an awesome entertainer and knows how to hold his audiences in the palm of his hands. He probably won’t be around too much longer, how can a man go for 40 yrs with his talent and not eventually need a rest. God bless the man who has entertained so many and bought good music to us all.
The song was stolen, and I know who really wrote it.
Question to think about… he wrote it in 1946, why was it not recorded until 1953, 7 years later, something that was such a big hit? According to another site, it was because he couldn’t find anyone to record it????
…and it took 3 men to write that (short) song?
My father was one of the writers “James Pebworth”. They song was sold to person unknown for a “SONG”. In was practically stolen back in the 50′s. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the sale sometime in the late 80′s or early 90′s.
As I remember “Please Release Me” was background music on a Westinghouse Studio One episode. Early 50′s, don’t recall who the singer was. But I do recall anyone watching the episode remembered the catchy, melancholy song. That had to help its popularity. Any way to find out what year and who sang this?
A pedant writes…
Re 14, I’m sorry to report that Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields got stuck at 2 in the NME chart as well. Number 1 in the US though which counts for more than a little.
# 19
I was all “Wha? When? how?” until I saw it’s some other Mark G…
I have now heard the Esther Phillips version which unsurprisingly knocks the ‘Dinck into the cockiest of hats.
And the Johnny Adams version is also amazing – it’s hard not to love a record which starts with that kind of vocal fireworks.
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I had distinctly mixed emotions reading that.
Englebert sang Penny Lane years later on a Beatles tribute show, at the time the Beatles single seemed too off the wall as I read in another magazine.
I enjoyed listening to this a fair bit, which is more than I can say for “This Is My Song” which I only managed to stomach 2 minutes of. You people are just anti-sentimental, which is a perfectly reasonable philosophy, but I don’t think you should be surprised when sentimentality romps home to the top of the charts: I, and many other people evidently, enjoy a good wallow now and again.
Kind of glad this kept another Beatles opus from #1, even if they *are* the best band in the history of pop they’ve been so overexposed that yet another essay on how they can do no wrong is completely superfluous. Give me a bemused Englebert-inspired rumination on marriage and divorce rates in the 60s any day.
I much prefer Petula at least her song is well crafted and has at least a bit of something bordering on continental sophistication (she was after all already a married to a Frenchman and a resident of France by the time of ‘This is my Song’). ‘Release Me”s Working Man’s Club balladeering is just redolent of a tipsy stagger around a late 60s or early ’70s Butlins dancefloor after the kids have gone to bed in a fug of Double Diamond and Players No 6.
Careful Andy, you’ll get me to reconsider it with that description. There’s no drunken emotion on offer here. His emptiness of heart and soul is so obvious, I can’t bear it. Has anyone mentioned Johnny Adams’ version yet?
DESERT ISLAND DISCS WATCH:
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Be seeing you: http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/10/only-everything-beatles-penny-lane.html
Thanks for reading everyone!
A song to you: http://musicsoundsbetterwithtwo.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-are-free-beatles-strawberry-fields.html Merci for reading folks!
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TOTPWatch: Englebert Humperdink thrice performed release Me on Top Of The Pops;
9 February 1967. Also in the studio that week were; Gene Pitney, Herman’s Hermits, The New Vaudeville Band and The Tremeloes. Jimmy Savile was the host.
9 March 1967. Also in the studio that week were; Keith, The Alan Price Set, The Nashville Teens and Vince Hill. Jimmy Savile was the host.
23 March 1967. Also in the studio that week were; Manfred Mann, Sandie Shaw, The Small Faces and Whistling Jack Smith. Simon Dee was the host.
None of these editions survive.
Billy, any idea what the Nashville Teens song was? I’m a bit obsessed with their version of All Along The Watchtower (the first electric version as far as I know), though I know it won’t be that. I’m sure it’s their dreadful name that stops them from being re-assessed.
#53 ‘I’m Coming Home’ – any ideas? I thought that 1967 was a bit late when I wrote that!
Oh, it’s good, same song as He’s Coming Home by Beverly Ann, a Wigan Casino hit (written by two of the Flowerpot Men but NOT John Carter!). Here’s Beverly Ann’s version, the NTs’ one isn’t on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISJMtG7T14g
So, Tom: would you have been awarding Strawberry Fields and/or Penny Lane a ’10′, had it not been for Engelbert’s rude interruption? I jus’ gots ta know!
My hunch is that SFF is a 9 and PL a 7 or 8 individually – but the compare’n'contrast loveliness of the double-act might have been enough to push them up.
Sorry for lack of updates by the way – under the work hammer.
TPL: it’s 1975, and Abigail’s mother is still searching for that old reassurance derived from other people’s misery.