#3: Wonderful To Be Young by Cliff Richard

City: London, ON
Radio Station: CFPL
Peak Month: December 1962
Peak Position in London ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #21
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “Wonderful To Be Young”
Lyrics: “Wonderful To Be Young”

Cliff Richard was born Harry Roger Webb on October 14, 1940, in the city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, India. In 1940 Lucknow was part of the British Raj, as India was not yet an independent country. Webb’s father worked on as a catering manager for the Indian Railways. His mother raised Harry and his three sisters. In 1948, when India had become independent, the Webb family took a boat to Essex, England, and began a new chapter. At the age of 16 Harry Webb was given a guitar by his father. Harry then formed a vocal group called the Quintones. Webb was interested in skiffle music, a type of jug band music, popularized by “The King of Skiffle,” Scottish singer Lonnie Donegan who had an international hit in 1955 called “Rock Island Line”.

In 1958 Webb became the lead singer of a British rock group named the Drifters. It was during this time that Harry Greatorex, who was promoting the band, gave Harry Webb the stage name, “Cliff Richard.”As rock and roll made some people think of rocks, Greatorex reasoned that “Cliff” would be a rock solid name for the young 18 year old Harry Webb. Cliff Richard would go on to record nearly 150 singles that made it onto the UK charts.

Bruce Welch was born in 1941 in Bognor Regis, a seaside resort 55 miles southwest of London. He formed The Railroaders while he was still fourteen (before he turned 15 on November 2, 1956). His friend, Hank Marvin was one of the other three bandmates in The Drifters. Another member of The Drifters was Terrance “Jet” Harris, who was born in North West London in 1939. It was Harris who suggested to Cliff Richard that the band change their name to The Shadows in order to avoid confusion with the American R&B group, The Drifters, who were had a string of hit records  beginning with “Money Honey” in 1953 and most recently with “There Goes My Baby” in 1959.

In 1958 Cliff Richard had a two Top Ten hits in the UK and Norway titled “Move It” and “High Class Baby”.

Cliff Richard had his first single on the Vancouver charts peak at number one in the fall of 1959. It was titled “Living Doll”. The single topped the pop charts in Ottawa and Vancouver, and reached #11 in Montreal. As well, “Living Doll” peaked at #1 in Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, #2 in the Netherlands, #9 in Australia, #10 in Spain, #11 in Finland, #16 in Belgium and #19 in West Germany. Later in 1959, the pop star had another number-one hit in Ireland, Norway and the UK with “Travelin’ Light”. And in 1960, he had three number-one international hits with “A Voice in the Wilderness” (Ireland), “Please Don’t Tease” (Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and the UK), and “I Love You” (New Zealand and the UK). Two more single releases that year cracked the Top Ten in multiple countries.

In North America, Cliff Richard was a regular feature on the pop charts in Vancouver and a few other radio markets in Canada. In March 1961, Cliff Richard had a hit titled “D’ In Love“. And in the spring of ’61 Richard was back in the Top Ten in Vancouver with “Theme For A Dream“. In addition, in ’61 “When the Girl in Your Arms Is the Girl in Your Heart” was a Top Ten hit in seven countries across Africa, Australia, and Europe. It was a song from the film The Young Ones. While “A Girl Like You” was a number-one hit in Hong Kong, India, South Africa and the UK; and a Top Ten hit in four more nations.

In February and March 1962, Cliff Richard was back in the Top Ten in Calgary, Toronto and Vancouver with “The Young Ones“. Internationally, the pop idol had a giant hit with “I’m Lookin’ out the Window” / “Do You Want to Dance”. It topped the pop charts in India, the Netherlands and Sweden, and a Top Ten hit in eight more countries. In the fall of 1962, Cliff Richard released “Wonderful To Be Young”. It was the title track from the UK film, The Young Ones, that was re-titled Wonderful To Be Young for its North American release.

“Wonderful To Be Young” was a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1928. He studied at McGill in Montreal, and music schools in New York City and California. In 1948 he was drafted into the United States Army. While in West Germany he met singer Vic Damone, and when he was discharged Burt Bacharach worked with Damone for three years.

Bacharach was in several successful songwriting teams, including with Bob Hillier. They co-wrote “Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)” for Chuck Jackson, “Tower Of Strength” for Gene McDaniels,

Burt Bacharach and Hal David were composers working in the Brill Building starting in the late 50s. They co-wrote “The Story Of My Life” which became a #1 hit for Michael Holliday in 1958 in the UK, and “Magic Moments” for Perry Como another #1 hit in the UK and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 later that year. In 1961 Bacharach wrote “Tower Of Strength” for Gene McDaniels and “Baby It’s You” for The Shirelles. Bacharach and David had a banner year in 1962 with hits that included “(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance” (Gene Pitney),  “Make It Easy On Yourself” (Jerry Butler), “Don’t Make Me Over” (Dionne Warwick) and “Only Love Can Break A Heart” (Gene Pitney). In 1963 the songwriting team enjoyed more accolades with “Wishing And Hoping” (Dusty Springfield), “Blue On Blue” (Bobby Vinton), “(They Long To Be) Close To You” (The Carpenters, #1 in 1970) and “Anyone Who Had A Heart” (Dionne Warwick). 1964 continued Buurt Bacharach and Hal David’s winning ways with “Walk On By” (Dionne Warwick) and “There’s Always Something There To Remind Me” (Sandie Shaw, #1 UK).

In 1965, Bacharach and Hal David were nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Song category for “What’s New Pussycat?”. They received nominations again in 1966 for “Alfie” and in 1967 for “The Look of Love”. In 1969, Bacharach and Hal David won Academy Awards for “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” (BJ Thomas, #1 US) in the Best Song category, and Best Score for an Original Motion Picture with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. In 1970, Bacharach and David won a Grammy Award for Best Score from an Original Caste Album for Promises, Promises. In 1981, Burt Bacharach shared an Academy Award for Best Original Song with “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)”. Over the years, Burt Bacharach received six Academy Award nominations and won three of these. He also received seven Golden Globe nominations and won two of these.

At the Grammy Awards, Burt Bacharach shared award nominations with Hal David for “Wives and Lovers” (1963), “What the World Needs Now Is Love” (1965), “Casino Royale” (1967). They won a Grammy in 1967 for “Alfie” in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category. The songwriting duo also received Grammy nominations for both “I’ll Never Fall In Love Again” and “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” (both losing out to “Games People Play” by Joe South).

In 1981, Bacharach received a Grammy nomination for “Arthur’s Theme”. In 1986 he shared the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1986 for “That’s What Friends Are For” with Carol Bayer Sager. In 1995, he shared a Grammy nomination with Elvis Costello in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category for “God Give Me Strength”. Bacharach and Costello won in that category in 1998 for “I Still Have That Other Girl”.

In 2005, Burt Bacharach won a Grammy Award for At This Time in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category.  In addition, he received a second Grammy nomination for the track “In This Time”.

In 2020, Burt Bacharach received a Grammy nomination in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category for Blue Umbrella. In 2021, Burt Bacharach received a Grammy nomination for Burt Bacharach and Steven Sater’s Some Lovers in the Best Musical Theatre Album category. Over the decades Burt Bacharach received 22 Grammy Award nominations, winning on six occasions. Over  the years Burt Bacharach wrote the soundtracks to eleven movies, and seven theatrical works. He also released eight solo albums, among his many accomplishments. Burt Bacharach died in 2023 at the age of 94.

Harold “Hal” David was born in 1921 in New York City. In 1949, his song “The Four Winds and The Seven Seas” was a #3 hit for Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye. In 1959, he cowrote “My Heart Is An Open Book”, a #3 hit for Carl Dobkins Jr. Later that year Sarah Vaughan had a Top Ten hit with “Broken Hearted Melody”. In 1961, David cowrote “Sea Of Heartbreak” for Don Gibson. The following year, his song “Johnny Get Angry” was a Top Ten hit for Joanie Sommers. Hal Hal David died in 2012 at the age of 91.

In the film The Young Ones/Wonderful To Be Young, the plot is about a youth club member, and aspiring singer, Nicky (Cliff Richard) and his friends. They try to save their youth club in London’s West End from an unscrupulous millionaire property developer Hamilton Black (Robert Black), who plans to tear it down to make room for a large office block.

The members decide to put on a variety show to raise the money needed to buy a lease renewal. The twist in the story is that Nicky is Hamilton Black’s son. This is something Nicky keeps secret from his friends until some of them try to kidnap Black, to prevent him from stopping the show. Although he is fighting his father over the future of the youth club, Nicky cannot allow them to harm his dad, so he attacks the attackers and frees his father.

Meanwhile, Hamilton Black has realised that his son is the mystery singer that all of London is talking about, after the youth club members have done some pirate broadcasts to promote their show. So, although he has just bought the theatre where the show is to take place, in order to be able to stop it, the proud father decides that the show must go on. At the end, he joins the youth club members on stage, dancing and singing, after having promised to build them a new youth club.

The upbeat “Wonderful To Be Young” conjures how when you’re young, and in love, you have “no doubts, no fears.” And “if everything goes wrong, we’ll laugh.” Ah youth.

“Wonderful To Be Young” peaked at #1 in London (ON), #13 in Hamilton (ON), and #16 in Toronto.

In 1963 Cliff Richard charted “Bachelor Boy” into the Top Ten in Peterborough (ON), Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. He kept on releasing more singles that were hits in the UK, numbers of countries on the European continent, and a host of radio markets across Canada. In the period between 1963 and 1966, this included  “Summer Holiday”, “Lucky Lips”, “It’ll Be Me”, “The Next Time“, “Dancing Shoes“, “It’s All In The Game“, “Don’t Talk To Him“, “Constantly [L’Edera]“/”True True Lovin'”, “On The Beach”, “Just Another Guy” and “Blue Turns To Grey“.

He remained almost completely off the radar in the USA until his Top Ten hit in 1976 on the Billboard Hot 100 called “Devil Woman.” He scored again in 1979 with “We Don’t Talk Anymore”. That same year he had a #4 hit in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and South Africa with “Carrie”. And in 1980, Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John recorded “Suddenly”, a Top Ten hit in Ireland. At the end of the year Cliff Richard charted “Dreamin'”. Richard’s next single was “A Little In Love“. In the fall of 1981 Cliff Richard had a Top Ten hit in Vancouver titled “Wired For Sound”.

In 1986, Cliff Richard released a new recording of his 1959 hit “Living Doll”. It became a number-one hit this time in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and the UK. As well, it made the Top Ten in Switzerland and Norway. And in 1986, Richard recorded a duet with Sarah Brightman titled “All I Ask of You”. It was a chart-topper in Ireland and South Africa, and a #3 hit in the UK.

Cliff Richard was among the performers at the Diamond Jubilee concert held outside Buckingham Palace in June 2012. Then, on June 30, 2012, he helped to carry the Olympic torch from Derby to Birmingham as part of the torch relay for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Cliff Richard has also been active as a philanthropist. In October 2015 he went on tour at the age of 75. Over the course of his recording career, Cliff Richard has had 68 singles reach the Top Ten on the UK singles chart between 1958 and 2008. In late June and early July, 2019, Cliff Richard celebrated his 60th year as a recording artist with his Diamond Encore Tour.

March 28, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Cliff’s Career,” Cliff Richard.org.
“Cliff Richard UK Singles chart discography,” official charts.com.
Richard Barber, “Burt Bacharach at 88: ‘Why Would I Ever Want To Stop?’,”  Telegraph, June 10, 2016.
Lauren Huff, “Dionne Warwick says loss of Burt Bacharach is ‘like losing a family member’,” Entertainment Weekly, February 9, 2023.
Richard Williams, “Hal David Obituary: Lyricist Behind Some of the Greatest Pop Hits of the 20th Century,” Guardian, September 2, 2012.

CFPL 980-AM London (ON) Top 30 of 1962 |December 25, 1962*
“Wonderful To Be Young” was ranked #25 song of the year in London (ON) for 1962