"Washington Square" is a popular instrumental from 1963 by the New York City-based jazz group The Village Stompers. The composition was written by Bobb Goldsteinn and David Shire.[2]
| "Washington Square" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Village Stompers | ||||
| from the album The Original Washington Square | ||||
| B-side | "Turkish Delight" | |||
| Released | 23 August 1963[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1963 | |||
| Genre | Pop, Dixieland jazz, instrumental | |||
| Length | 2:42 | |||
| Label | Epic | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Bobb Goldsteinn, David Shire | |||
| Producer(s) | Joe Sherman | |||
| The Village Stompers singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editThe composition is named after the famous park in New York City.[3]
Chart performance
edit"Washington Square" was a hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the week ending 23 November 1963,[4] kept from the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 by Dale and Grace's hit song "I'm Leaving It Up to You".[5] "Washington Square" did, however, top the Billboard Easy Listening chart for three weeks that November[3] and made the top 30 on the Billboard R&B chart.[6] In Canada it was No. 5 for 2 weeks.[7]
Accolades
editIn addition, the instrumental was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Instrumental Theme.
Other recordings
editOther artists have recorded the tune, sometimes with song lyrics. Among these acts are:
- The Ames Brothers 1963 (without Ed Ames; their last national chart record)
- The Kirby Stone Four 1963
- Lawrence Welk 1963
- Kenny Ball 1963
- Spike Jones 1963
- Kai Winding 1963
- Sammy Kaye & His Orchestra 1964
- Andre Kostelanetz 1964
- Billy Vaughn 1964
- Glenn Miller Orchestra 1965
- Marilyn Maye 1965
- The Dukes of Dixieland 1968
- James Last 1970
- Percy Faith 1974
- The Ventures 1980
- Nightmares on Wax 1999
- Chinese Man 2006.[3][8]
In Asia:
- The South Korean female vocalist band Lee Sisters released a recording of this tune.[9]
- Another South Korean group, named Key Boys, also released a recording of this tune under the title "미소 （微笑）(Washington Square)" in 1964.
- The Hong Kong Cantopop artist Samuel Hui also released a recording of the tune in Cantonese, titled 學生哥 (hok6 saang1 go1) for the film The Contract, with new lyrics exhorting boys to be studious.[10]
Popular culture
edit- The tune was also featured as a very important plot piece in the 2020 Stephen King HBO drama The Outsider.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "The Village Stompers: Washington Square". www.45cat.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
- ^ "Song: Washington Square written by Bobb Goldstein, David Shire | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
- ^ a b c Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
- ^ "Billboard Hot 100 (Week of November 23rd, 1963)". Billboard. 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 604.
- ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - November 18, 1963".
- ^ ASCAP. "ACE Title Search." http://www.ascap.com/index.aspx Note: must enter song info @ ASCAP site
- ^ "정시스터즈 워싱턴광장 1965". YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
- ^ "【一日一經典】廣東話歌神許冠傑：命裏有時終須有 - 明周娛樂". 明周娛樂 (in Chinese). 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2018-06-02.[dead link]
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