Girls on the Avenue (song)

"Girls on the Avenue" is a 1975 song from Australian singer-songwriter Richard Clapton. Released as the first single from the album of the same name, it reached number four on the Australian charts, Clapton's highest chart performance.[1]

"Girls on the Avenue"
Single by Richard Clapton
from the album Girls on the Avenue
A-side"Travelling Down the Castlereagh"
B-side"Girls on the Avenue"
ReleasedJanuary 1975
GenreRock
LabelFestival
Songwriter(s)Richard Clapton
Richard Clapton singles chronology
"I Wanna Be a Survivor"
(1974)		 "Girls on the Avenue"
(1975)		 "Down the Road"
(1975)

Details

Initially released as the B-side of "Travelling Down the Castlereagh", the song became a hit after it was first played on Double J and then picked up by commercial radio.[2] Clapton said, "I remember at the time Festival [Clapton's record label] thought "Girls on the Avenue" was absolute rubbish. Their comment was, 'We asked you to write a hit single. Where's the chorus? This is a pile of rubbish. It's just a myriad of ideas you've stuck together like a Frankenstein monster.'"[3] The song took about half an hour to write.[4]

Although the song was widely perceived to be about prostitutes, Clapton has stated it was actually about three girls who lived on The Avenue in Rose Bay in Sydney when he was living the next street over.[5] Clapton was happy for the misunderstanding to continue, saying, "My manager at the time simply said 'Sex sells. Let that urban myth keep festering out there and you'll sell a lot of records.' and I did."[6]

Clapton later said that much of the money he received from the song was because of its inclusion on a 1975 compilation called Ripper.[6]

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gollark: Death.

References
  1. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, New South Wales: Australian Chart Book. p. 70. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  2. Nimmervoll, Ed. "Richard Clapton". Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music (Ed Nimmervoll). White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd. Archived from the original on 29 April 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2014.
  3. Toby Creswell and Martin Fabinyi (2000). The Real Thing. Random House. p. 79. ISBN 0091835488.
  4. Eliezer, Christine (23 September 1976). "Richard Clapton - Clapton Capers: Upbeat on Main Street". Rolling Stone. p. 42.
  5. "Richard Clapton talking about 'Girls on the Avenue'". Saturday Night with Peter Graham.
  6. "Richard Clapton on collaboration and music". ABC Radio.
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