Goodness Gracious Me (song)

"Goodness Gracious Me" is a comedy song recorded by Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren. Released by Parlophone, it was a top 5 UK single in 1960. It features Sellers acting the role of an Indian doctor, and Loren of his wealthy Italian patient – who fall in love

Cover of the 1960 hit single

Conception and composition

The song was conceived and instigated by George Martin, who was the producer at that time of Peter Sellers's comedy recordings. Martin commissioned David Lee and Herbert Kretzmer to write the song. Martin himself produced the recording. Martin envisaged the song as a recording to be incorporated in the soundtrack of the film The Millionairess which was being filmed at that time starring Sellers and Loren. However, the film's producers did not share his enthusiasm for including the song in the film's soundtrack and did not utilize it. The studio was however happy to see the song released as a stand-alone single to promote the film. In becoming a chart hit[1] it succeeded in publicizing the film.

Release history

Though the song did not feature in The Millionairess itself, some of the lyrics in the song refer to the film; for example, "There's nothing the matter with it; put it away please" referring to the scene when Epifania shows Dr. Kabir her tongue, pretending to be ill.

The song proved so popular in the United Kingdom that a follow-up song, "Bangers and Mash", was released. Sellers sang and spoke the part of a Cockney asking for plain and simple English cooking, Loren singing the part of his Italian wife wanting to serve him traditional Italian food. Both are featured on collections of Sellers' comedy recordings.

Since early 2010, videos have been created and posted using the scene of Sellers and Loren from the film, with the audio recording of the song as the soundtrack.[2]

In 1979, heart transplant pioneer, Christiaan Barnard and Australian actress, Chantal Contouri, performed the song together as part of Channel 7 Perth's annual Telethon.[3]

In the 1990s, the song provided the inspiration for the title and theme tune of the BBC radio and TV comedy programme of the same name, starring British-based Indian characters.

In February 2013, the song was covered by Rowan Atkinson and Pixie Lott for a one off telethon From the Heart.[4][5]

gollark: Simply press the button in my base to receive 16 MELON™.
gollark: Why buy baked potatos when you could consume FREE MELON™ in Chorus City?
gollark: Hi.
gollark: Test.
gollark: It's documented in PS#ABB85797: "Utilizing unknown means possibly involving direct bytecode manipulation, [REDACTED], and side-channel attacks, the program [DATA EXPUNGED], potentially resulting in a cascading failure/compromise of other networked computers and associated PotatOS-related systems such as the ODIN defense coordination network and Skynet, which would result in a ΛK-class critical failure scenario."

References
  1. "1960-12-03 Top 40 Official UK Singles Archive". Official Charts Company. 3 December 1960. Retrieved 6 January 2012.
  2. YouTube video showing Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers in character with the song as soundtrack seen 11 October 2016
  3. "The Golden Years of TVW". Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  4. Alex Fletcher, Rowan Atkinson and Pixie Lott get saucy for 'From The Heart', www.digitalspy.co.uk, Wednesday, 13 February 2013
  5. YouTube recording of the Atkinson-Lott performance
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