Downtown (as performed by Petula Clark) (Score & parts)

Description

This famous catchy pop song from 1964, written by Tony Hatch and sung by Petula Clark, climbed the charts and became a worldwide hit. In 1965, “Downtown” was awarded a Grammy for “best rock’n’roll song”. Since then, many renowned artist have covered the song.

Stefan Schwalgin intentionally chose the version by Petula Clark as a basis for his arrangement. For one

thing, he honors the original and most famous release of this song. For another, he has great regard for the song’s quasi-orchestral arrangement with a careful and multi-varied instrumentation that offers great possibilities of adapting the sound to the concert band. A rock or pop song’s melodic quality is the essential precondition for an instrumental version. The “Downtown” tune fulfills all requirements and has a high recognition value.