A Sign of The Times

"A Sign of the Times" was the followup to Petula Clark's #1 US hit "My Love", continuing her association with writer/producer Tony Hatch though with a more percussive sound than was evident on Clark's previous singles – or would be evident on her later ones.

The song was recorded at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch in a session which featured guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and the Breakaways vocal group.

Clark introduced "A Sign of the Times" on The Ed Sullivan Show broadcast February 27, 1966. The single would debut on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 26 March and reached its peak of #11 on 23 April. It peaked at #2 on Billboard's "Easy Listening" survey.

Beginning with her American breakout "Downtown", Clark's singles had all performed better chart-wise in the US than the UK. (The 1966 #23 UK hit "You're the One" was not released in the US.) "A Sign of the Times" became the most extreme example of this discrepancy by spending only one week – that of 23 April – in the UK Top 50 at #49. Although this trend was reversed with Clark's next single: "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" (UK #6/US #9), Clark's last two 1966 single releases: "Who Am I?" (US #21)and "Colour My World" (US #16) both failed to rank in the UK Top 50.

"A Sign of the Times" was a hit in Australia (#11) and South Africa (#2).

"A Sign of the Times" also served as the title cut for a live CD by Petula Clark released by Varèse Sarabande 13 November 2001 comprising footage from her concert dates at Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, Virginia on 20 and 21 May 2001 featuring guests Richard Carpenter and Lou Rawls.

TRACK LISTING:

1 A Sign Of The Times 2 I’m Not Afraid 3 At Last (with Lou Rawls) 4 Downtown 5 I Dreamed A Dream 6 Don’t Give Up 7 I Need To Be In Love (with Richard Carpenter) 8 The Wedding Song (There Is Love) 9 With One Look 10 Celebrate 11 I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love (with Lou Rawls and Richard Carpenter) 12 Here For You 13 Look For The Silver Lining 14 Vivre (Notre Dame de Paris)

The Chrysler Hall engagement was also broadcast by PBS as the television special Petula Clark: A Sign of the Times which – augmented with archive footage from Clark's career – was released on DVD 26 March 2002.

In 1969 B.F. Goodrich utilized the tune to "A Sign of the Times" for TV commercials advertising radial tires: the lyric was adjusted from "It's a sign of the times" to "It's the radial age".

In 1986, "A Sign of the Times" was played in the video documentary An Amazin' Era: The New York Mets. The song was heard over films of Mets' baseball fans carrying banners with messages on them.

In 1999 Target department store ran a series of television commercials featuring "A Sign of the Times." The song's use as a jingle for Target was masterminded by the company's marketing director John Pellegrene who had been responsible for "A Sign of the Times" being used in the 1960s' B.F. Goodrich ad campaign.

In 2001, the radio giant Clear Channel listed "A Sign of the Times" on their list of temporarily banned songs in the wake of September 11. The title was construed to have Armageddon implications.

A brief clip of "A Sign of the Times" was used on Dickie Goodman's 1966 novelty record, "Batman and his Grandmother".