"Carrie Anne" is a song written by Allan Clarke,

Graham Nash Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is a British and American musician, singer and songwriter. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Crosby, Stills ...

, and Tony Hicks and released by British

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

group the Hollies. It was recorded on 1 May 1967 and was released as a single in the same month by

Parlophone Records Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

in the United Kingdom and

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

in the United States. It became a hit in 1967, reaching No.3 on the UK Singles Chart. It was also a hit in the US and Canada, peaking at No.9 on both pop charts. It also reached No.4 in the Irish charts.

Conception and recording

According to Allan Clarke the song was written during a concert the group did with Tom Jones; Graham Nash and Tony Hicks were the main composers, with Allan Clarke supplying the lyrics for the middle eight. The introduction features vocal harmonies strongly influenced by

the Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. A

steelpan The steelpan (also known as a pan or steel drum) is a musical instrument originating in Trinidad and Tobago from Afro–Trinidadians and Tobagonians, Afro-Trinidadians. Steelpan musicians are called pannists. In 1992, the steelpan was declared ...

solo is featured, probably the first use of the instrument on a pop record. The solo (mostly a harmonized restatement of the vocal melody) was probably played by Trinidadian Ralph Richardson, though others argue it may have been Mario Gibbins. The track was recorded in only two takes on 1 May 1967 at EMI's

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

. The first take was a false start and can be heard on the compilation ''The Hollies at Abbey Road: 1966 to 1970''. '' Cashbox'' called it "a gently driving, pulsating, soft-rock venture that is likely to stir up a lot of activity with the teens". The song is a shy tribute to

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (29 December 1946 – 30 January 2025) was an English singer and actress who achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her UK top 10 single " As Tears Go By". She became one of the leading female art ...

. "Carrie Anne" appeared on the soundtrack of

Michael Apted Michael David Apted (10 February 1941 – 7 January 2021) was an English television and film director and producer. Apted began working in television and directed the ''Up (film series), Up'' documentary series from 1970 to 2019). He later di ...

's 1974 movie '' Stardust''. It was also used in the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

series ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The series follows Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey American Mafia, Mafia boss who suffers from panic attacks. He reluct ...

'', episode " Down Neck" (Season 1, Episode 7), during one of Tony's flashbacks.

Charts

Cover versions

*The Slovak-language rendering "Je môj sen" was recorded in 1968 b
Tatjana Hubinská
*American singer-songwriter Tommy Keene, on his 2004 rarities compilation, ''Drowning—A Tommy Keene Miscellany''. It was also included on the 1995 Eggbert Records release '' Sing Hollies in Reverse'' *

Ali Campbell Alistair Ian Campbell (born 15 February 1959) is an English singer and songwriter who was lead singer and co-founder of the British reggae band UB40. UB40 sold more than 70 million records worldwide and toured for 30 years with the original l ...

, on his 2010 album 'Great British Songs'. It was released as a UK single on 8 November 2010 *The B-side "Signs That Will Never Change" was recorded first by

the Everly Brothers The Everly Brothers were an American rock duo, known for steel-string acoustic guitar playing and close-harmony singing. Consisting of Isaac Donald "Don" Everly and Phillip "Phil" Everly, the duo combined elements of rock and roll, country, ...

, released in 1966 on the '' Two Yanks in England'' album. *

Shania Twain Eilleen Regina "Shania" Twain ( ; born August 28, 1965) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. She has sold over 100 million records, making her one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time and the best-sel ...

performed this song as a cover in her

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

show, Shania: Still the One, that ran from December 2012 to December 2014. *

Game Theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

recorded a live version that was included on the 2016 reissue of their album Lolita Nation. * Claude François, in November 1967 under the French title "L'Homme au traineau"

In popular culture

Actress Carrie-Anne Moss reportedly was named (by her mother) in honour of the song, which was released three months before her birth.

References

External links

Lyrics
{{authority control 1967 singles The Hollies songs Parlophone singles Songs written by Graham Nash Songs written by Allan Clarke (singer) Songs written by Tony Hicks 1967 songs Epic Records singles