"Concrete and Clay" is a 1965

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

recorded by the UK

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

group

Unit 4 + 2 Unit 4 + 2 were a British pop band, who had a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1965 with the song " Concrete and Clay". The track topped the UK chart for one week. Career Early days In 1962, Brian Parker, then the guitar player and son ...

. It reached No. 1 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in April 1965. The song was written by group members Tommy Moeller and Brian Parker. It was also a top 40 hit for

Eddie Rambeau Eddie Rambeau (born Edward Cletus Fluri; June 30, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Career While performing in a high-school musical he had written, Rambeau met songwriter and musician Bud Rehak, who went on to become his ...

in 1965.

Background

Recorded with the help of

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

s and featuring ("+2")

Russ Ballard Russell Glyn Ballard (born 31 October 1945) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Originally coming to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the band Argent, Ballard became a songwriter and producer by the late 1970s. His co ...

and

Bob Henrit Robert John "Bob" Henrit (born 2 May 1944, in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England)Eder, Bruce "Robert Henrit Biography, Allmusic, retrieved 2010-02-13 is an English drummer who has been a member of several musical groups, including Buster Meikle ...

, the lyrics detail the indestructible love of the singer and his lover. The

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

has a pronounced

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

influence, using

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

s and a baião beat. These distinctive elements helped boost "Concrete and Clay" to the No. 1 position on the

in April 1965.

Chart performance

American record producer

Bob Crewe Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...

, best known for his work with the Four Seasons, had heard the Unit 4 + 2 hit version of "Concrete and Clay" while on a trip to the UK. As a result, Crewe had a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

of "Concrete and Clay" cut by Eddie Rambeau, a staff writer at Crewe's music publishing firm, which was the inaugural release for Crewe's own

DynoVoice Records DynoVoice Records was an American record label, founded in 1965 by songwriter/producer Bob Crewe. The label started as Dyno-Vox, but was changed when the 5th single was issued. DynoVoice, along with its NewVoice Records subsidiary, was originally ...

. Although the Rambeau version's release pre-dated the US release of the Unit 4 + 2 version by one week, both singles debuted on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 dated 8 May 1965; Unit 4 + 2 at No. 96 and Rambeau at No. 98, with both singles making a similar chart ascent over the next four weeks. The original eventually peaked at No. 28 while Rambeau's version reached No. 35.

Unit 4 + 2

Eddie Rambeau

Other cover versions

*Featured on albums by Gary Lewis and the Playboys (''A Session with Gary Lewis and the Playboys''/ 1965) *

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

(''Kinda Latin''/ 1966) *"Concrete and Clay" was remade by

Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...

for his 1976 album release ''Farewell Fairbanks'' which otherwise comprised Edelman originals. Issued as a single, Edelman's "Concrete and Clay" became a UK hit reaching No. 11 in March 1976. *In 1986, a remake of "Concrete and Clay" by Martin Plaza, co-lead vocalist of the group

Mental as Anything Mental As Anything are an Australian new wave and pop rock band that formed in Sydney in 1976. Its most popular line-up (which lasted from 1977 to 1999, and recorded all of their charting singles and albums) was Martin Plaza (birth name Marti ...

, reached No. 2 in Australia and was the 23rd biggest selling single in Australia in 1986. *Also in 1986, a remake by Hong Kong Syndikat reached No. 26 in Germany, and also reached No. 12 in France in 1987. *Former

Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

singer Kevin Rowland released a version in 1999 * Pete Byrne also covered the song on his 2001 solo album ''The Real Illusion''.

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a dr ...

attempted a version of the song in 1990. The uncompleted track was released as an MP3 in 2001. *"Concrete and Clay" was also covered on a 1983 EP by Los Angeles band Doll Congress, featuring Michael Penn and keyboardist Patrick Warren. *The 1967 album ''Music to Watch Girls By'' by the

Bob Crewe Generation Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Season ...

features instrumental versions of several Bob Crewe produced hits, including "Concrete and Clay". *On 28 October 2011, a new version of "Concrete And Clay" by original singer and co-writer Tommy Moeller was released on the Chance Music record label based in Sydney Australia, 47 years after his original version in 1964. *The Tommy Moeller album ''Time'' is dedicated to "Concrete And Clay" co-writer Brian Parker (1939–2001), and includes three other songs by Moeller and Parker. The cover of the album shows Tommy Moeller at age 19 when he first sang "Concrete And Clay", and in 2011 when the new version by Chance Music was released. *Another version from 1973 was recorded by British teenage singer Darren Burn. It failed to chart. *A finnish rock band YUP did a cover version "Maa Alla Horjuu" (lit. "The Ground Is Shaking") in 2001 for their re-recordings and covers -album of "Hajoita ja hallitse" (lit. "Divide and rule").

International cover versions

The success of "Concrete and Clay" in 1965 resulted in international

cover versions In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song relea ...

that same year, with renderings in: *Swedish – "Du för mig" recorded by

Lill Lindfors Maj Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors (born 12 May 1940) is a Swedish singer who has performed in Scandinavia since the 1960s. Career She was born in Helsinki, Finland, and made her debut as a revue actress in Uddevalla in 1960. The following year she ...

*Finnish – "Tunti Vain" recorded by

Johnny Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females. Varia ...

*French – "Comment Elle-Fait" recorded by Richard Anthony *German – "Ein Fremder kam vorbei" recorded by Horst Wiegand.

Popular culture

*The Unit 4 + 2 version was featured in the 1998 film '' Rushmore'' and was included on its accompanying soundtrack album. * "Concrete and Clay" also featured in a

Signal In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The '' IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing' ...

White NOW toothpaste commercial.

References

{{authority control 1965 singles Unit 4 + 2 songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles RPM Top Singles number-one singles London Records singles 1965 songs Decca Records singles