Lucky Lips is a song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by Ruth Brown in 1956 and was successfully covered by Cliff Richard in 1963.

Ruth Brown and early cover versions

The song was first recorded by the R&B singer Ruth Brown for Atlantic Records in New York in September 1956, and was released as a single in early 1957. It was her second hit on the US pop chart, after " (Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" in 1953, reaching number 25 on the pop chart and number 6 on the '' Billboard'' R&B chart. The song was covered by the white singer Gale Storm, as the B-side of her single "On Treasure Island", for Dot Records. Storm's recording reached number 77 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart. The song was also covered by Dottie Evans for Bell Records. In Britain, it was recorded by Alma Cogan as the B-side of "Whatever Lola Wants", which reached number 26 on the UK singles chart, also in 1957.

Cliff Richard version

In 1963 the song was recorded by Cliff Richard, whose version went to number 4 in the UK. It was more successful internationally, reaching number 1 in Belgium, Denmark, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa and Sweden. His version with German lyrics reached number 1 in West Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Richard was presented with a Gold disc by EMI Records for one million worldwide sales of "Lucky Lips". Richard's German version, titled "Rote Lippen soll man küssen" ("Red Lips Should Be Kissed"), with lyrics by Hans Bradtke, stayed at number 1 in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

for seven weeks and had sold half a million by the end of 1963. The English version also charted in West Germany in its own right before the German version was released in September.

Chart performance

"Lucky Lips" (English version) "Rote Lippen soll man küssen" (German version)

Other cover versions

With lyrics in Swedish by Christer Jonasson as "Slit och släng", Siw Malmkvist scored a 9 week long Svensktoppen hit with the song from November 5, 1966 – January 14, 1967, peaking at #2. These lyrics reflects the society of Swedish in the 1950s and 60s. Siw Malmkvist also made a version in Danish, "Slid og slæb". In 1969, a Catalan version, "Llavis de mel" (Honey lips), was included in "Tots Som Pops", the first LP recorded by the Catalan group La Trinca. The lyrics were translated and adapted by the writer Jaume Picas (1921–1976).

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n singer Ivo Linna and his band Rock Hotell recorded an Estonian language version titled ''Kikilips'' ( Bowtie) about the article of clothing in 1980. His version has become a very well-known song in Estonia. In 2003, Florian Ast released a Bernese German version titled "Schöni Meitschi" (Beautiful Girls). The song reached #7 in Schweizer Hitparade.

References

{{authority control Songs about luck 1957 singles 1963 singles Cliff Richard songs Number-one singles in Belgium Number-one singles in Germany Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Dutch Top 40 number-one singles Number-one singles in Sweden Number-one singles in Switzerland Number-one singles in Denmark Number-one singles in Norway Songs written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller Columbia Graphophone Company singles Atlantic Records singles 1957 songs Ruth Brown songs Song recordings produced by Norrie Paramor