Washington Square (composition)

"Washington Square" is a popular instrumental from 1963 by the New York City-based jazz group The Village Stompers. The composition was written by Bobb Goldsteinn and David Shire.[2]

"Washington Square"
Single by The Village Stompers
from the album The Original Washington Square
B-side"Turkish Delight"
Released23 August 1963[1]
Recorded1963
GenrePop, Dixieland jazz, instrumental
Length2:42
LabelEpic
Songwriter(s)Bobb Goldsteinn, David Shire
Producer(s)Joe Sherman
The Village Stompers singles chronology
"Washington Square"
(1963)
"The La-Dee Da Song"
(1964)

Background

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The composition is named after the famous park in New York City.[3]

Chart performance

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"Washington Square" was a hit single, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the week ending 23 November 1963,[4] kept from the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 by Dale and Grace's hit song "I'm Leaving It Up to You".[5] "Washington Square" did, however, top the Billboard Easy Listening chart for three weeks that November[3] and made the top 30 on the Billboard R&B chart.[6] In Canada it was No. 5 for 2 weeks.[7]

Accolades

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In addition, the instrumental was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Instrumental Theme.

Other recordings

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Other artists have recorded the tune, sometimes with song lyrics. Among these acts are:

In Asia:

  • The South Korean female vocalist band Lee Sisters released a recording of this tune.[9]
  • Another South Korean group, named Key Boys, also released a recording of this tune under the title "미소 (微笑)(Washington Square)" in 1964.
  • The Hong Kong Cantopop artist Samuel Hui also released a recording of the tune in Cantonese, titled 學生哥 (hok6 saang1 go1) for the film The Contract, with new lyrics exhorting boys to be studious.[10]
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  • The tune was also featured as a very important plot piece in the 2020 Stephen King HBO drama The Outsider.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Village Stompers: Washington Square". www.45cat.com. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  2. ^ "Song: Washington Square written by Bobb Goldstein, David Shire | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  3. ^ a b c Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  4. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  5. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 (Week of November 23rd, 1963)". Billboard. 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2023-06-22.
  6. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 604.
  7. ^ "CHUM Hit Parade - November 18, 1963".
  8. ^ ASCAP. "ACE Title Search." http://www.ascap.com/index.aspx Note: must enter song info @ ASCAP site
  9. ^ "정시스터즈 워싱턴광장 1965". YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
  10. ^ "【一日一經典】廣東話歌神許冠傑:命裏有時終須有 - 明周娛樂". 明周娛樂 (in Chinese). 2017-09-06. Retrieved 2018-06-02.[dead link]