"The 'Sweetest Girl' "
Single by Scritti Politti
from the album Songs to Remember
B-side
  • "Lions After Slumber" (UK, US, Germany)
  • "Confidence" (France, Japan)
ReleasedOctober 1981
Genre
Length4:37 (single version)
6:18 (album version)
LabelRough Trade
Songwriter(s)Green Gartside
Producer(s)
Scritti Politti singles chronology
"4 A-Sides"
(1979)		 "The 'Sweetest Girl' "
(1981)		 "Faithless"
(1982)

"The 'Sweetest Girl' " is a song written by the Welsh singer Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in October 1981 as a single. The single peaked at No. 64 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] The keyboards are played by Robert Wyatt.[2]

The song became a marginally bigger hit five years later, when covered by ska and pop band Madness. Their version of the song peaked at No. 35 in the UK and No. 29 in Ireland in early 1986. Madness changed the title of the song slightly, losing both the definite article and the quotation marks around the last two words in "The 'Sweetest Girl'", thereby rendering it as "Sweetest Girl".

Scritti Politti version

Artwork

As with the cover artwork for all of the singles from Songs to Remember (1982), "The 'Sweetest Girl'" pays homage to the packaging of a luxury consumer item, which in this case was Dunhill cigarettes.[3][4] Gartside claimed that the idea behind the singles' sleeves was to "convey a sense of a common, available thing which is classy, like our records now".[3]

Track listing

The B-side "Lions After Slumber" takes its title from, and quotes in its final lines from, the 1819 political poem The Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

7" and 12" vinyl (UK, US, Germany)

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The 'Sweetest Girl'"4:34
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Lions After Slumber"4:58

7" vinyl (France, Japan)

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."The 'Sweetest Girl'"4:37
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Confidence"3:04

Personnel

Source:[5]

Madness version

"Sweetest Girl"
Single by Madness
from the album Mad Not Mad
B-side"Jennie (A Portrait Of)"
Released10 February 1986 (1986-02-10)
Genre
Length4:20 (single version)
5:46 (album version)
7:01 (dub mix)
6:34 (extended mix)
LabelZarjazz
Songwriter(s)Green Gartside
Producer(s)
Madness singles chronology
"Uncle Sam"
(1985)		 "Sweetest Girl"
(1986)		 "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train"
(1986)
Music video
Madness – "Sweetest Girl" on YouTube

The cover of the song by the ska and pop band Madness was included on their sixth studio album Mad Not Mad (1985), and released as a single the following year. The song spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 35. Whilst reflecting on the Mad Not Mad album, the band's lead vocalist Suggs said that "The Sweetest Girl" was my idea – let’s get really serious and take a song that we don't even understand."[7]

Music video

The song's music video was featured in the 1986 BBC Omnibus documentary Video Jukebox.[8]

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Simon Witter of NME noted how Suggs' "slightly monotone delivery is bolstered by gorgeous harmonies and an inventive rearrangement". He predicted the song would be a hit.[9] Dave Rimmer of Smash Hits described it as "a rather strained version of the first decent song Scritti Politti ever wrote" and added that it "limps and stumbles all the way through".[10] Frank Hopkinson of Number One commented, "The record's light, slow with subtle changes of pace and Suggs singing at his most plaintive."[11]

Track listing

7" vinyl

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl"Green Gartside4:20
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jennie (A Portrait Of)"
3:24

12" vinyl

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl" (Dub Mix)Gartside7:01
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Sweetest Girl" (Extended Mix)Gartside6:34
2."Jennie (A Portrait Of)"
  • Thompson
  • Woodgate
3:05

Charts

Chart (1986) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart[12][13] 35
Irish Singles Chart[14] 29

References

  1. ↑ "The Official Charts Company - Scritti Politti - Sweetest Girl". Official Charts. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  2. ↑ "Old music: Scritti Politti – the Sweetest Girl". TheGuardian.com. 17 October 2011.
  3. 1 2 Dwyer, Simon (29 May 1982). "The Polittics of ecstasy". Sounds.
  4. ↑ Reynolds, Simon (2005). Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978–1984. London, England: Faber and Faber. p. 366. ISBN 978-0-571-21570-6.
  5. ↑ "Robert Wyatt - with Friends".
  6. ↑ Songs to Remember (CD booklet). Scritti Politti. Rough Trade Records. 1982.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ↑ "Madness on their best albums: "We were full of ideas!"". 15 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Collections Search | BFI | British Film Institute". Collections-search.bfi.org.uk. 9 May 1986. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  9. ↑ Witter, Simon (25 January 1986). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 8.
  10. ↑ Rimmer, Dave (15 January 1986). "Review: Singles". Smash Hits. p. 39.
  11. ↑ Hopkinson, Frank (25 January 1986). "Singles". Number One. No. 136. p. 36.
  12. ↑ "everyhit.com search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  13. ↑ "The Official Charts Company - Madness - The Sweetest Girl". Official Charts. Retrieved 10 January 2009.
  14. ↑ "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
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