"Concrete and Clay" is the title of a 1965

1965 in music

-Events:*January 4 – Fender Musical Instruments Corporation is sold to CBS for $13 million.*January 12 – Hullabaloo premieres on NBC. The first show included performances by The New Christy Minstrels, comedian Woody Allen, actress Joey Heatherton and a segment from London in which Brian Epstein...

 #1 hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 recorded by the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 group

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 Unit 4 + 2

Unit 4 + 2

Unit 4 + 2 were a British pop band, who had a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart in 1965 with the song "Concrete and Clay". The track topped the UK chart for one week.-Early days:...

: the song was written by group members
Tommy Moeller and Brian Parker.

Recorded with the help of session musicians and featuring ("+2") Russ Ballard

Russ Ballard

Russell Glyn Ballard is an English singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Ballard was initially a guitarist with Buster Meikle & The Day Breakers in 1961, together with Roy Ballard, Russ's older brother on piano and Bob Henrit on drums...

 and Bob Henrit

Bob Henrit

Bob Henrit is an English drummer who has been a member of several musical groups, including Buster Meikle & The Daybreakers, The Hunters, Unit 4 + 2, The Roulettes, Argent and The Kinks....

, "Concrete and Clay" details the indestructible love of the singer and his lover:

"The sidewalks in the street, the concrete and the clay

Beneath my feet begins to crumble, but love will never die

Because we'll see the mountains tumble, before we say goodbye"

The arrangement

Arrangement

The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...

 has a pronounced Latin

Latin American music

Latin American music, found within Central and South America, is a series of musical styles and genres that mixes influences from Spanish, African and indigenous sources, that has recently become very famous in the US.-Argentina:...

 influence, using acoustic guitar

Acoustic guitar

An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...

s and a baion beat. These distinctive elements helped boost "Concrete and Clay" to the #1 position on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 dated 10 April 1965.

American record producer Bob Crewe

Bob Crewe

Bob Crewe is an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, record producer and fine artist. He is known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for The Four Seasons...

, best known for his work with the Four Seasons

The Four Seasons (group)

The Four Seasons are an American rock and pop band who became internationally successful in the mid-1960s. The Vocal Group Hall of Fame has stated that the group was the most popular rock band before The Beatles...

, had heard the Unit 4 + 2 hit version of "Concrete and Clay" while on a UK junket: Crewe resultantly had a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of "Concrete and Clay" cut by Eddie Rambeau

Eddie Rambeau

Eddie Rambeau 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 manager...

, a staffwriter at Crewe's music publishing firm, this version being the inaugural release for Crewe's own DynoVoice Records

DynoVoice Records

DynoVoice Records was an American record label, founded in 1965 by songwriter/producer Bob Crewe. DynoVoice, along with its NewVoice Records subsidiary, was originally distributed by Bell Records, and later by Dot Records. The label existed until 1969 when it was merged into the Crewe Group of...

. Although the Rambeau version's release predated the US release of the Unit 4 + 2 version by one week, both these "Concrete and Clay" singles debuted on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 dated 8 May 1965 at respectively #96 (Unit 4 + 2) and #98 (Rambeau) with both singles making an essentially equal chart ascent over the next four weeks. The Hot 100 dated 29 May 1965 then showed the Unit 4 + 2 version making its Top 40 debut with an eleven position ascent to #38 while the Rambeau version showed signs of stalling with a six position ascent to #45. The subsequent Hot 100 - that dated 5 June 1965 - showed the Rambeau version ascending into the Top 40 at #35 while the Unit 4 + 2 version rose to #29; however on the Hot 100 dated 12 June 1965 the Rambeau version remained at #35 while the Unit 4 + 2 version ascended one a single position to #28 and both singles dropped off the Hot 100 over the next three weeks.

The success of "Concrete and Clay" in 1965 resulted in international cover versions that same year, with renderings in Swedish - "Du för mig" recorded by Lill Lindfors

Lill Lindfors

Lillemor "Lill" Lindfors is a Finland-Swedish/Swedish singer. Born in Helsinki, Finland she has been performing in Scandinavia with minor and major success since the 1960s. She debuted as a revue actress in Uddevalla in 1960 and the following year as a recording artist...

; in Finnish - "Tunti Vain" recorded by Johnny; in French - "Comment Elle-Fait" recorded by Richard Anthony

Richard Anthony

Richard Sidney Anthony was an Irish politician. A Linotype operator by profession, Anthony stood unsuccessfully for election at the 1923 general election. He was first elected to Dáil Éireann as an Labour Party Teachta Dála for the Cork Borough constituency at the June 1927 general election. He...

; and in German - "Ein Fremder kam vorbei" recorded by Horst Wiegand.

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

Cliff Richard

Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

 (Kinda Latin/ 1966), "Concrete and Clay" was remade by Randy Edelman

Randy Edelman

Randy Edelman is an American film and TV score composer.-Life and career:Edelman was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey, the son of a first-grade teacher and an accountant. He attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music before heading to New York where he played...

 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 #11 in March 1976.

In 1986 a remake of "Concrete and Clay" by Martin Plaza

Martin Plaza

Martin Plaza is the pseudonym of Martin Edward Murphy , who is a vocalist/guitarist/songwriter with Australian pop/R&B band Mental As Anything. Plaza also has a solo music career and in 1986 had a #2 hit in Australia with his cover of the 1960s Unit 4+2 song "Concrete and Clay"...

 (Mental as Anything

Mental As Anything

Mental As Anything are an Australian New Wave–rock music band formed at an art school in Sydney in 1976. Their most popular line-up was Martin Plaza on vocals and guitar; Reg Mombassa on lead guitar and vocals; his brother Peter "Yoga Dog" O'Doherty on bass guitar and vocals; Wayne "Bird"...

) reached #2 in Australia; that same year Hong Kong Syndikat reached #26 in Germany with a remake of "Concrete and Clay" which reached #12 in France in 1987. Former Dexys Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners

Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....

 singer Kevin Rowland

Kevin Rowland

Kevin Rowland is an English singer-songwriter and former frontman for the pop band Dexys Midnight Runners, which had several hits in the early 1980s, the most notable being "Geno" and "Come On Eileen".-Career:...

 released a version of "Concrete and Clay" in 1999. Pete Byrne

Pete Byrne

Pete Byrne is a Los Angeles, United States based English recording artist, and lead singer for the pop/New Wave duo Naked Eyes, during the earlier years of the 1980s. They are well known for their cover version of "Always Something There to Remind Me"...

 also covered it on his 2001 solo album The Real Illusion. They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants

They Might Be Giants is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years Flansburgh and Linnell were frequently accompanied by a drum machine. In the early 1990s, TMBG became a full band. Currently, the members of TMBG are...

 attempted a version of "Concrete and Clay" in 1990: the uncompleted track was released as an MP3 in 2001.

The 1967 album Music to Watch Girls By by the Bob Crewe Generation features instrumental versions of several several Bob Crewe produced hits, including "Concrete and Clay".

The song also appeared in the motion picture Rushmore

Rushmore (film)

Rushmore is a 1998 comedy-drama film directed by Wes Anderson about an eccentric teenager named Max Fischer , his friendship with rich industrialist Herman Blume , and their mutual love for elementary school teacher Rosemary Cross . The film was co-written by Anderson and Owen Wilson...

and was included on its accompanying soundtrack album

Rushmore (soundtrack)

Rushmore is a 1999 soundtrack to the Wes Anderson film of the same name.In the album's liner notes, it is explained that director Wes Anderson originally intended for the Rushmore soundtrack to be almost entirely composed of songs by The Kinks...

. "Concrete and Clay" also featured in a Signal

Signal (toothpaste)

Signal is a toothpaste and a mouth wash produced by The Unilever company. Present in the market for over 40 years, it is available in over 48 countries.It was originally called Shield Toothpaste....

White NOW toothpaste commercial.

In 28 October 2011 a new version of "Concrete And Clay" was released on the Chance MUSIC record label based in Sydney Australia. First new version by original singer and co-writer Tommy Moeller in 47 years since his original "Concrete And Clay" version in 1964.

The Tommy Moeller Time album is dedicated to "Concrete And Clay" co-writer Brian Parker (1939 - 2001) and includes three other songs by Tommy Moeller and Brian Parker. The cover of Time shows Tommy Moeller at age 19 when he first sang Concrete And Clay, and in 2011 when a new version by Chance MUSIC was released.