"Round Every Corner", with words and music by Tony Hatch

Tony Hatch

Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...

, is a single release by Petula Clark

Petula Clark

Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...

 recorded in July 1965 at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch

Marble Arch

Marble Arch is a white Carrara marble monument that now stands on a large traffic island at the junction of Oxford Street, Park Lane, and Edgware Road, almost directly opposite Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park in London, England...

. The personnel on the session, produced by Hatch, included guitarist Big Jim Sullivan

Big Jim Sullivan

Big Jim Sullivan is an English musician, whose career started in 1959. He is best known as a session guitarist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Sullivan was one of the most "in-demand" studio musicians in the UK, and performed in more than one thousand charting singles over his career...

.

Described by Clark herself as "an anti-protest song", "Round Every Corner" employs the musical structure of a children's singing game

Singing game

A singing game is an activity based around a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements. They have been studied by folklorists, ethnologists and psychologists and are seen as important part of childhood culture...

 to present its message of optimism

Optimism

The Oxford English Dictionary defines optimism as having "hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something; a tendency to take a favourable or hopeful view." The word is originally derived from the Latin optimum, meaning "best." Being optimistic, in the typical sense...

.

Clark recorded versions of "Round Every Corner" in French: "Va Toujours Plus Loin" ("Always go farther") and Italian: "Gocce di mare" ("Drops in the ocean").

The previous Petula Clark single "You'd Better Come Home" had evinced a sharp decline in the chart fortunes established by her breakout hit "Downtown

Downtown (Petula Clark song)

"Downtown" is a pop song composed by Tony Hatch which, as recorded by Petula Clark, became an international hit – No. 1 in the US and No. 2 in the UK – at the end of 1964.-Original recording:...

". "Round Every Corner" would virtually duplicate the precedent single's chart placings in both the US, where "You'd Better Come Home" and "Round Every Corner" respectively peaked at #22 and #21, and in the UK. The UK fall-off was more severe - the respective peaks being #44 and #43 - suggesting a brief presence for Clark at the forefront of the '60s Britpop scene, particularly as the follow-up to "Downtown": "I Know a Place

I Know a Place

"I Know a Place" is a song with music and lyrics by Tony Hatch. It was recorded in 1965 by Petula Clark at the Pye Studios in Marble Arch in a session which featured drummer Bobby Graham and the Breakaways vocal group....

", had - despite reaching #3 US - only been a moderate UK hit (#17).

Clark's next UK single "You're the One

You're the One (Petula Clark song)

"You're the One" is a song by Petula Clark. It was later also included on the 1965 album I Know a Place. Written by Clark with her regular songwriter/ producer Tony Hatch, "You're the One" was a Top 30 UK hit for Clark herself but was most successful as a Top Ten US single release by the Vogues.As...

" would boost her UK chart profile considerably with a #23 peak but it would be the subsequent "My Love

My Love (Petula Clark song)

"My Love" is a 1965 single release by Petula Clark which in early 1966 became an international hit, reaching #1 in the US: Clark's regular songwriter and producer Tony Hatch was responsible for "My Love"....

" - ironically a record the singer disliked - which would consolidate the stardom augured for Clark by "Downtown".