Petula is a 1968 Pye Recordsalbum release by Petula Clark leased to Warner Bros. in the USA. The two albums precedent to Petula: These Are My Songs and The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener had been primarily produced by Sonny Burke with Tony Hatch, the producer/songwriter who'd established Clark as a top recording star in 1964, contributing only one track to each album. With Petula Hatch again became Clark's exclusive producer overseeing all the album's tracks. Petula would prove to be the last Petula Clark album of original material produced by Hatch. The first advance single from Petula: the Les Reed/Barry Mason composition "Kiss Me Goodbye" had reached #15 US in April 1968, becoming the first hit single for Clark produced but not written by Hatch. Of the eleven additional tracks which would comprise Petula, seven were written by Hatch and Jackie Trent. Hatch also had Clark cover "Days", "The Good Life" and "This Girl's in Love with You" and recorded Clark singing "Why Can't I Cry" which had been written by arranger Johnny Harris and wife Kim Clark. The song was also recorded by Tom Jones. The Hatch/Trent composition "Don't Give Up" - described by Hatch as a homage to "Can't Take My Eyes off You" - was released as the album's second advance single in July 1968 and failed to sustain Clark's Top 20 comeback peaking at #37 on the 'Billboard Hot 100 becoming Clark's final US Top 40 hit.2 "Billboard" reported that "Don't Give Up" was one of the most requested tunes at Las Vegas' Desert Inn Sky Room as of late 1968 and early 1969. Singer-pianist Murray Arnold claimed it was behind only "Didn't We" and "Little Green Apples." The track "Have Another Dream On Me" was referred to as "my latest" by Clark on her April 1968 NBC TV special. For reasons unclear, the song never came out on single, but "Don't Give Up" did. Petula rose significantly higher on the US album charts than the preceding The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener reaching #51 as opposed to #93. Clark's UK label Pye Records released the album in the UK and Ireland and also in New Zealand. In France the Petula album was issued by Vogue Records with cat# CLD 723.
1The titles of the singles "Kiss Me Goodbye" and "Don't Give Up" were displayed with the name "Petula" on the album's cover but the official title of the album is simply Petula.
2"Don't Give Up" ranked in the Top 30 in both Cash Box and Record World with respective peaks of #27 and #23. The track reached #5 on ''Billboard
