Eloise (song)
Eloise is the title of a British pop song by Paul Ryan from 1968, which, as interpreted by his twin brother Barry Ryan, became a world hit and evergreen .
History of origin
Barry Ryan had been under contract with MGM Records for exactly twelve months in October 1968 and has not had a hit since then with his three singles that have appeared here so far . Twin brother Paul Ryan now had the idea for a symphonic concept, the music and lyrics of which were exclusively developed by him. The model was the epic McArthur Park by Richard Harris . Under the title Eloise , a simple text was created about adored love from the perspective of the protagonist, without the listener knowing anything about the love reciprocation. However, the text should take a back seat. Orchestra director John Raymond "Johnny" Arthey wrote a melodramatic and operatic arrangement that he intoned with his orchestra. As a reference, Arthey was able to show the Julie Rogers hit The Wedding from August 1964, which was arranged in a similar manner. A choir and a short, slower interlude completed the symphonic impression, which producer Bill Landis put into music dramaturgically in the recording studio on October 17, 1968 in New York with the help of sound engineer John Pantry. Equally unusual was the overly long playing time of 5:44 minutes for a single - actually not suitable for an airplay on hit parade radio.
Publication and Success
The single Eloise / Love I Almost Found You (MGM 1442) was released on October 4, 1968 as Barry Ryan with The Majority and hit the British charts on October 23, 1968 . Here, however, the title did not reach first position in the official charts, but ended up in second place, because Hugo Montenegro's instrumental film music from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (German film title: Zwei Glorichen Malunken ) was able to defend first place. Nevertheless, Eloise sold one million copies by January 1969, a total of three million by August 1969. The symphonic rock was number one hit in seven countries, namely in Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and New Zealand. In Germany he was from 15 January 1969 and a half months to rank one . With 445 points, he led the Bravo annual charts in 1969 . In the United States, however, it could not achieve any particular acceptance, but only penetrated to 86th place on the Billboard Hot 100 .
Charts and chart placements
| Charts | Top ranking | Weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Chart placements | ||
 Germany (GfK)
|
1 (22 weeks) | 22nd |
 Austria (Ö3)
|
2 (16 weeks) | 16 |
 Switzerland (IFPI)
|
1 (11 weeks) | 11 |
 United Kingdom (OCC)
|
2 (12 weeks) | 12 |
 United States (Billboard)
|
86 (4 weeks) | 4th |
Cover versions
According to Coverinfo , there are only 21 cover versions . Karel Gott published a Czech version in 1969. In the same year there was a French version of Donald Lautrec, an Italian version of Dino and even a Finnish version of Tapani Kansa. The punk band The Damned released their version on January 27, 1986, came third in the UK and was their biggest hit. The three young tenors published their version in September 1998. A remix of the original was released in 1990 in Germany.