For other uses see Sign of the times (disambiguation)

Sign of the times

Sign of the times may refer to:* Sign of the times , a phrase associated with some Aggiornamentos of the Roman Catholic Church* A Sign of the Times, a 1966 single by Petula Clark...

.

"A Sign of the Times" was the followup to 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...

's #1 US hit "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"....

", continuing her association with writer/producer Tony Hatch

Tony Hatch

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

 though with a more percussive sound than was evident on Clark's previous singles – or would be evident on her later ones.

The song was recorded 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...

 in a session which featured 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...

 and the Breakaways

The Breakaways

The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premiere session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little known girl group singles.-Career:...

 vocal group.

Clark introduced "A Sign of the Times" on the Ed Sullivan Show broadcast February 27, 1966. The single would debut 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 26 March and reached its peak of #11 on 23 April. It peaked at #2 on Billboard's "Easy Listening" survey.

Beginning with her American breakout "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:...

", Clark's singles had all performed better chart-wise in the US than the UK. (The 1966 #23 UK hit "You're the One" was not released in the US.) "A Sign of the Times" became the most extreme example of this discrepancy by spending only one week – that of 23 April – in the UK Top 50 at #49. Although this trend was reversed with Clark's next single: "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love

I Couldn't Live Without Your Love

"I Couldn't Live Without Your Love" is a 1966 single written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent and recorded by Petula Clark. It was inspired by the affair the songwriters were having at the time....

" (UK #6/US #9), Clark's last two 1966 single releases: "Who Am I?

Who Am I? (Petula Clark song)

"Who Am I?" was a 1966 single by Petula Clark written and produced by Tony Hatch.Although largely conforming to the formula established by Clark's previous work with Hatch, "Who Am I?" is distinct in its referencing concerns of the 1960s social consciousness, specifically the search for the...

" (US #21)and "Colour My World

Colour My World (Petula Clark song)

"Colour My World" is a song written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent recorded by Petula Clark in 1966.While overall conforming to the hit formula Hatch had come up with for Clark with "Downtown" - and being especially reminiscent of Clark's 1965 #1 hit "My Love - "Colour My World" acknowledged the...

" (US #16) both failed to rank in the UK Top 50.

"A Sign of the Times" was a hit in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 (#11) and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 (#2).

"A Sign of the Times" also served as the title cut for a live CD by Petula Clark released by Varèse Sarabande

Varèse Sarabande

Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...

 13 November 2001 comprising footage from her concert dates at Chrysler Hall

Chrysler Hall

Chrysler Hall is a performing arts venue in Downtown Norfolk, Virginia. Built in 1972 and located next to the Norfolk Scope arena, the venue is home to the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Virginia Ballet and hosts Broadway plays while serving as Norfolk's primary theater and concert venue.The...

 in Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk, Virginia

Norfolk is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. With a population of 242,803 as of the 2010 Census, it is Virginia's second-largest city behind neighboring Virginia Beach....

 on 20 and 21 May 2001 featuring guests Richard Carpenter

Richard Carpenter (musician)

Richard Lynn Carpenter is an American pop musician, best known as one half of the brother/sister duo The Carpenters, along with his sister Karen Carpenter. He was a producer, arranger, pianist and keyboardist, and occasional lyricist, as well as joining with Karen on harmony...

 and Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls

Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer. He was known for his smooth vocal style: Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game"...

.

TRACK LISTING:

1 A Sign Of The Times
2 I’m Not Afraid
3 At Last (with Lou Rawls)
4 Downtown
5 I Dreamed A Dream
6 Don’t Give Up
7 I Need To Be In Love (with Richard Carpenter)
8 The Wedding Song (There Is Love)
9 With One Look
10 Celebrate
11 I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love (with Lou Rawls and Richard Carpenter)
12 Here For You
13 Look For The Silver Lining
14 Vivre (Notre Dame de Paris)

The Chrysler Hall engagement was also broadcast by PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 as the television special Petula Clark: A Sign of the Times which – augmented with archive footage from Clark's career – was released on DVD 26 March 2002.

In 1969 B.F. Goodrich

Goodrich Corporation

The Goodrich Corporation , formerly the B.F. Goodrich Company, is an American aerospace manufacturing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 1870 as Goodrich, Tew & Co. by Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich. The company name was changed to the "B.F...

 utilized the tune to "A Sign of the Times" for TV commercials advertising radial tire

Radial tire

A radial tire is a particular design of automotive tire . In this design, the cord plies are arranged at 90 degrees to the direction of travel, or radially ....

s: the lyric was adjusted from "It's a sign of the times" to "It's the radial age".

In 1986, "A Sign of the Times" was played in the video documentary An Amazin' Era: The New York Mets. The song was heard over films of Mets' baseball fans carrying banners with messages on them.

In 1999 Target

Target Corporation

Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...

 department store ran a series of television commercials featuring "A Sign of the Times." The song's use as a jingle

Jingle

A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...

for Target was masterminded by the company's marketing director John Pellegrene who had been responsible for "A Sign of the Times" being used in the 1960s' B.F. Goodrich ad campaign.

In 2001, the radio giant Clear Channel listed "A Sign of the Times" on their list of temporarily banned songs in the wake of September 11. The title was construed to have Armageddon implications.

A brief clip of "A Sign of the Times" was used on Dickie Goodman's 1966 novelty record, "Batman and his Grandmother".