Get Down (Gilbert O'Sullivan song)

"Get Down"
Single by Gilbert O'Sullivan
from the album I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter
B-side "A Very Extraordinary Sort of Girl"
Released
  • March 1973 (UK)[1]
  • June 1973 (U.S.)
Format 7", 45rpm
Length 2:39
Writer(s) Gilbert O'Sullivan
Certification Gold (RIAA)

"Get Down" is a song by Gilbert O'Sullivan, from his album I'm a Writer, Not a Fighter. Released as a single, it spent two weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart in April 1973,[2] was also a number-one hit in Ireland and a top-ten hit in the United States and Canada. The song was originally used by O'Sullivan as a piano warm-up tune,[3] but was eventually extended into a full song.

Believed to be an order from O'Sullivan to his dog ("Get Down!"), the singer is actually referring to a girl in the song behaving as a dog jumping on him, hence the request to "get down".[4]

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Australia (KMR)[5] 6
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[6] 3
Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders)[7] 2
Canada (RPM)[8] 3
Denmark (Tracklisten) 4
France (SNEP)[9] 8
Germany (Official German Charts)[10] 1
Ireland (IRMA)[11] 1
Italy (FIMI)[12] 10
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 3
Norway (VG-lista)[14] 4
Spain (AFYVE)[15] 3
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] 2
United Kingdom (The Official Charts Company)[17] 1
U.S. (Billboard Hot 100)[18] 7
U.S. (Billboard Easy Listening) [19] 3
U.S. (Cash Box Top 100)[20] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (1973) Position
Australia [21] 34
Canada [22] 67
UK [23] 14
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[24] 66
U.S. Cash Box [25] 40

Maison Ikkoku

This song, along with another one of O'Sullivan's songs, "Alone Again (Naturally)", were featured as the opening and ending for episode 24 of the Japanese anime hit Maison Ikkoku. At the time, O'Sullivan was signed to production company Kitty Film's associated record label, Kitty Records, which wanted to use the anime's popularity as a way to promote the singer's career in Japan. According to series director Kazuo Yamazaki, the reason the songs were dropped after only one episode was that they were unpopular with viewers; due to copyright issues, they were not included on the English-language American release of the anime, replaced by the previously used Japanese theme songs. The anime was based upon the popular manga of the same name by Rumiko Takahashi.

Preceded by
"The Twelfth of Never" by Donny Osmond		 UK Singles Chart number one single
April 7, 1973 (2 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando

References

  1. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17499/gilbert-osullivan/
  2. ↑ http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17499/gilbert-osullivan/,
  3. ↑ http://www.gilbertosullivan.net/in_print/rolling_stone_02.htm
  4. ↑ "Gilbert O: He Knows He's A Mechanical Man". 1973-08-02. Retrieved 2014-09-28.
  5. ↑ http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092
  6. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Gilbert O'Sullivan – Get Down" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  7. ↑ "get down - gilbert o'sullivan". VRT (in Dutch). Top30-2.radio2.be. Retrieved 25 July 2013. Hoogste notering in de top 30 : 1
  8. ↑ https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.4887&type=1&interval=50&PHPSESSID=m89le0g2o0g13nsfn0nju0ltv1
  9. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Gilbert O'Sullivan – Get Down" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
  10. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Gilbert O'Sullivan – Get Down". GfK Entertainment.
  11. ↑ "Chart Track: Week 9, 1973". Irish Singles Chart.
  12. ↑ "I singoli più venduti del 1973". HitParadeItalia (in Italian). Creative Commons. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
    10. Get Down - Gilbert O'Sullivan [#10]
  13. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Gilbert O'Sullivan search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  14. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Gilbert O'Sullivan – Get Down". VG-lista.
  15. ↑ Salaverri, Fernando (September 1973). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  16. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Gilbert O'Sullivan – Get Down". Swiss Singles Chart.
  17. ↑ UK Singles Chart Chartstats.com (Retrieved April 10, 2008)
  18. ↑ https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1973-08-25
  19. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 187.
  20. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/19730811.html
  21. ↑ http://australian-charts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=35092
  22. ↑ http://www.musicandyears.com/year/1973
  23. ↑ http://www.uk-charts.top-source.info/top-100-1973.shtml
  24. ↑ http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1973.htm
  25. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/70s_files/1973YESP.html

External links

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