The "Sweetest Girl"

"The "Sweetest Girl""
Single by Scritti Politti
from the album Songs to Remember
B-side	"Lions after Slumber" (UK, US, Germany) "Confidence" (France, Japan)
Released	1981
Format	7" vinyl 12" vinyl
Genre	Synthpop
Length	4:37 (single version) 6:18 (album version)
Label	Rough Trade
Writer(s)	Green Gartside
Producer(s)	Adam Kidron Scritti Politti
Scritti Politti singles chronology
"4 A-Sides" (1979) "The "Sweetest Girl"" (1981) "Faithless" (1982)

"The “Sweetest Girl”" (sic) is a song written by Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in 1981 as a single. The single peaked at number 64 in the UK Singles Chart.^[1] The piano is played by Robert Wyatt.

The song became a marginally bigger hit 5 years later, when covered by Madness. Madness' version of the song reached #35 in the UK and #29 in Ireland in early 1986. Madness changed the title of the song slightly, losing both the definite article and the quotation marks around the last two words in "The “Sweetest Girl”", thereby rendering it as "Sweetest Girl"

Scritti Politti version

Track listing

The B-side, "Lions After Slumber" takes its title and quotes, in its final lines, from the 1819 political poem The Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

7" and 12" vinyl (UK, US, Germany)

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The "Sweetest Girl""	4:34

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Lions After Slumber"	4:58

	The Sweetest Girl Sample An audio sample of " The Sweetest Girl" (1981)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

7" vinyl (France, Japan)

Side one
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The "Sweetest Girl""	4:37

Side two
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Confidence"	3:04

Madness version

"Sweetest Girl"
Single by Madness
from the album Mad Not Mad
B-side	"Jennie (A Portrait Of)"
Released	10 February 1986
Format	7" vinyl 12" vinyl
Genre	Ska
Length	4:20 (single version) 5:46 (album version) 7:01 (dub mix) 6:34 (extended mix)
Label	Zarjazz
Writer(s)	Green Gartside
Producer(s)	Clive Langer Alan Winstanley
Madness singles chronology
"Uncle Sam" (1985) "Sweetest Girl" (1986) "(Waiting For) The Ghost Train" (1986)

The cover of the song by ska-pop band Madness was included on their 1985 album Mad Not Mad and released as a single the following year. The song spent 6 weeks in British charts peaking at number 35.

Video

The song video was featured in the 1986 BBC Omnibus documentary Video Jukebox.^[2]

Track listing

7" vinyl

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sweetest Girl"	Green Gartside	4:20

• Horns:- Gary Barnacle
• Backing Vocals:- Afrodiziak

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Jennie (A Portrait Of)"	Lee Thompson, Daniel Woodgate	3:24

12" vinyl

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sweetest Girl" (Dub Mix)	Gartside	7:01

Side two
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Sweetest Girl" (Extended Mix)	Gartside	6:34
2.	"Jennie (A Portrait Of)"	Thompson, Woodgate	3:05

Chart performance

Chart (1986)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart[3][4]	35
Irish Singles Chart[5]	29

References

1. "Chart Stats - Scritti Politti - Sweetest Girl". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
3. "everyhit.com search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
4. "Chart Stats - Madness - The Sweetest Girl". Retrieved 10 January 2009.
5. "irishcharts.ie search results". Retrieved 10 January 2009.

External links

• The Sweetest Girl on YouTube - Madness version