VOGUES IT'S GETTING BETTER 1968 Reprise Records RS 6314

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• published: 03 Sep 2012
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It's Getting Better is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil that was a sunshine pop hit single in 1969 for Cass Elliot. The song describes the singer's satisfaction with a love relationship that is down-to-earth rather than extravagantly romantic, a subgenre of love song exemplified by the Jerome Kern/ P. G. Wodehouse composition "Bill". Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil had previously written the similarly themed "He's Sure the Boy I Love", a hit for the Crystals in 1963. "It's Getting Better" was first recorded by the Vogues for inclusion on their Reprise album, TURN AROUND, LOOK AT ME, which was released by August, 1968. The next version was one by Leonard Nimoy for his Dot Records lp, THE WAY I FEEL. That was by October, 1968. It was by March, 1969 when The Will-O-Bees, a New York City based trio (Janet Blossom, Steven Porter, and Robert Merchanthouse) who recorded a number of Mann-Weil compositions, also had a single release of "It's Getting Better" on the SGC label (Screen Gems Columbia). The Mama Cass version happened by May, 1969, initially as a single advance release and then an album cut, the single release referencing the album. 1969 saw the release of several single versions of "It's Getting Better" but only Cass Elliot's was by an established artist, the other versions being by Ronnie Buskirk, Freddie Gelfand, and P. K. Limited. [1] "It's Getting Better" had been recorded by Cass Elliot for inclusion on her June 1969 album release Bubble Gum, Lemonade, and... Something for Mama, which was produced by Steve Barri and arranged by Jimmie Haskell. The Wrecking Crew (James Burton on guitar, Hal Blaine on drums, Larry Knechtel on keyboards, and Joe Osborn on bass) — who'd regularly backed the Mamas & the Papas — were among the instrumentalists on the album. "It's Getting Better" was issued as the second advance single in May 1969 following the release that March of "Move in a Little Closer, Baby", a single reminiscent of the Mamas & the Papas sound which reached a Billboard Hot 100 peak of #58. Steve Barri says that "Move in a Little Closer, Baby" was "one [album track] [Elliot] wasn't too thrilled about...but she loved 'It's Getting Better'".[2] A #13 Easy Listening hit, "It's Getting Better" reached #30 on the Hot 100.[3] It remained on the U.S. charts for 18 weeks.[4] The single's regional success was staggered, and it reached the Top Ten in several markets, ranking as high as #2 in Minneapolis-Saint Paul and San Diego.[5] Its estimated U.S. sales were 500,000 copies.[4] "It's Getting Better" had a more pronounced chart impact in the UK, reaching #8 in October 1969 and selling almost 100,000 copies, despite a potential rival version by Paul Jones. The single bested the UK chart performance of Elliot's signature song, "Dream a Little Dream of Me" (#11), which had lost some popularity to a rival version by Anita Harris. [6] [4] "Dream a Little Dream of Me" and "It's Getting Better" would be Elliot's only two UK chart appearances. In the U.S., "It's Getting Better" was the fourth of Elliot's seven solo Billboard Hot 100 appearances and her second Top 40 hit after "Dream a Little Dream of Me". In Australia "It's Getting Better" by Cass Elliott charted at #53. In the wake of the success of "It's Getting Better", Elliot's next two singles were recordings of Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil compositions: "Make Your Own Kind of Music" — which like "It's Getting Better" had been recorded by the Will-O-Bees in 1968 — and a new song, "New World Coming". Although both songs are now considered soft rock classics, their original chart success was fairly mild: "Make Your Own Kind of Music" peaked at #36 (Elliot's third and final solo Top 40 appearance), and "New World Coming" peaked at #42.[7] "It's Getting Better" has also been recorded by Richard Barnes, New Cactus Band, Louise Morrissey, the Popinjays, Kevin Rowland and John & Anne Ryder. Bobby Rydell made it in 1976 for Born With a Smile, his sole album released after 1964.[1][7] Jane McDonald's rendition of "It's Getting Better" can be heard on her 2010 concert album Live at the London Palladium. A Swedish rendering of "It's Getting Better" by lyricist Stig Anderson entitled "Det Känns Bara Bättre" was cut by Anna-Lena Löfgren in 1970. In 2011 Cass Elliot's "It's Getting Better" was employed in a television advertisement for Nestea.