"Somethin' Stupid", or "Something Stupid", is a song written by C. Carson Parks. It was originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as Carson and Gaile. A 1967 version by Frank Sinatra and his daughter Nancy Sinatra became a major international hit, reaching number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the UK Singles Chart.[1] In 2001, a cover version by British vocalist Robbie Williams and Australian actress Nicole Kidman reached number one in the UK Singles Chart.
In the early 1960s, Carson Parks was a folk singer in Los Angeles. He was an occasional member of The Easy Riders, and also performed with The Steeltown Three, which included his younger brother Van Dyke Parks. In 1963, he formed the Greenwood County Singers, later known as The Greenwoods, who had two minor hits and included singer Gaile Foote. Before the Greenwoods disbanded, Parks and Foote married and, as Carson and Gaile, recorded an album in 1966 for Kapp Records, San Antonio Rose, which included the song "Something Stupid". The recording was then brought to the attention of Frank Sinatra.[2][3]
The most successful and best-known version of "Somethin' Stupid" was issued in 1967 as a single by Nancy Sinatra and Frank Sinatra and subsequently appeared on Frank's album The World We Knew. Frank had played Parks' recording to his daughter's producer, Lee Hazlewood, who recalled "He asked me, 'Do you like it?' and I said, 'I love it, and if you don't sing it with Nancy, I will.' He said, 'We're gonna do it, book a studio.'"[2][3] Their rendition was recorded on February 1, 1967, after Frank had finished his collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim earlier in the day.[4]Al Casey played guitar on the recording and Hal Blaine was the drummer.[5] Hazlewood and Jimmy Bowen were listed as the producers of the single, with arrangement by Billy Strange.[1]
The single spent four weeks at number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and nine weeks atop the easy listening (now adult contemporary) chart, becoming Frank's second gold single as certified by the RIAA and Nancy's third.[6] In Norway the single qualified for silver disc.[7] It was the first and only instance of a father-daughter number-one song in America. Nancy Sinatra was quoted as sarcastically saying, "Some people call (Something Stupid) the Incest Song, which I think is, well, very sweet!" .[8] The single also reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart the same year.[1] It was also nominated for the Record Of The Year at the 10th Grammy Awards, losing to the 5th Dimension's upbeat hit song "Up, Up And Away".[9]
In 1995, Ali Campbell and his daughter Kibibi Campbell covered the hit as a duet. As a suggestion to the version of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra was used, based on this part of the Musikrichting was adapted in the cover. After its release on the studio album Big Love, it can also be found on the compilation Silhouette.
The music video was shot in New York City. Ali Campbell and his daughter spend an afternoon in the city. They relax on the bench in the park, also walk through the city center, look through a sightseeing telescope, watch jugglers and fire breathers in a circus, figure skaters and stroll.[27]
The song was the 30th-best-selling single of 2001 in the UK. It also gave Williams another number-one hit in New Zealand, earning a Gold certification, and charted inside the top 10 in several European countries. In Australia, it became Williams' fourth top-10 single, earning a Gold certification for over 35,000 copies sold.
In 1967, Motown released the first of three albums featuring duets by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. This album was entitled United, and its 4th track was "Somethin' Stupid". This version appears on the soundtrack of the 2015 film Legend, starring Tom Hardy as the Kray Twins.
In 1967, Sacha Distel translated the lyrics into French, with the title Ces mots stupides (These Stupid Words), and released a recording with Joanna Shimkus. This version has since been covered by many artists.
In the same 1967, Paul Mauriat released an instrumental cover.
^Blaine, Hal and David Goggin, Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew: The Story of the World's Most Recorded Musician, MixBooks, Emeryville, California, 1990 p.xx
^Whitburn, Joel (1996).The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)