(Shirley Johnson [Earl King])
Australia
#4 Sydney
Double-sided hit in Sydney with The Same Old Song by lead singer of one of the most popular Australian bands of the British Invasion era. Browse records by Ray Brown & The Whispers.
Writers: You will see this credited to Dave Clark & Mike Smith (for example at APRA and on some reissues), but that’s a mix-up: see below under The Dave Clark Five.
Further reading: Ray Brown history at Milesago.
Disambiguation: 1. This is not Ray Brown, the American jazz bassist (1926-2002). 2. The Whispers were not the American R&B vocal group formed in 1964.
(Shirley Johnson [Earl King])
USA
Single on Tribe by Barbara Lynn Ozen (b. 1942), highly
regarded soul-blues guitarist-singer-songwriter from Texas. Her big hit was You’ll Lose A Good Thing (1962, #8 USA). She was also known
for (Oh Baby) We Got A Good Thing Goin’ (1964), covered by The Rolling Stones on Out Of
Our Heads (1965).
Further reading: 1. Mick Patrick’s definitive account of Barbara Lynn from Cha Cha Charming (archived page). 2. Red Kelly’s post on Barbara Lynn at The B Side. 3. Wikipedia article.
Image of Barbara Lynn 2008 (slightly cropped) by Masahiro Sumori (Creative Commons license)
(Shirley Johnson [Earl King])
USA
Original version
#17 Chicago (WJJD)
Single on Joe Banashak’s New Orleans label Alon, produced by major New Orleans producer-songwriter-arranger-pianist Allen Toussaint. (Alon is a backwards initialisation of New Orleans, LA.)
Willie Harper worked constantly in the studio with Toussaint, mainly as a backing singer, but he did issue some singles in his own right, most of them on Alon and produced by Toussaint. Harper and Toussaint also recorded at least one single as Willie & Allen.
Harper is heard harmonising with Benny Spellman on Lipstick Traces, and he provides the voice echoing the deep repetitions by Spellman on Ernie K Doe’s Mother In Law. Much admired by aficionados of R&B, New Kind of Love was apparently popular in New Orleans and Chicago, and it has been boosted by Northern Soul fans and anthologised in Japan.
The composer is major New Orleans singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer Earl King (Earl Silas Johnson, 1934-2003). Shirley Johnson appears to be an alias used by King for publishing.
References, further reading: 1. Detailed notes on the background to this record at Home of the Groove. 2. More on Willie Harper at Funky16Corners. 3. Alon label: see John Broven, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans, p.201 (Google Books).
(Dave Clark - Mike Smith)
USA
Red herring
Same title but not the same song as ‘New Kind Of Love’ by Ray Brown.
Track on the US album of the film Having A Wild Weekend by British band The Dave Clark Five.
The film, entitled Catch Us If You Can in the UK, was the Dave Clark Five equivalent to The Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night.
There is also a British album Catch Us If You Can with half of its tracks shared with the US album.
The albums might more accurately be called tie-ins rather than soundtrack albums. See the table at Wikipedia showing the limited connections between the film, the Having A Wild Weekend album, and the UK album Catch Us If You Can.
On a British EP the title is A New Kind Of Love.
Attribution: Even APRA credits Ray Brown’s ‘New Kind Of Love’ to Clark & Smith, but this is definitely a different song. See Glad All Over for a genuine Clark-Smith original version.
A big thank you to Alan Baratta for spotting the red herring.
(Sammy Fain - Irving Kahal - Pierre Norman)
USA
Red herring
#12 USA*
Not the same song as “New Kind Of Love” By Ray Brown.
From the 1930 film The Big Pond and on RCA-Victor 78 rpm disc (May 1930) by Maurice Chevalier, French singer and film star signed to Paramount in Hollywood in the 1930s. Also released by Chevalier as Vous êtes mon nouveau bonheur with an adaptation by Battaille-Henri. Another May 1930 release was by Ed. Loyd And His Orchestra.
This much-recorded song is known to many through Frank Sinatra’s version on Songs For Swingin’ Lovers! (1956).
In the film A New Kind Of Love (1963), Sinatra’s version is heard over the opening credits [YouTube], and Maurice Chevalier sings it during a cameo appearance as himself.
In Monkey Business (1931) The Marx Brothers are stowaways on an ocean liner docking in New York. They sing You Brought A New Kind Of Love To Me as they take turns trying to convince US Customs officials that they are Maurice Chevalier whose passport they have appropriated.
* Chart position for Maurice Chevalier as calculated retrospectively for Joel Whitburn’s Pop memories, 1890-1954.
Pop Archives
Australia's premier song history site since 2004
Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2025. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…
