Saviour's Day (song)

"Saviour's Day" is a song by Cliff Richard. It was the United Kingdom Christmas number one single in 1990, the second occasion Richard had a solo Christmas number one. The video for the song was filmed in Dorset. It has subsequently been voted into lists of both the best and the most annoying Christmas songs.

For the holiday celebrated by the Nation of Islam, see Saviours' Day.

"Saviour's Day"
Single by Cliff Richard
from the album From a Distance: The Event
B-side"Where You Are" (Dave Cooke, Cliff Richard)
Released26 November 1990
Recorded16-18, 20–23 July 1990
StudioR.G. Jones Recording Studios, Wimbledon
Length4:55
LabelEMI Records
Songwriter(s)Chris Eaton
Producer(s)Cliff Richard and Paul Moessl
Cliff Richard singles chronology
"From a Distance"
(1990)		 "Saviour's Day"
(1990)		 "More to Life"
(1991)
Music video
"Saviours Day" on YouTube

Composition

"Saviour's Day" was written by Chris Eaton and produced by Cliff Richard and Paul Moessl.[1] Eaton wrote the song in October 1989, and took his original version of the song with him to a Christmas party to show to Richard. Eaton had been warned that all of Richard's songs for the following year were already booked in and there wouldn't be any space for it. However, Eaton insisted that Richard listen to the tape he brought along, and so they left the party and listened to it in Richard's Rolls-Royce. Richard immediately liked the song and predicted that it could be a number one record.[2]

Music video

The music video for "Saviour's Day" was filmed in Dorset, in the town of Swanage and at Durdle Door.[3] The video was shot in September 1990. Richard and the extras in the video were asked to wear winter clothes for the Christmas song, but the day's filming took place on a warm September day with blue sky and sunshine.[4] The video featured Richard and the extras singing together on top of the limestone arch of Durdle Door. Six years earlier, Tears for Fears had shot part of the video for their 1984 single "Shout" at the famous Durdle Door landmark.[5]

Release and reception

In the UK, "Saviour's Day" entered the UK Singles Chart on 8 December 1990 at number six. It went to number three the following week, and up a further spot in the week before Christmas. The song went to number one on 29 December 1990, becoming that year's Christmas number one and replacing the previous week's UK number one, "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice.[6] A week later "Saviour's Day" dropped back down to number three, and spent only one more week in the top 40 at number twenty. The final charted spot in the top 100 was on 19 January 1991, when "Saviour's Day" was at number 53.[7] The song was Richard's second solo Christmas number one in the UK, after "Mistletoe and Wine" in 1988.[8]

In 2005, "Saviour's Day" was one of two songs by Cliff Richard to be included in a list of the top Christmas songs by music channel VH1.[9] In 2009, it placed ninth in a list of the most annoying Christmas songs compiled by the company Lactofree.[10]

In 2017, ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history".[11]

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

References
  1. "Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  2. Turner, Steve (2008). Cliff Richard: The Biography. Oxford: Lion. p. 324. ISBN 9780745952796.
  3. "Gulf Holiday Ad 'Borrows Dorset Landmark'". Sky News. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  4. Durdle Door, Cliff Richard and me (20 December 2007). "Dorset - History - Durdle Door, Cliff Richard and me". BBC. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  5. "Durdle Door is scene for internet search engine (From Dorset Echo)". Dorsetecho.co.uk. 17 September 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
  6. "All The Number One Singles - 1990". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  7. "Cliff Richard - Saviour's Day". Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  8. Whiting, Kate (15 December 2008). "Cliff Richard - stepping back into the shadows". Chester Chronicle. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  9. "Pogues top of Brits' Christmas song list". The New Zealand Herald. 20 December 2005. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  10. "Mr Blobby 'most annoying Christmas song ever'". The Daily Telegraph. 19 December 2009. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  11. "The 19 greatest key changes in music history". ShortList. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  12. "The ARIA Australian Top 100 Singles Chart – Week Ending 13 Jan 1991 (61–100) (from The ARIA Report Issue No. 51)". Imgur.com (original document published by ARIA). Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  13. "Search the charts". IrishCharts.ie. Retrieved 10 November 2012.
  14. UK Best Selling Singles of 1990
  15. "British single certifications – Cliff Richard – Saviour's Day". British Phonographic Industry. Select singles in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Saviour's Day in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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