While the sound quality is annoying to our modern ears, the performance by Sandie Shaw is still daringly original. The way that Shaw uses her body language is not that of a hyper pop singer, but true to the lyrics of the song. Her studied reserve, folded arms, vacant face, avoidance of smiling and her sad, heavy eyes, betray the true and deeper meaning of Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s lovely-but-lonely lines. There is a failure to get over a former lover and her irrepressible-and-irritating memory dredges up thoughts of their love affair; “I walk along the city streets you used to walk along with me, and every step I take recalls how much in love we used to be…how can I forget you?”
The tightly folded arms let us know that she is trying to contain the memories, control herself and her emotions while resenting that she still wants to be with her old boyfriend. But even though the relationship is in the past tense, she admits her current feelings, “I was born to love you”, and clings to a hope that the fire of their love will be rekindled, “if you should find you miss the sweet and tender love we used to share, then come back…”
The song spent three weeks at #1 in November 1964.
For a version of the song with much better sound quality:
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