THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

129-Tom Jones-It’s Not Unusual.

1965-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 1.16. At the height of Tom Jones’ fame his female fans would throw their knickers onto the stage while he performed, nowadays the same fans throw their bloomers.

Tom Jones (see also best songs 964) was born Thomas John Woodward on June 7th, 1940, in Treforest, Pontypridd, Wales, he was given his stage name by his then manager Gordon Mills (1935-1986) to exploit the popularity of the Acadamy Award winning 1963 film ‘Tom Jones.’ In 1998 he was awarded an ‘OBE,’ and in 2005 he was ‘knighted’ by the Queen, on both occasions for his services to music. With record sales in excess of 100 million he is one of the worlds best selling artists of all time, he has also appeared as an actor in films, and had his own television show ‘This Is Tom Jones,’ which ran for 65 episodes between 1969-1971. In 1967 he first performed in Las Vegas, and went back there for at least a one week residency every year through until 2011. The discography of Tom Jones consists of 40 studio Albums released between 1965-2021, and 126 single issued between 1964-2021. In the UK, 38 of his singles have reached the top 40, with three of those making Number 1, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100 top 40, he has charted on 18 occasions, with ‘She’s a Lady’ from 1971 charting the highest when reaching Number 2.

It’s Not Unusual’ was the second single released by Tom Jones, and his first to reach the singles chart, it was taken from his debut studio Album ‘Along Came Jones (It’s Not Unusual,’) which was released two months after ‘It’s Not Unusual’ had made Number 1 in the UK in May 1965. The song was co-written by Les Reed, (1935-2019) and Gordon Mills, (1935-1986) and was produced by Peter Sullivan (1933-2020.) Les Reed OBE was a prolific songwriter, who wrote or co-wrote 60 hit singles, including three UK Number 1’s, the other two being ‘The Last Waltz’ for Engelbert Humperdinck in 1967, and ‘I Pretend’ for Des O’Connor in 1968. Reed was also the co-writer of the Leeds United football club anthem ‘Marching On Together,’ which was released as a ‘B’ side in 1972, but when re-issued as a ‘A’ side in 2010, made Number 10 in the UK singles chart. The songs other writer Gordon Mills would remain Tom Jones’ manager until his death in 1986, when Jones’ son Mark took over as his new manager, Mark had been born in 1956 when Tom Jones was only 16 years old. Gordon Mills was also the manager of both Engelburt Humperdinck, and Gilbert O’Sullivan, (see also best songs 949 and 111) and had also given both those artists their stage names as well.

Les Reed and Gordon Mills had written ‘It’s Not Unusual’ with the intention of having it recorded by Sandie Shaw (see also best songs 902) as her next single. Tom Jones had been brought in to demo the song, but after hearing Jones singing it Shaw suggested it should be Jones’ song. Tom Jones has said,’I did the demo on this song when it was being offered to Sandie Shaw. I was just starting out and, God bless her, she said: ‘Whoever’s singing this, it’s his song.’ Finding great new songs is never easy, and back in those days, finding one that would fit me, the way I felt and sang anyway was difficult. I’m indebted to Sandie for being so generous.’

‘It’s not unusual to be loved by anyone, it’s not unusual to have fun with anyone. But when I see you hanging about with anyone, it’s not unusual to see me cry, oh I want to’ die.’