“There’s a Kind of Hush” is a popular song written by Les Reed and Geoff Stephens which was a hit in 1967 for Herman’s Hermits and again in 1976 for the Carpenters.  The first single version of “There’s a Kind of Hush” was recorded in 1966 by Gary and the Hornets, a teen/pre-teen male band from Franklin, Ohio whose version – entitled “A Kind of Hush” produced by Lou Reizner – became a regional success and showed signs of breaking nationally in January 1967; the single would reach #4 in Cincinnati and #3 in Erie PA.

However an expedient cover by Herman’s Hermits was released in the US in February 1967 to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100 in three weeks and proceed to a peak of #4 – affording the group their final US Top Ten hit – with Gold certification for US sales of one million units awarded that April. In the UK Herman’s Hermits’ “There’s a Kind of Hush” would reach #7. The success of the Herman’s Hermits version led to the release of the original New Vaudeville Band track as a single in some territories with both of these versions charting in Australia with peaks of #3 (Herman’s Hermits) and #15 (New Vaudeville Band) and also in South Africa where the New Vaudeville Band bested the Herman’s Hermits’ #9 peak by reaching #4. The Carpenters remade “There’s a Kind of Hush” – as “There’s a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)” – for their 1976 album release A Kind of Hush for which it served as lead single, reaching #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and affording the Carpenters’ their thirteenth #1 on the easy listening chart.

The single’s success indicated a drop in the Carpenters’ popularity, it being the first lead single from a mainstream Carpenters’ album to fall short of the Top 5 since “Ticket to Ride” from the group’s 1969 debut album Offering, while the #33 chart peak of the A Kind of Hush album afforded the Carpenters’ their first Top 20 shortfall since Offering. “There’s a Kind of Hush” would remain the Carpenters’ final Top Twenty hit until 1981’s “Touch Me When We’re Dancing”.

Richard Carpenter explained in the liner notes to the Carpenters’ 2004 best-of compilation, Gold, that although he and Karen Carpenter loved the song, he was not particularly pleased with how their remake turned out:

“…one of Karen’s and my favorite songs from the ’60s. In hindsight, however, even though our version was a hit, I wish we’d never recorded it. Here are three reasons why: (1) The original was, and is, perfectly fine. (2) Our foray into the oldies should have ended with the medley featured on side 2 of Now & Then, 1973. (3) The use of a synthesizer in some of our recordings has not worn well with me, on this track, or just about any other track on which I used it.”

By Lennon Sisters

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiHicMWHBK4

Lyrics