Little Arrows

Album: Little Arrows (1968)
Charted: 2 16
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Songfacts®:

  • This Pop tune was written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood. It was the first hit for songwriter Albert Hammond, who is the father of The Strokes' guitarist, Albert Hammond Jr. He recalled to The Independent February 4, 2009 that he "was working at the Chelsea Drug Store (see 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' for more on that), just doing dishes" when he wrote this song. Hammond added: "I'd carry around a little transistor radio and play it to the other guys when the song came on but they'd never believe it was me."
  • Hammond's well-known songs include "The Air That I Breathe" for The Hollies, "Gimme Dat Ding" for The Pipkins, "When I Need You" for Leo Sayer and his self-performed track "It Never Rains In Southern California."
  • British singer and one-time comedian Lee Graham performed this song. He was first nicknamed Leapy at school as "I was always a leaper." A one hit wonder in the US, in the UK Lee had one other chart entry with the Country tune "Good Morning," which peaked at #29. His singing career came to an abrupt end when, following a fracas in a bar with Alan Lake, the husband of the actress Diana Dors, he was sentenced to two years in prison.
  • This peaked at #2 in the UK. It was The Beatles' "Hey Jude," which prevented Lee from leaping to the top of the chart.

Comments: 5

  • AnonymousSeptember 25th 2021 Dear Leapy lee Hi my name is jenny holloway im 64 years old what do you think about the covid 19 outbreak thats still going around the world and in indianapolis too i dont like it at all because its making me upset and deppressed and i have to keep wearing my face mask at the day program that i go to in indianapolis called otb it stands for outside the box what is the song called little arrows about i know you said theres a little boy shooting arrows in the blue are you the little boy that was shooting arrows in the blue where did the arrows come from how old were you in 1968 when you started singing little arrows how old are you now how much longer is it going to be till i can ditch my face masks i have a lot of face masks in the drawer in my bedroom at the apartment.
  • Kevin from Tokyo, JapanI loved this song when it came out in 1968. I had always thought the singer was a US country singer, because I remember hearing it on the local country music station. I didn't even know his name until I looked up the song much later based on the fragments of lyrics I remembered. After I rediscovered this song, it rose to the top of my personal charts! And as Barry from Sauquoit noted, it was No. 2 when "Those Were the Days" was No. 1, and that's probably why I associate the two songs together.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn December 7, 1968, Leapy Lee performed "Little Arrows*" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
    At the time "Little Arrows" was at #16 on Billboard's Top 100, that would also be it's peak position on the chart, and it spent fourteen weeks on the Top 100...
    The song would be his only Top 100 record...
    It reached #11 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, he had two other records make the Hot Country Singles chart, "Good Morning" {#55 in 1970} and "Every Road Leads Back To You" {#82 in 1974}...
    Leapy Lee, born Graham Pulleyblank & aka Lee Graham, will celebrate his 79th birthday come next July 2nd {2018}...
    * As noted above, "Little Arrows" peaked at #2 {for 1 week} on the United Kingdom's Singles chart {October 6th, 1968}, the week it was at #2, the #1 record for that week was "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin.
  • Joe from Santa Ponsa, SpainForty years after the initial release, the new official version of "Little Arrows II" EP by Leapy Lee includes hits by Albert Hammond: "Little Arrows", "When I Need You" and "One Moment In Time".

    This EP is available at the following stores:

    iTunes US - http://alturl.com/cmeq
    iTunes UK - http://alturl.com/wrih
    iTunes Aus/NZ - http://alturl.com/ojwf
    iTunes - Japan - http://alturl.com/6ksd
    Amazon UK - http://tiny.cc/amazonUK
    Amazon US - http://tiny.cc/amazonUS
  • Zabadak from London, EnglandI was given a copy of this by my parents for my 6th birthday!
see more comments

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