The Last Waltz

This was one of Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest hits, spending five weeks at #1 on the UK Singles Chart and also reaching the Top 40 of the Hot 100. It was the standard closing anthem at discos and dance halls for many years.

The song was penned by Les Reed and Barry Mason, who were one of the leading British songwriting partnerships of the 1960s penning hits for the likes of Tom Jones ("Delilah") and The Fortunes ("Here It Comes Again"). Les Reed recalled the story of the song in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh: "When I was a little kid, my father was in the army and my mother and her sisters used to go to a dance every Friday evening at the local YMCA. We could hear the band just across the allotment and I used to wait for the last waltz which was 'I'm Taking You Home Tonight', and as all the men were in the army, the women were dancing together and I knew that when the last waltz came, I would be getting my supper within ten minutes. Mum would just walk across the allotment and get our supper. This would be about half past nine or ten and it was during the war." "I relayed this story to Barry Mason," Reed continued, "and he said, 'Why don't we write a last waltz'. I was very influenced by Burt Bacharach, so I gave Barry a tape of a melody with a Bacharach type feel to it. When he came back, it was nothing like the story I related to him, but in retrospect he was right to do something more universal. Simplicity came through. It has now taken the place of the last waltz that I used to listen to, in whatever country."

French chanteuse Mireille Mathieu recorded a French-language version, "La Derniere Valse," with lyrics translated by Hubert Ithier. Her cover spent three weeks at #1 in the French pop charts, and also was a hit in Britain, reaching #26. Petula Clark also recorded the "La Derniere Valse" version, reaching #2 in the French charts in 1968 but not charting in the UK.