"The 'Sweetest Girl" is a song written by the Welsh singer Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in October 1981 as a single. The single peaked at No. 64 in the UK Singles Chart. The keyboards were played by Robert Wyatt. The song became a marginally bigger hit five years later, when covered by ska and pop band Madness. Their version of the song peaked at No. 35 in the UK and No. 29 in Ireland in early 1986. Madness changed the title of the song slightly, losing both the definite article and the quotation marks around the last two words in "The 'Sweetest Girl, thereby rendering it as "Sweetest Girl".

Scritti Politti version

Artwork

As with the cover artwork for all of the singles from Songs to Remember (1982), "The 'Sweetest Girl pays homage to the packaging of a luxury consumer item, which in this case was Dunhill cigarettes. Gartside claimed that the idea behind the singles' sleeves was to "convey a sense of a common, available thing which is classy, like our records now".

Track listing

The B-side "Lions After Slumber" takes its title from, and quotes in its final lines from, the 1819 political poem The Masque of Anarchy by Percy Bysshe Shelley.

7" and 12" vinyl (UK, US, Germany)

7" vinyl (France, Japan)

Personnel

Source:

Madness version

The cover of the song by the ska and pop band Madness was included on their sixth studio album Mad Not Mad (1985), and released as a single the following year. The song spent six weeks on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 35. Whilst reflecting on the Mad Not Mad album, the band's lead vocalist Suggs said that "The Sweetest Girl" was my idea – let’s get really serious and take a song that we don't even understand."

Music video

The song's music video was featured in the 1986 BBC Omnibus documentary Video Jukebox.

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Simon Witter of NME noted how Suggs' "slightly monotone delivery is bolstered by gorgeous harmonies and an inventive rearrangement". He predicted the song would be a hit. Dave Rimmer of Smash Hits described it as "a rather strained version of the first decent song Scritti Politti ever wrote" and added that it "limps and stumbles all the way through". Frank Hopkinson of Number One commented, "The record's light, slow with subtle changes of pace and Suggs singing at his most plaintive."

Track listing

7" vinyl

12" vinyl

Charts