Knock, Knock Who's There?

"Knock, Knock Who's There?" is a song written and composed by John Carter and Geoff Stephens. It was originally sung and recorded by the Welsh singer Mary Hopkin and was the United Kingdom's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1970, where it came second. The single version was produced by Mickie Most and reached No. 2 on the UK charts.

This article is about the song. For the joke, see Knock-knock joke.

"Knock, Knock Who's There?"
Cover of vinyl single
Eurovision Song Contest 1970 entry
Country
Artist(s)
Mary Hopkin
Language
Composer(s)
Lyricist(s)
  • Carter
  • Stephens
Conductor
Johnny Arthey
Finals performance
Final result
2nd
Final points
26
Entry chronology
◄ "Boom Bang-a-Bang" (1969)   
"Jack in the Box" (1971) ►
"Knock, Knock Who's There?"
Single by Liv Maessen
from the album Liv Maessen
ReleasedApril 1970
GenrePop
LabelFable FB 005
Songwriter(s)
Liv Maessen singles chronology
"The Love Moth"
(1969)		 "Knock, Knock Who's There?"
(1970)		 "Snowbird"
(1970)

Overview

On 7 March 1970, Mary Hopkin sang six songs at the UK National Final, A Song for Europe, which was aired on the television series It's Cliff Richard!. Hopkin was chosen by the BBC to be the United Kingdom's representative for that year, and the winner of a postal vote would determine which of the six songs would progress with her to the finals in Amsterdam. "Knock, Knock Who's There?", the sixth and final song performed that evening, won the postal vote with over 120,000 supporters.

At Amsterdam, the song was performed seventh on the night, after France's Guy Bonnet with "Marie-Blanche", and before Luxembourg's David Alexandre Winter with "Je suis tombé du ciel". At the end of judging that evening, "Knock, Knock Who's There?" took the second-place slot with 26 points after Ireland's "All Kinds of Everything", performed by Dana. The UK received points from nine out of a possible eleven voting juries.

The singer expresses a long-held optimism at the prospect of love finally finding her. At the exact point that said optimism has faded, and she has resigned herself to not finding love and companionship, she hears a "knock, knock," which signifies love finally becoming attainable for her. Excited, she beckons love to "come inside" and into her life.

The single was released in March 1970, backed by "I'm Going to Fall in Love Again" (the runner-up in the Song for Europe final) on the B-side. On 28 March 1970, "Knock, Knock Who's There" entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 7, the highest new entry of the week.[1] It peaked at No. 2 and remained on the chart for 14 weeks. It wasn't released in the United States as a single until November 1972, where it floundered for four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, only reaching a peak of No.92. In the Netherlands it peaked at No. 3 on the Dutch Top 40 as well as on the Single Top 100.[2][3]

Rather different from her usual material, Hopkin rarely performed the song after the Eurovision due to her distaste for it. She later commented: "I was so embarrassed about it. Standing on stage singing a song you hate is awful." She also referred to it as humiliating.[4] At the time, she conceded victory gracefully saying that "the best song won" and wished Dana well.[4]

In 1970, a sound-alike cover appeared on the album Top of the Pops, Volume 10.

Liv Maessen cover

In Australia, a cover version by Liv Maessen co-charted into the top 10. Maessen's version reached No. 2 on the Australian charts, after her debut single "The Love Moth" only made it to No. 40.

Chart performance

Other cover versions

Also in 1970 Edina Pop reached No. 35 in Germany with the rendering "Komm, Komm Zu Mir", while Kristina Hautala recorded the Finnish rendering "Kop Kop, Ken Lie".

In 1971, Hong Kong female singer Sum Sum (森森) covered the song in the Mandarin Chinese language with Chinese lyrics written by Di Yi (狄薏) and given the title name of 我情願你惱恨我, appearing on her LP album 一寸相思一寸淚 (Bitter Love In Tears) released by EMI Regal Records

References
  1. Official UK Charts, 28 March 1970.
  2. ""Knock, Knock Who's There?" chart according to the Dutch Top 40" (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  3. ""Knock, Knock Who's There?" chart according to the Single Top 100" (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  4. Songs for Europe Volume Two, Gordon Roxburgh. Telos Publishing, 2014. pp. 29–30.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book. p. 141. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  6. Billboard Magazine, June 20, 1970. 20 June 1970. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  7. "official Single Top 100". Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  8. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Retrieved 5 August 2019.
  9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Knock Knock". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved August 5, 2019.
  10. Billboard Magazine, June 13, 1970. 13 June 1970. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  11. Billboard Magazine, July 11, 1970. 11 July 1970. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  12. Billboard Magazine, December, 1972. 23 December 1972. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  13. Billboard Magazine, August 1, 1970. August 1970. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
  14. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970-1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. "All the Number One Singles: 1970". The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 June 2012.
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