Long Before I Knew You
Petula Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and song… Read Full Bio ↴Petula Clark (born 15 November 1932) is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She started her professional career as a child performer and has had one of the longest careers of any British entertainer, spanning more than eight decades. Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio. In 1954 she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included "Prends mon cœur", "Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo", and "Chariot". Hits in German, Italian, and Spanish followed. In late 1964 Clark's success extended to the United States with a four-year run of career-defining, often upbeat singles, many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. These include her signature song "Downtown" (US number one), "I Know a Place", "My Love" (US number one), "A Sign of the Times", "I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", "Colour My World", "This Is My Song" (by Charlie Chaplin) (a UK number one), "Don't Sleep in the Subway", "The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener" and "Kiss Me Goodbye". Between January 1965 and April 1968 Clark charted with nine US Top 20 hits in the US, where she was sometimes called "the First Lady of the British Invasion".

Clark has sold more than 68 million records. She has also enjoyed success in the musical film Finian's Rainbow and in the stage musicals The Sound of Music, Blood Brothers, Sunset Boulevard, and Mary Poppins.

Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petula_Clark

Discography
Petula Clark Sings (1956)
A Date with Pet (1956)
You Are My Lucky Star (1957)
À Musicorama (1958)
Petula Clark in Hollywood / Pet Clark (1959)
Prends mon coeur (1959)
Tête à tête avec Petula Clark (1961)
Rendez-vous avec Petula Clark (1962)
In Other Words (1962)
Petula (1962)
Le soleil dans les yeux (1963)
Ceux qui ont un coeur (1964)
Hello Paris (1964)
Petula au Canada (1964)
Downtown (1965)
I Know a Place (1965)
The World's Greatest International Hits (1965)
Petula '65 (1965)
My Love (1966)
I Couldn't Live Without Your Love (1966)
Petula Clark '66 (1966)
Colour My World (1967)
These Are My Songs (1967)
C'est ma chanson (1967)
Petula Italiana (1967)
The Other Man's Grass Is Always Greener (1968)
Petula (1968)
Portrait of Petula (1969)
Just Pet (1969)
Memphis (1970)
Warm and Tender / The Song of My Life (1971)
Comme une prière (1972)
La chanson de Marie-Madeleine (1972)
Now (1972)
Come On Home (1974)
I'm The Woman You Need (1975)
Je reviens (1977)
Destiny (1978)
Where The Heart Is (1998)
Here For You (1998)
Solitude & Sunshine: The Songs of Rod McKuen (2007)
Lost in You (2013)
From Now On (2016)
Living For Today (2017)
Vu d'ici (2018)

Long Before I Knew You
Petula Clark Lyrics


Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴  Line by Line Meaning ↴

Long before I knew you
Long before I met you
I was sure I'd find you someday, somehow

I pictured someone who'd walk and talk
And smile as you do
And make me feel as you do right now
All that was long before I held you
Long before I kissed you
Long before I touched you and felt this glow

But now you really are here




And now at last I know
That long before I knew you I loved you so

Overall Meaning

"Long Before I Knew You" is a song by Petula Clark that tells about a person who believed they would meet someone special someday, and they imagined the qualities of the person they would fall in love with. From the song, it can be inferred that the person who is singing has found the person they have been waiting for a long time. The songwriters used the lyrics to indicate that some of the darkest moments in people's lives may come before the person they have been waiting for arrives, but when they arrive, it can change everything.


The song's chorus is one of the most memorable parts of the song, with the singers expressing that they always loved the person they're singing to, even long before they knew them. The songwriters used the lyrics to create a sense of longing and anticipation in the minds of the listeners. The lyrics express that sometimes the ideas we create in our heads about what we want in a partner can come true in the form of a real person.


Line by Line Meaning

Long before I knew you
Even before I had the pleasure of meeting you


Long before I met you
Way ahead of when our paths would ever cross


I was sure I'd find you someday, somehow
I had a strong feeling that my destiny was to find you one day, somehow


I pictured someone who'd walk and talk
I had imagined someone who would be confident and together


And smile as you do
And who would possess the same beautiful smile as you


And make me feel as you do right now
And create the same euphoria and feeling you bring to my life now


All that was long before I held you
All of these thoughts are from way before I had the privilege of holding you


Long before I kissed you
Even before the first kiss we had


Long before I touched you and felt this glow
Well before the moment where I had the pleasure of touching you


But now you really are here
But now I am just joyed that you are here in my life


And now at last I know
Now I understand and see clearly


That long before I knew you I loved you so
That I had already loved you deeply and profoundly before I even knew you at all




Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: ADOLPH GREEN, BETTY COMDEN, JULE STYNE

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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Comments from YouTube:

MrManorAvenue

Love Petula's voice but I can't say that I care for the tempo at which this version is sung; in my personal view, it's better when sung at a straight "ballad" tempo.  The bongo drum effect somehow takes away from the lyrics' message.  

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