There's Something About Mary by the-hit-parade

'There’s Something About Mary' is the eleventh giddy single by The Hit Parade. It’s released in the UK on 7” vinyl on JSH Records on May 2nd 2011, and follows hot on the heels of last year’s bouncing single ‘I Like Bubblegum’, which was voted one of the best singles of 2010 by the well qualified people at Drowned In Sound.

Reassuringly ‘There’s Something About Mary’ is nothing to do with the 1998 Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz film of the same name. It’s a song about a cat called Mary. Like many of the other singles by The Hit Parade it’s a three minutes of harmony pop and strumming 60s guitars, and is available on 7” vinyl with a brightly coloured sleeve photographed by ace British photographer Martin Parr.

On the B-side of the single is a song called ‘The Boy Who Loves Brighter’, which is a tribute to the 1989 Sarah Records indie band Brighter who were famous for being melancholy and playing all their songs in the key of D.

The Hit Parade is the non-du-guerre of Julian Henry, tireless pop enthusiast and writer of stuff about obscure bits of England.

‘There’s Something About Mary’ was recorded with Saint Etienne producer Ian Catt, and the profits from the sales of the single are being donated to the Fisherman’s Mission in Newlyn in Cornwall.

Previous Hit Parade alumni include Harvey Williams (Another Sunny Day, Blueboy, The Field Mice), Raymond Watts (<PIG>), Cath Carroll (Factory Records) and Amelia Fletcher (Tender Trap, Talulah Gosh, Heavenly). The Hit Parade reached the Top 20 in the Japanese singles chart once upon a time, and have over the years gained applause from a list of admirers which include John Peel, Edwyn Collins, James Dean Bradfield, Kenji Ozawa, Cornelius, NME, Melody Maker and others.

The Hit Parade’s own JSH Records release ‘There’s Something About Mary’/‘The Boy Who Loves Brighter’ on 7” vinyl (limited run of 1,000) on April 19th, and it will be available to buy from Rough Trade, Piccadilly, Norman and other good independent record stores. The single is available to download from May 2nd 2011.

Contains tracks

• There's Something About Mary by the-hit-parade
• The Boy Who Loves Brighter by the-hit-parade