"The “Sweetest Girl”" (sic) is a song written by Green Gartside. It was originally performed by Gartside's band Scritti Politti, and released in 1981 as a single. The single peaked at number 64 in the UK Singles Chart.[1] The keyboards are played by Robert Wyatt.[2]
The song became a marginally bigger hit five years later, when covered by Madness. Their version of the song reached 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".
The cover of the song by ska-pop band Madness was included on their 1985 album Mad Not Mad and released as a single the following year. The song spent six weeks on the British chart, peaking at number 35.
Video[]
The song video was featured in the 1986 BBC Omnibus documentary Video Jukebox.[4]