“(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” is a song written by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demonstration tape by Dionne Warwick in 1963, “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” first charted for Lou Johnson, whose version reached number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1964. British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson’s version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery, Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on Ready Steady Go!, the pop music TV program. The first week after its release, the single sold 65,000 copies. Shaw’s version reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks there in November 1964, and that same month, it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite reaching the top 10 in some markets, including Detroit and Miami, Shaw’s version failed to best the US showing of the Lou Johnson original; the Hot 100 peak of Shaw’s version was No. 52.
A number-one hit in Canada and South Africa, Shaw’s version of “…Always Something There to Remind Me” was also a hit in Australia (number 16), Ireland (number seven), and the Netherlands (number 10); the track’s success in the last territory did not preclude hit status for the Dutch rendering by Edwin Rutten [nl] entitled “Ik moet altijd weer opnieuw aan je denken” (number 12). Shaw herself recorded “…Always Something There to Remind Me” in French, as “Toujours un coin qui me rappelle“, with lyrics by Ralph Bernet, which reached number 19 in France, and in Italian, as “Il Mondo Nei Tuoi Occhi“. A cover by Eddy Mitchell was more successful, reaching number two in France in April 1965 and also reaching number three on Belgium’s French-language chart. Shaw made a bid for a German hit, as well, rendering “…Always Something There to Remind Me” as “Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander’n“. It was not a success.
The Carpenters included the song on the 1971 album Carpenters. It was included in a medley of other Bacharach and Hall songs, including “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again”, “Walk on By”, and “Do You Know the Way to San Jose”. The song did not chart, but the album reached number two. “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” – as “Always Something There to Remind Me” – entered the US top 40 for the first time via a version by R. B. Greaves which reached No. 27 in February 1970. Recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in 1969, with production by Ahmet Ertegun and Jackson Howe, Greaves’ version was also a No. 3 Easy Listening hit. This version peaked at number 48 in Australia. In Canada, it reached number 12.
Nearly 20 years after its composition, the song became a major hit in the United States for the first time via a synth-pop reinvention by Naked Eyes titled “Always Something There to Remind Me”, which peaked inside the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1983. Vocalist Pete Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher first cut “Always Something There to Remind Me” as one of a number of demos recorded in Bristol upon forming the duo later known as Naked Eyes in early 1982. Byrne would recall: “I had always loved the song ‘Always Something There to Remind Me’ so we called a friend who had the record, he read the lyric over the phone and we put it together from memory.” Originally released in the UK in 1982, Naked Eyes’ “Always Something There to Remind Me” gradually gained attention, entering the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983 to peak at No. 8 that June, becoming the duo’s only top 10 American hit.
English electronic music duo Tin Tin Out recorded a house cover of the song titled “Always (Something There to Remind Me)” in 1995. The song features vocals by French singer Espiritu (aka Vanessa Quinones). This version, released by WEA on March 13, reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 1 on the UK Dance Singles Chart. The accompanying music video was filmed in the Café de Paris in London.
