I Beg Your Pardon

"I Beg Your Pardon" is the debut single by Canadian duo Kon Kan, from their 1989 debut album Move to Move. It was written and produced by Barry Harris. American musician Joe South also received a songwriting credit, due to the song's sampling of Lynn Anderson's 1970 hit "Rose Garden", which South wrote.

"I Beg Your Pardon"
Single by Kon Kan
from the album Move to Move
Released
  • 1988 (1988) (Canada)
  • February 20, 1989 (1989-02-20) (UK)
Genre
Length3:59
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Barry Harris
  • Tom Gerencser
Kon Kan singles chronology
"I Beg Your Pardon"
(1988)		 "Harry Houdini"
(1988)

Harris said that the song was "the question to Lynn Anderson's 'Rose Garden' answer." It was Harris's first studio project, and was initially released on an unknown independent record label in Toronto.[4]

"I Beg Your Pardon" also contains samples of other songs, including GQ's "Disco Nights (Rock-Freak)", Silver Convention's "Get Up and Boogie", and Spagna's "Call Me". Music critic James Masterton wrote that the song was one of the first big club hits to contain prominent samples.[5]

The song was a hit, reaching the top twenty in a number of countries including the UK and U.S., where it peaked at numbers 5 and 15, respectively.[6]

Background

Barry Harris took inspiration from the Pet Shop Boys' 1987 single "Always on My Mind", which had repurposed Willie Nelson's 1982 country ballad into an upbeat synthpop song. Harris wanted to do the same with Lynn Anderson's 1970 country hit "Rose Garden". As he was a DJ at the time, he was "exploding with ideas" for little sounds he incorporated into "I Beg Your Pardon". Harris said, "The lyrics were about my first love relationship. As I had never really attempted to write lyrics seriously before, I already had the melody of the verses in my head so I simply started with a 'Once Upon a Time' idea… 'there once was a time and there once was a way…' and it pretty much flowed from there."[1]

Musically, in this song, Harris also wanted to emulate "Bass (How Low Can You Go)" by Simon Harris, as well as "S'Express", two sample-based hits from 1988.[1] The result was unique; Masterton wrote that Kon Kan's pop song "sounded like very little else on the market," and was quickly rewarded with chart success.[5]

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1988–89) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[7] 100
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[8] 19
Dutch Singles Chart 3
German Singles Chart 8
Ireland (IRMA)[9] 6
New Zealand Singles Chart 7
UK Singles Chart 5
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 15
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[10] 3

Year-end charts
Chart (1988–89) Peak
position
Canada Dance/Urban (RPM)[11] 12

References
  1. "Interview with Barry Harris of Kon Kan". Kickin' it Old School. June 27, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  2. Lost Albums : KON KAN Move To Move | The Electricity Club Archived 21 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  3. Cooper, William. "Move to Move Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  4. Richliano, James (August 12, 1989). "Kon Kan Is On The 'Move' With New Album" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  5. Masterton, James. Chart Watch UK – Hits of 1989. Chart Watch UK. p. 289. ISBN 9780463138571.
  6. "KON KAN | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
  7. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 2015-07-15". Imgur. Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  8. RPM Top Singles - March 27, 1989, p.6 RPM Magazine
  9. "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Beg Your Pardon". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  10. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 148.
  11. "Top 25 Dance Singles of '88" (PDF). RPM. Vol. 49, no. 10. 24 December 1988. p. 10. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
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