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ALAN PRICE SET “ Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear “ 2022 stereo mix..... “Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear“ is a song written by Randy Newman, about a sincere young man of modest means named Simon Smith who entertains affluent (“well-fed“) diners with his dancing bear. A recording by the Alan Price Set reached No 4 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1967. Newman later recorded the song himself. Randy Newman wrote the ragtime-influenced song in 1964. He considered it a major stepping point in his songwriting, telling Performing Songwriter “I was writing a song, believe it or not, for Frank Sinatra Jr. And it was called something like “Susie“ or “Mary“ and I just all of a sudden couldn’t do it. So I ended up somewhere with “coat to wear“ and “dancing bear“... ...and then I was never the same. And I never wrote particularly conventional songs after that.“ Sinatra Jr. never recorded the finished song. S
