I Beg Your Pardon

"I Beg Your Pardon" is the debut single by Canadian synthpop duo Kon Kan, from their 1988 debut album Move to Move. It was written by Kon Kan member Barry Harris, and American musician Joe South, who is credited due to the song's sampling of Lynn Anderson's 1970 hit "Rose Garden", which he 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)
GenreSynthpop
Length3:59
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Tom Gerencser
Kon Kan singles chronology
"I Beg Your Pardon"
(1988)		 "Harry Houdini"
(1988)

"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 National Lampoon's "Disco Hotline" sketch from their That's Not Funny, That's Sick album. Recreated samples of Spagna's "Call Me" and the opening bars of the theme from the film The Magnificent Seven are also present in the song.[1]

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.[2]

Barry 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.[3]

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."[4]

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.[4]

Charts

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

Year-end charts
Chart (1988–89) Peak
position
Canada Dance/Urban (RPM)[8] 12

References
  1. "Tracks Sampled in I Beg Your Pardon by Kon Kan on WhoSampled". WhoSampled.
  2. "KON KAN | Artist". Official Charts. Retrieved 2013-06-23.
  3. Richliano, James (August 12, 1989). "Kon Kan Is On The 'Move' With New Album" (PDF). Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  4. "Interview with Barry Harris of Kon Kan". Kickin' it Old School. June 27, 2013. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
  5. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry, received 2015-07-15". Imgur. Archived from the original on 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  6. RPM Top Singles - March 27, 1989, p.6 RPM Magazine
  7. Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 148.
  8. "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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