1968.

I think you’ll find the phrase I uttered first thing was actually ‘oh bloody hell, is it Friday yet?’, but this is close enough I suppose.

This was originally written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and recorded by the Beatles for their 1968 album The Beatles (better known to you and me as The White Album). Incidentally, the title came from a phrase that was popularised by London-based Nigerian musician Jimmy Scott. He did try and claim writing credits as a result, but was unsuccessful.

Whilst the Beatles had a number one hit in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and West Germany with this, the song was never released as a single in the UK or the US. Consequently there were many groups who rushed to record their own versions, hoping to be the ones to achieve chart success with it.

In the end it was Scottish group Marmalade that became the first to have a UK hit with the song. It spent twenty weeks on the UK chart, including three weeks at number one – as well as reaching number one in Austria and Norway and number two in Switzerland. 

By April 1969 this version had sold half a million copies in the UK and a million copies worldwide, making it the most successful cover of a Beatles song ever.