“Tous les garçons et les filles” (“All the Boys and Girls”) is a song by French singer-songwriter Francoise Hardy, with Roger Samyn credited as co-writer on Hardy’s original 1962 ye-ye-era recording. The song recounts the feelings of a young person who has never known love and her envy of the couples that surround her. Hardy’s […]
Music of The World (3)
“Al di là” (“Beyond”) is a song written by Italian composer Carlo Donida and lyricist Mogol, and recorded by Betty Curtis. The song was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1961, performed in Italian by Curtis at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, France in March 1961. In the United States, Emilio Pericoli […]
Music of The World (2)
“Mambo Italiano” is a song written by Bob Merrill in 1954 for the American singer Rosemary Clooney. Merrill reportedly wrote it under a recording deadline, scribbling hastily on a paper napkin in an Italian restaurant in New York City, and then using the wall pay-phone to dictate the melody, rhythm and lyrics to the studio […]
Music of The World (1)
Today we begin a new series. We shall be considing songs that became popular in the UK whilst being sung in another language. Despite Brexit and our general failure to learn any other language but our native tongue, it seems that we have long had a love affair with the music of world, no matter […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (7)
Our final rummage in the forgotten musical corners of the 2010’s for the time being. “I Belong in Your Arms” is a song by Brooklyn synth-pop aesthetes Chairlift. Their off-kilter approach to pop songwriting resonated throughout the music industry; dig through the roster of any major label at the start of this decade and you’d […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (6)
“The Mother We Share” is the debut single by Scottish synth-pop band Chvrches from their debut studio album, The Bones of What You Believe. The song was re-released in the United Kingdom in September 2013 by Virgin Records. The re-release peaked within the top 40 in the UK, reaching number 38 in September 2013. Michael […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (5)
“Raise Your Glass” is a song by American singer Pink from her first great hits compilation Greatest Hits…So Far!!! (2010). The song was written by Pink, Max Martin and Karl “Shellback” Schuster, and produced by the latter two, who are responsible for many of Pink’s hits. The song celebrates the first decade since Pink’s debut […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (4)
“Night Shift” is a song by American indie rock musician Lucy Dacus. It was released as the lead single from her album Historian in December 2017. Dacus described the song as, “The only breakup song I’ve ever written.” It was inspired by her relationship with her former bassist, with whom she broke up after finishing […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (3)
“Me & Magdalena” is a song from The Monkees 50th-anniversary LP Good Times! released in 2016. The Monkees turned creative control over to lifelong fans of the group, like producer Adam Schlesinger and songwriters like Rivers Cuomo, Paul Weller, and Noel Gallagher. The result is, improbably enough, the greatest album of the 2010s by a […]
Forgotten Songs – 2010’s (2)
“Emmylou,” is a song by First Aid Kit a Swedish folk duo consistingKlara and Johanna Söderberg who sweetly pay tribute to country power couples so accurately that you forget the sisters are Swedish. “I’ll be your Emmylou, and I’ll be your June,” they sing over blazing steel guitar. “If you’ll be my Gram and my […]