Peter Sarstedt - Where Do You Go To My Lovely (1969)
vinylsolution
totally different version
[Re-Recorded] "lost album" version
Published on Aug 16, 2015
Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) [Re-Recorded] by Peter Sarstedt from the album The Lost Album Released 2008-02-01 on Singer Records peter sarstedt the lost album. discovered after being thought lost forever, these tracks recorded in 1970, can at last be released. recorded in london after a period of rehearsal in copenhagen. © singer records 2008 ℗ singer records
Full "PETER SARSTEDT" 1969 [mono] lp - with totally different version at 17mins 20secs - "The version on the album Peter Sarstedt is longer than the radio edit version released as a single, having extra stanzas beginning "You go to the embassy parties..." and "You're in between twenty and thirty...[etc.]"." [Wiki]
totally different version
[Re-Recorded] "lost album" version
Published on Aug 16, 2015
Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) [Re-Recorded] by Peter Sarstedt from the album The Lost Album Released 2008-02-01 on Singer Records peter sarstedt the lost album. discovered after being thought lost forever, these tracks recorded in 1970, can at last be released. recorded in london after a period of rehearsal in copenhagen. © singer records 2008 ℗ singer records
Full "PETER SARSTEDT" 1969 [mono] lp - with totally different version at 17mins 20secs - "The version on the album Peter Sarstedt is longer than the radio edit version released as a single, having extra stanzas beginning "You go to the embassy parties..." and "You're in between twenty and thirty...[etc.]"." [Wiki]
..slightly different version, with lyrics,without strings:
Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?
| "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Peter Sarstedt | ||||
| from the album Peter Sarstedt | ||||
| B-side | "Morning Mountain" | |||
| Released | January 1969 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:42 | |||
| Label | United Artists | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Peter Sarstedt | |||
| Producer(s) | Ray Singer | |||
| Peter Sarstedt singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt. Its recording was produced by Ray Singer, engineered by John Mackswith at Lansdowne Recording Studios and released in 1969. It was a number-one 1 hit in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in 1969,[1] and was awarded the 1969 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[2] In the United States, the record reached No. 61 on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles. The single also peaked at No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 that May.
The music has been described as "a faux European waltz tune"[3] and the arrangement is a very simple one of strummed acoustic guitar and bass guitar, with brief bursts of French-style accordion at the start and the end. The arranger and conductor was Ian Green.[4]
Lyrics
The song is about a fictional girl named Marie-Claire who grows up on the poverty-stricken backstreets of Naples, becomes a member of the jet set, and goes on to live in Paris. The lyrics describe her from the perspective of a childhood friend; it is left unclear whether they have remained close. The rhetorical question of the title suggests that her glamorous lifestyle might not have brought Marie-Claire happiness or contentment.
Even though Sarstedt himself was not French, the song benefited from the contemporary awareness in Britain of such French and Belgian singers as Serge Gainsbourg and Jacques Brel (Belgium-born of Flemish descent).
The lyrics contain a large number of contemporary and other references:
- Marlene Dietrich: German American actress and singer
- Zizi Jeanmaire: French ballerina
- Pierre Balmain: French designer of elegant fashions
- Boulevard Saint-Michel: street in the Latin Quarter of Paris
- The Rolling Stones: popular British rock and roll band
- Sacha Distel: French singer and musician
- Sorbonne: University of Paris
- Picasso: Spanish pioneer of modern art
- Juan-les-Pins: fashionable beach resort on the French Riviera
- Topless swimsuit: first conceived by Austrian-American fashion designer Rudi Gernreich in 1964
- Saint Moritz: fashionable ski resort in the Engadin, Swiss Alps
- Napoleon brandy: a blended brandy in which the youngest brandy of the blend has been aged for at least six years
- Aga Khan: world-travelling Islamic leader and racehorse owner
The version on the album Peter Sarstedt is longer than the radio edit version released as a single, having extra stanzas beginning "You go to the embassy parties..." and "You're in between twenty and thirty...".
Inspiration
It is often suspected that the name Marie-Claire is inspired by Marie Claire magazine, a women's fashion weekly that began in 1937 in France. One theory says that the song is about the Italian actress Sophia Loren, who was abandoned by her father and had a poverty-stricken life in Naples. Another theory has the song being inspired by Danish singer and actress Nina van Pallandt.
According to Alan Cooper, "Sarstedt insisted it was not written with actress Sophia Loren in mind. 'Yes, it's a portrait of a poor-born girl who becomes a member of the European jet-set. And yes, there's reference to her growing up on the 'back streets of Naples', so I can see why people may think it was written with Sophia Loren in mind. But that's just a coincidence. I really wasn't thinking of anyone specific.'"[5]
The song was written in Copenhagen.[6][7]
In 2009, Sarstedt spoke to a gossip columnist for the Daily Express. He admitted he had lied about the song being about a socialite who died in a fire. He said that the song was about his girlfriend at the time, whom he later married and then divorced. According to Mark Steyn, "Anita is now a dentist in Copenhagen. Peter Sarstedt has spent 40 years singing about wanting to look inside her head. And for most of that time Anita has made a living by looking inside yours." [lolol...lmfao!!...ed.].
Reception
The song was a hit far exceeding Sarstedt's other work, although he is not a one-hit wonder. In 1998 he was earning £60,000 annually in royalties from it.[9]
DJ John Peel repeatedly stated that the song was one of his least favourites. On his show on BFBS radio on 1 July 1989, he said: 'It's a terrible, smug, self-satisfied, hideous record. Really have hated it ever since I first heard it".
The song was used as a soundtrack in Wes Anderson's 2007 film The Darjeeling Limited, and in Jennifer Saunders' 2016 film Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
Sequel
In 1997 Sarstedt recorded a sequel, "The Last of the Breed (Lovely 2)" on his CD England's Lane.[10] This picks up the story of Marie Claire twenty years on, living now in London. It names more people and places, including Belgravia, Ballets Russes, Cape Town, Claridge's, Gstaad, John Galliano, Harrods, Jerusalem, Long Island, Milan, Rudolf Nureyev, Palm Beach, Rio de Janeiro, and Isabella Rossellini.[11] In recent years,[when?] Sarstedt and a co-writer were working on a further sequel, "Farewell Marie-Claire", in which the story was brought to a conclusion. The song was to feature the same waltz feel as the original. But Sarstedt's retirement from the music industry meant that the track was abandoned. [why?...ed.].
References
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 229–30. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Lister, David (27 May 1994). "Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion". The Independent. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Eder, Bruce. "Peter Sarstedt: biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 October2012.
- ^ "Record Details". 45cat. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "60's chart topper Peter Sarstedt visits the KZN Midlands". Treeroutes.co.za. Archived from the original on 2014-07-22. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
- ^ Confirmation of this can be found on the CD cover of The Best of Peter Sarstedt, EMI, nr. 8297622, Australian CD.
- ^ "One of those songs by Sarstedt". Sydney Morning Herald. 27 June 1982. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
- ^ Steyn, Mark. "Where Do You Go To My Lovely". Steyn Online. Mark Steyn. Retrieved 10 January 2017.
- ^ Murphy, Peter (27 May 1998). "So Where Did You Go To, My Lovely?". Hot Press. Dublin. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
- ^ England's Lane released as Round Tower RTM CD89
- ^ "Untitled" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 May 2006. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
| Preceded by "(If Paradise Is) Half as Nice" by Amen Corner | UK number one single 26 February 1969 | Succeeded by "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye |
Categories:
- 1969 singles
- 2006 singles
- UK Singles Chart number-one singles
- Number-one singles in Australia
- Irish Singles Chart number-one singles
- Peter Sarstedt songs
- 1969 songs
- United Artists Records singles
- Cultural depictions of Pablo Picasso
- Songs about The Rolling Stones
- Songs about Naples
- Songs about Paris
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8 For Sale from £4.99 [original in mono too!! wot a bargain - eat ya heart out Ebay]
Peter Sarstedt – Peter Sarstedt
Label:
United Artists Records – ULP 1219
Format:
Vinyl, Album, LP, Mono
Country:
Released:
Genre:
Style:
Tracklist
| A1 | I Am A Cathedral | |
| A2 | Sons Of Cain Are Abel | |
| A3 | No More Lollipops | |
| A4 | Stay Within Myself | |
| A5 | You Are My Life | |
| A6 | Sayonara | |
| A7 | Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) | |
| B1 | Blagged | |
| B2 | My Daddy Is A Millionaire | |
| B3 | Once Upon An Everyday | |
| B4 | Mary Jane | |
| B5 | Time Was Leading Us Home | |
| B6 | Many Coloured, Semi Precious Easter Eggs | |
| B7 | Time, Love, Hope, Life |
Credits
- Arranged By – Ian Green (2)
- Producer – Ray Singer
- Written-By – P. Lincoln* (tracks: B7), Peter Sarstedt (tracks: A1 to B6)
Notes
Includes a foldout insert with lyrics.
Other Versions (5 of 10) View All
| Title (Format) | Label | Cat# | Country | Year | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peter Sarstedt (LP, Album) | United Artists Records | SULP 1219 | UK | 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Sarstedt (LP, Album) | United Artists Records | SULP-933.249 | Australia | 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Where Do You Go To My Lovely (LP, Album) | World Pacific | WPS-21895 | US | 1969 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Sarstedt (LP, Comp) | United Artists Records | XUA S-5019 | Netherlands | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Peter Sarstedt (LP, Album, RE, Gat) | United Artists Records, United Artists Records, United Artists Records | SFLZ -912, SUAL-933249, ULP 1219 | New Zealand | Unknown | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
R.I.P. Peter...
