Alphabet (Amanda Lear song)

Last updated
"Alphabet"
Single by Amanda Lear
from the album I Am a Photograph
B-side "Queen of Chinatown"
Released1977
Genre Euro disco
Length4:00
Label Ariola Records
Songwriter(s) Amanda Lear
Producer(s) Anthony Monn
Amanda Lear singles chronology
"Blue Tango"
(1977)		"Alphabet"
(1977)		"Queen of Chinatown"
(1977)

"Alphabet" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released as a single from her debut album I Am a Photograph in 1977 by Ariola Records.

Contents

Song information

"Alphabet" is a mid-tempo disco song, arranged by Charly Ricanek and Anthony Monn, and is largely based on the melody from Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846 . Autobiographical lyrics were written by Amanda Lear and include her personal associations with each letter of the alphabet recited over the music. In a 2013 interview, Lear stated that "Alphabet" was "the first song to be completely just spoken onto classical music". [1]

The song carries a subtitle "Prelude in C by J. S. Bach" in the track listing of its parent album, and was also known as "My Alphabet" when released as the B-side on the single "Queen of Chinatown". French- and Italian-language versions of the song were also recorded, entitled "Mon alphabet" and "Alfabeto", respectively. "Mon alphabet" was the B-side on the single "Tomorrow", released in France earlier that year. [2]

"Alphabet", just like the previous single, "Blue Tango", at that time was only released in the Netherlands. "Queen of Chinatown" made the B-side, however, it would become Lear's next single the same year. "Alphabet" was not a commercial success and did not chart. In 2015, the track was used in a Louis Vuitton jewelry advert. [3]

Music video

The music video was directed by Michael Leckebusch [4] for German TV show Musikladen . It used the chroma key technique, and shows Amanda Lear performing the song with respective letters of the alphabet in Brush Script appearing in the background. [5] The music video was released on a 3-DVD box set Das beste aus dem Musikladen Vol. 1 in 2012, together with ten other videos that Lear had made for Musikladen. [6]

Track listing

A. "Alphabet" – 4:00
B. "Queen of China-Town" – 4:15

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References

  1. ↑ "The Original Queen Of Reinvention". Ponystep. ponystep.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  2. ↑ "TOMORROW 1977 France". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  3. ↑ "Louis Vuitton presents LV and Me Jewellery Collection - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  4. ↑ "Amanda Lear Special". Das beste aus dem Musikladen. Die grössten Hits aus der legendären Musik-Show Vol. 1 Folge 2 (DVD) (in German). Sony Music. 2012 [1978]. Event occurs at 39:32.
  5. ↑ Fraser Muggeridge (2011-12-12). "Amanda Lear: Alphabet (1976)". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  6. ↑ "Various Artists - Das beste aus dem Musikladen, Vol. 1 3 DVDs: Amazon.de: Roger Whittaker, The Manhattans, The Jacksons, Diverse: Filme & TV". Amazon.de (in German). www.amazon.de. 16 November 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  7. ↑ "ALPHABET 1977 Holland". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
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