"Amazing" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Alex Lloyd | ||||
from the album Watching Angels Mend | ||||
B-side |
| |||
Released | 17 September 2001 | |||
Studio | Town House (London, England) | |||
Length | 3:22 | |||
Label | EMI | |||
Songwriter(s) | Alexander Wasiliev | |||
Producer(s) |
| |||
Alex Lloyd singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"Amazing" is a song written by Australian singer-songwriter Alex Lloyd. The song was released on 17 September 2001 as the second single from his second studio album, Watching Angels Mend (2001). It was a success in Australia, reaching number 14, and in New Zealand, where it topped the singles chart in March 2002. It was also ranked number one on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2001, Australia's largest annual music poll. [1] The song is an example of the evergreen 'four chords of pop' progression.
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2002, the song was nominated for Single of the Year and Highest Selling Single, losing out on both to "Can't Get You Out of My Head" by Kylie Minogue. [2] [3] At the APRA Music Awards of 2002 the song won the 'Song of the Year' award. [4] In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Amazing" was ranked number 80. [5] Lloyd was interviewed on Double J for the 20th anniversary of the song topping Triple J "Hottest 100". He stated that the song was written as a "beautiful goodbye" to a relationship with an older, more experienced partner. [6]
The video clip of this song was filmed around the Southern Highlands in New South Wales. It features a schoolgirl named Sarah living in the year 1976. One day while travelling to school by bus, Sarah notices a young man walking near the road. Desperately, she decides to skip school and have her own freedom including writing her name in a local toilet, rowing a boat, drawing a picture and walking around the streets in her local town. Unfortunately, Sarah's chance of freedom was cut short when her mum caught her in a library. At the end, Sarah is back in uniform the next day and waits for a bus to get to school.
Credits are adapted from the Australian CD single liner notes. [7]
Studios
Personnel
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [14] | Gold | 35,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Catalogue | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Australia | 17 September 2001 | EMI | CD | 8798972 | [15] |
United States | 19 August 2002 | Nettwerk | Triple A radio | 0 6700 32037 2 2 | [16] |
In 2004 the song was licensed for use in advertisements for the Ford Territory 4-wheel drive (SUV) vehicle. It has been used in two other TV advertisements, reportedly earning Lloyd payments of "hundreds of thousands of dollars". [17] In 2008, truck driver Mark O'Keefe sued Lloyd, claiming that the two of them wrote the song together on "a series of beer coasters" at a hotel in 1991 when Lloyd was 16, and that accordingly Lloyd owed him royalties. Lloyd denied ever meeting O'Keefe. [17]
In 2024 Woolworths used the song as the background to their 'Fresh Fuels The Best In All Of Us' campaign featuring Paralympic swimmer Col Pearse. [18]
The John Butler Trio were an Australian roots-rock band led by guitarist and vocalist John Butler, an APRA and ARIA-award-winning musician. They formed in Fremantle in 1998 with Jason McGann on drums, Gavin Shoesmith on bass and John Butler on vocals. By 2009, the trio consisted of Butler with Byron Luiters on bass and Nicky Bomba on drums and percussion, the latter being replaced by Grant Gerathy in 2013. After both Luiters and Gerathy exited the trio in early 2019, bassist OJ Newcomb and drummer Terepai Richmond joined the band, accompanied by touring musician Elana Stone on keyboards, percussion and backing vocals.
Alexander Lloyd is an Australian singer-songwriter. Four of his albums, Black the Sun, Watching Angels Mend, Distant Light and Alex Lloyd, released between 1999 and 2005, made the top ten on the ARIA charts. Lloyd has also won the ARIA Award for Best Male Artist on three occasions.
"Ten Days" is a song by Australian singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, written by Higgins and Jay Clifford of Jump, Little Children. It was the second single released from her debut album, The Sound of White (2004), on 15 November 2004. "Ten Days" peaked at No. 12 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. The Australian Recording Industry Association awarded the song a gold disc for selling over 35,000 copies. It was also voted No. 6 song on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2004. The video features Higgins travelling to various places and many of the shots were filmed in Adelaide, South Australia.
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl" is a song by Australian rock band Jet from their 2003 debut album, Get Born. It was released as the first single from the album on 18 August 2003 in the United States and on 1 September 2003 in Australia.
"Look What You've Done" is a song by Australian rock band Jet, released on 8 March 2004 as the third international and fourth US single from their debut studio album, Get Born (2003). The single was initially issued in the United Kingdom in March before being released in Australia the following month. In the United States, it was serviced to rock radio formats in October 2004.
"I Touch Myself" is a song recorded by Australian rock band Divinyls. It was written by the songwriting team of Tom Kelly and Billy Steinberg along with Christine Amphlett and Mark McEntee of the Divinyls. It was released in November 1990 by Virgin as the lead single from the band's fourth album, Divinyls (1991), and deals with the subjects of eroticism and female masturbation. The single achieved success, reaching No. 1 in Australia and No. 4 on the US Billboard Hot 100. In January 2018, Australian network Triple M ranked the song at No. 60 in its list of the "most Australian" songs of all time. In 2023, Billboard magazine ranked it among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".
"Prisoner of Society" is a song by Australian punk rock band the Living End. It was originally released in Australia on the 1997 EP Second Solution / Prisoner of Society. The song was later released as a single, separate from the EP, in the United States in January 1999. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", "Prisoner of Society" was ranked number 32.
"Under the Milky Way" is a single by Australian alternative rock band the Church, released on 15 February 1988, and appears on their fifth studio album Starfish. The song was written by bass guitarist and lead vocalist Steve Kilbey and his then-girlfriend Karin Jansson of Curious (Yellow). It peaked at No. 22 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart, No. 24 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 on the New Zealand Singles Chart; it also appeared in the Dutch Single Top 100. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1989, the song won 'Single of the Year'. It was issued simultaneously in both 7" vinyl and 12" vinyl formats by Arista Records (internationally) and Mushroom Records.
"Straight Lines" is a song by Australian rock band Silverchair. It was released on 12 March 2007 and debuted at number one on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, becoming the band's first number-one single since 1997's "Freak". The single was shortly followed by the release of the band's fifth studio album Young Modern on 31 March 2007. Unlike the songs written during Diorama, when Daniel Johns wrote all the tracks himself, "Straight Lines" was co-written by the Presets' Julian Hamilton.
"My Happiness" is a song by Australian rock band Powderfinger. It was released via record label Universal Music Australia in August 2000 as the first single from the band's fourth album, Odyssey Number Five. Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning wrote the lyrics for "My Happiness" as a reflection on the time the band spent touring to promote their work, and the loneliness that came as a result. It was inspired by his love of gospel and soul music. The rest of the band are co-credited with Fanning for composing the track. Despite its melancholy mood, "My Happiness" is considered by many to be a love song, a suggestion Fanning regards as mystifying.
"Power and the Passion" is the second single from Midnight Oil's 1982 album 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The song is one of the band's most famous, and it was performed on every Midnight Oil tour since the issue of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 as well as at the WaveAid concert.
"Sly" is a song by Australian rock band the Cat Empire that was the first single released from their 2005 album, Two Shoes. The song peaked at number 23 on the Australian Singles Chart and placed at number 38 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 2005.
"Tucker's Daughter" is the debut single by Australian rock singer and guitarist, Ian Moss. It was released in November 1988 almost five years after his group, Cold Chisel, had disbanded for the first time. It is co-written by Moss and Don Walker. The song was the lead single from Moss' debut studio album, Matchbook (1989).
"Mascara" is the second single released by Australian rock band Killing Heidi from their debut album, Reflector (2000). It was released on 11 October 1999, when their debut single, "Weir", was still on the Australian Singles Chart. The re-release of the "Mascara" single was issued with "Leave Me Alone" as a double A-side; it was this version that topped the Australian chart, becoming Killing Heidi's only number-one hit in their native country. "Mascara" was later released in the United States. In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Mascara" was ranked number 90.
"Wide Open Road" is a single released in 1986 by Australian rock band The Triffids from their album Born Sandy Devotional. It was produced by Gil Norton and written by David McComb on vocals, keyboards and guitar. The B-side "Time of Weakness" was recorded live at the Graphic Arts Club, Sydney, November 1985 by Mitch Jones, mixed by Rob Muir. "Dear Miss Lonely Hearts" was recorded at Planet Sound Studios, Perth and produced by the Triffids. "Wide Open Road" reached No. 26 on the UK Singles Chart in 1986, and No. 64 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. In May 2001 the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), as part of its 75th Anniversary celebrations, named "Wide Open Road" as one of the Top 30 Australian songs of all time.
"The Dead Heart" is a song by Australian rock band Midnight Oil. It was first released as a single in Australia in 1986 and in the United Kingdom and the United States in 1988 after it had been included on the 1987 album, Diesel and Dust. It peaked at number four on the Australian singles chart and at number 11 on the U.S. Mainstream rock chart.
Art vs. Science are an Australian electronic dance band based in Sydney. Formed in February 2008, the three-piece consists of James Finn on vocals and keyboards; Daniel McNamee on vocals, guitars and keyboards; and Daniel Williams on drums and vocals.
"To Her Door" is a song by Paul Kelly and the Coloured Girls, released as a single ahead of their second album, Under the Sun. The single was released in September 1987 and reached No. 14 on the Australian singles charts.
"Robbery" is a song by Australian pop rock duo Lime Cordiale, released on 20 September 2019 as the fifth single from their second studio album 14 Steps to a Better You (2020).