I'm Lucky

Last updated
"I'm Lucky"
ImLucky.jpg
Single by Joan Armatrading
from the album Walk Under Ladders
B-side "Shine"
Released1981
Studio The Town House (London)
Genre
Length3:05
Label A&M
Songwriter(s) Joan Armatrading
Producer(s) Steve Lillywhite
Joan Armatrading singles chronology
"All the Way from America"
(1980)
"I'm Lucky"
(1981)
"No Love"
(1982)

"I'm Lucky" is a song written and recorded by the Kittitian-English singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released as a single from her seventh studio album, Walk Under Ladders (1981). The single peaked at No. 46 on the UK singles chart, with its highest placing being No. 42 on the Dutch Single Top 100.

Contents

The song is notable for its heavy use of synthesizer played by Thomas Dolby, which lends the song an ethereal, dreamlike progressive pop quality.

B-side

The single featured as its B-side the original song "Shine", which remained unreleased on an album until the reissue of Walk Under Ladders . [1]

Critical reception

Upon its release, Tony Jasper of Music & Video Week wrote, "Synthesized backing, another song from lady with unpredictable musical steps and short sharp lyric lines. Is distinctive. Might catch on." [2] Sunie of Record Mirror considered the single to be "pleasant enough", but felt it was "hardly the stuff of which hits are made". [3] Tim de Lisle, writing for Smash Hits , praised the song itself for being "just the kind that made Joan popular – mellow, medium-paced soul, beautifully sung", but was critical of the production. He noted that Joan is "backed not with gentle guitars but with the strident synthesisers and snare drums that producer Steve Lillywhite used to such good effect with Peter Gabriel – here the combination doesn't work". [4]

Charts

ChartPosition
Australia (Kent Music Report) [5] 77
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [6] 42
UK Singles (OCC) [7] 46

References

  1. "Joan Armatrading - I'm Lucky". Discogs . 1981. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  2. Jasper, Tony (5 September 1981). "Select Singles". Music & Video Week . p. 30. ISSN   0265-1548.
  3. Sunie (29 August 1981). "Singles". Record Mirror . p. 13. ISSN   0144-5804.
  4. de Lisle, Tim (17 September 1981). "Reviews: Singles". Smash Hits . Vol. 3, no. 19. p. 28. ISSN   0260-3004.
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, New South Wales: Australian Chart Book. p. 10. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
  6. "Joan Armatrading – I'm Lucky" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 19 June 2020.
  7. "Joan Armatrading: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 June 2020.