"Take That Look Off Your Face" | ||||
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Single by Marti Webb | ||||
from the album Tell Me on a Sunday | ||||
B-side | "Sheldon Bloom" | |||
Released | January 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | Pop, Middle of the road, theatrical | |||
Length | 3:27 | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black | |||
Producer(s) | Andrew Lloyd Webber | |||
Marti Webb singles chronology | ||||
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"Take That Look Off Your Face" is the title of a hit song by musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Collaborating with lyricist Don Black, it was written for the song cycle show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1978. It was sung and released by Marti Webb in 1980, and became a number 3 hit in the UK charts. [1] The song was also popular in Ireland, and made it to number 1. [2]
The song is about a woman being told of her boyfriend's infidelity. The woman denies this initially, before rebuking her news-bearer (a girlfriend) with the revelation that she "knew before" and had done for some time. She also spends much of the song criticising her friend for rushing to break the "bad news" to her.
Despite having been written during the creative process for Tell Me on a Sunday, the song wasn't recorded during the album's principal sessions. Black reminded Lloyd Webber that they had missed a track, then entitled "You Must Be Mistaken". John Mole, the bass guitar player, improvised a part reminiscent of the arrangement style of Phil Spector, inspiring the rest of the orchestration. The track was recorded in one take, apart from a double tracking of the orchestra.
A briefer 3:02 edit of the song is included on the album, however, a longer 3:29 version was released as the single.
The lyrics were substantially rewritten by Richard Maltby Jr. for the original Broadway production of Song and Dance. The British productions of the show have always used the lyrics written by Black.
Black himself amended the line, "He's doing some deal up in Baltimore now" after realising that Baltimore is south of New York. In subsequent versions, the song's protagonist is said to be "down" in Baltimore.
For the 2003 production of Tell Me on a Sunday, the storyline instead placed the action in England prior to an emigration to New York, requiring some further revision of the lyrics to reference London instead.
Weekly charts
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A German-language version with lyrics by Michael Kunze, "Freu' dich bloß nicht zu früh", [17] by the Danish singer Gitte Hænning spent 22 weeks in the German charts in 1980, peaking at no. 10. [18] The song appeared on Gitte's album Bleib noch bis zum Sonntag!, a collection of songs from Tell Me on a Sunday, which won the 1980 Deutscher Schallplattenpreis for best German-language pop album. [19]
Tell Me on a Sunday is a musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Don Black. A one-woman show, it has been performed by a number of female singers/actors, most notably Marti Webb and Bernadette Peters. A one-act song cycle, it tells the story of an ordinary English girl from Muswell Hill, who journeys to the United States in search of love. Her romantic misadventures begin in New York City, lead her to Hollywood, and eventually take her back to Manhattan.
Marti Webb is an English actress and singer. She appeared on stage in Evita before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one-woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980. This included her biggest hit single, "Take That Look Off Your Face", a UK top three hit, with the parent album also reaching the top three.
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Tell Me on a Sunday is the debut solo album by English actress and singer Marti Webb. It was released in 1980 and includes songs from the musical of the same name, in which Webb starred.
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