To France

Last updated
"To France"
To France (Mike Oldfield).jpg
Single by Mike Oldfield
from the album Discovery
B-side
  • "In the Pool"
  • "Bones"
Released18 June 1984 (1984-06-18) [1]
Recorded"In the Swiss Alps at 2,000 metres within sight of Lake Geneva on sunny days" [2]
Genre Europop, rock
Length4:33
Label Virgin
Songwriter(s) Mike Oldfield
Producer(s) Mike Oldfield
Simon Phillips
Mike Oldfield singles chronology
"Crime of Passion"
(1984)
"To France"
(1984)
"Tricks of the Light"
(1984)

"To France" is a single by musician Mike Oldfield, released in 1984. It is from the album Discovery and features Maggie Reilly on vocals.

Contents

The musical theme used in "To France" was also used on the first track on side two of the Discovery album, "Talk About Your Life". The B-sides for the single are the non-album tracks "In the Pool" and "Bones". [3] The B-sides later re-appeared on the re-issue of the "Moonlight Shadow" single in 1993.

The music video that appears on the Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield video for "To France" is a mock-live performance of the song. Oldfield plays a Fender Stratocaster in the video.

Lyrics

The theme is folk ballad mildly based on the story of Mary, Queen of Scots, who would never reach the continent when escaping from complots in Scotland after coming back from France. There she was brought up, bethroted and shortly marriaged to Francis II of France until his death in 1560, when she came back to the tense unrest times of the Scottish Reformation and married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley in 1565. He was allegedly murdered after killin her private secretary and friend, and she married who was supposed to be the assassin in 1567, but an uprising forced her to abdicate and she sought refuge fleeing southwards, but would instead be set captive in custody in several castles for more than eighteen years by Elizabeth I of England, and finally beheaded in Fotheringhay Castle in 1587.

Track listing

7" Single
  1. "To France" (4.33)
  2. "In the Pool" (3.40)
12" Single
  1. "To France" (extended version) (5:32)
  2. "In the Pool" (3:40)
  3. "Bones" (3:19)

Charts

The song reached the top 10 in a number of countries in 1984 and topped the French charts for one week in October 1984.

Maggie Reilly version

"To France"
Single by Maggie Reilly
from the album Elena
ReleasedJanuary 1997 [17]
Recorded1996
Genre Folk pop
Length5:09
Label EMI
Songwriter(s) Mike Oldfield
Producer(s) Nick Patrick
Maggie Reilly singles chronology
"Walk on By (The Mixes)"
(1996)
"To France"
(1997)
"Listen to Your Heart (The Mixes)"
(1997)

In 1996, Maggie Reilly re-recorded "To France" on her solo album Elena, and in 2009 she recorded another version of the song for her album Looking Back Moving Forward. Compared to the original, this version is significantly Pop-heavy.

Track listing

Maxi-CD
  1. "To France" (JPO & Beam Video Mix) 3:46
  2. "To France" (Intro) 1:08
  3. "To France" (JPO & Beam Spanish Dream Mix) 5:50
  4. "To France" (JPO & Beam Club Mix) 8:03
  5. ""To France" (Espirito Remix) 6:40
  6. "Mike Oldfield & Maggie Reilly - "To France" (Radio Edit) 3:34
Part II - CD-Maxi
  1. "To France" (DJ Beam's Radio Mix) 3:54
  2. "To France" (De Donatis Remix) 6:16
  3. "To France" (DJ Beam's Club Mix) 6:29

Charts

Chart (1997)Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40) [18] 17
Germany (Official German Charts) [19] 19
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) [20] 30
Netherlands (Single Top 100) [21] 53
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade) [22] 22

Kim Wilde version

"To France"
Kim Wilde - To France.png
Single by Kim Wilde
from the album Snapshots
Released2 December 2011
Recorded2011
Genre Pop rock
Length3:59
Label Columbia SevenOne
Songwriter(s) Mike Oldfield
Producer(s) Andrew Murray
Ricky Wilde
Kim Wilde singles chronology
"It's Alright" / "Sleeping Satellite"
(2011)
"To France"
(2011)
"Ever Fallen in Love"
(2012)

"To France" is the second single to be released from Kim Wilde's twelfth studio album Snapshots . It was released digitally on 2 December 2011. Included on the single is a Christmas remix of the song as well as an exclusive remix of "It's Alright" by German Euro-dance band Groove Coverage.

Track listing

  1. "To France" (Christmas edit) – 3:56
  2. "To France" – 3:59
  3. "It's Alright" (Groove Coverage remix edit) – 2:55
  4. "It's Alright" (Groove Coverage remix) – 4:26

Other cover versions

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