Sunday, March 07, 2010

Kiki Dee: Amoureuse



I had been thinking of posting this, then yesterday I heard it playing in a cafe so I knew it was meant to be.

There was not a lot of sophistication around in the singles chart in 1973, but I recognised even then that there was more to this than you found in Suzi Quatro. I wouldn't claim that it sounds great today, but it has lasted better than most singles from that year.

Wikipedia tells us that this, which reached no. 13 in the UK singles charts, is faithful translation of a song originally written and performed by VĂ©ronique Sanson. The lyrics describe the mind-set of a woman in the aftermath of her first sexual encounter.

Kiki Dee (born Pauline Matthews in Bradford) is best remembered for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", her duet with Elton John, which is hardly the finest hour in either of their careers. Beyond that no. 1 she never achieved much commercial success, but she has enjoyed a long career and was the first white British artist to be signed by Motown.

The cafe, incidentally, also played another continental hit from this era: Vado Via by Drupi.

1 comment:

Paul Walter said...

She appeared at Newbury Corn Exchange only last week, looking very good for her years. And yes, that is a great song, Amereuse. I am also a great fan of "Vado Via". (I'll spare you recolections of the Singing Nun and Plastique Bertrand). I was a great fan of "I've got the music in me" which had the attraction of a very colourful label. It is played occasionally on the radio - indeed it was on the Radio 2 breakfast show last week. It's a thumping tune which was brilliantly produced but is rather let down by it's title lyric which, in the final analysis, doesn't actually mean a great deal - perhaps.