Thursday 1 December 2011

Rétro: Dusty Springfield - If You Go Away


A retro look at a version of Brel's classic If You Go Away by Dusty Springfield that made an unexpected appearance on prome time UK TV in an edition of the coutry's most-watched soap opera Coronation Street.

Springfield's version is based on the English-language translation by Rod McKuen but also includes some of the original lyrics from Brel's 1959 Ne Me Quitte Pas.

She was not the first to cover the song, with versions already being recorded by Barbara, Marlene Dietrich, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey and Brenda Lee, so it was well on its way to being a standard, but her cover would have certainly have introduced it to a British pop audience.

Dusty Springfield's version was included in her 1967 The Look of Love album, her third, which was released under the title Where Am I Going in the UK.

At the time she was one of the most popular female singers in the UK, and the album did much to establish her credentials as a serious artist.

She would become one of the biggest-selling female artists in the UK of the 1960s.

It would again be associated with her as it would decades later feature in a musical about her life that was staged in 2000.


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