Fact #160922
When:
Short story:
Bananarama release a new single, Robert De Niro's Waiting on London Records in the UK.
Full article:
Sara Dallin (Bananarama) : Our plan was to do something like Grace Jones’s Pull Up to the Bumper. But somehow we ended up with a song based on a fantasy common to a lot of young girls: falling in love with a star, having their poster on their wall – and escaping into a world that’s so much easier to deal with than a real relationship. The line about walking in the park and “people are staring and following me” reflected an uglier stalking side to the fantasy. The date-rape notion was Siobhan’s idea, possibly from something we’d read in a newspaper.
We wrote it in the council flat the three of us shared in Holborn, London, where our producers – Steve Jolley and Tony Swain – would come to work with us. It was a good collaboration, but we were determined to write our own material and be in charge of our destiny. We all had quite musical backgrounds. Keren Woodward and I had gone to the same school and sang in the chorus. We loved working out harmonies and melodies. I think the line “talking Italian” is a great example of countermelody. I sing the line in the lower key then Siobhan Fahey sings it higher. It’s not true that it was forced on us by Jolley and Swain, to make it sound more romantic.
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama) : The lyrics came out of our love for Martin Scorsese’s films. But from my perspective, the song is also about a fantasist who didn’t want a real boyfriend because she had been date-raped. There may have been some lurid lyrics at some stage, but these were toned down to depict someone who avoided men because she felt no one could match her obsessive love for a film star.
Radio 1 wouldn’t play the song until it reached the charts, reflecting the media’s attitude towards us. Luckily, the public loved it. So many people tell me it’s their favourite Bananarama song. I’m so proud of it and what we did.
(Source : interview by Jack Watkins, The Guardian, Nov 20, 2017)
Tweet this Fact
We wrote it in the council flat the three of us shared in Holborn, London, where our producers – Steve Jolley and Tony Swain – would come to work with us. It was a good collaboration, but we were determined to write our own material and be in charge of our destiny. We all had quite musical backgrounds. Keren Woodward and I had gone to the same school and sang in the chorus. We loved working out harmonies and melodies. I think the line “talking Italian” is a great example of countermelody. I sing the line in the lower key then Siobhan Fahey sings it higher. It’s not true that it was forced on us by Jolley and Swain, to make it sound more romantic.
Siobhan Fahey (Bananarama) : The lyrics came out of our love for Martin Scorsese’s films. But from my perspective, the song is also about a fantasist who didn’t want a real boyfriend because she had been date-raped. There may have been some lurid lyrics at some stage, but these were toned down to depict someone who avoided men because she felt no one could match her obsessive love for a film star.
Radio 1 wouldn’t play the song until it reached the charts, reflecting the media’s attitude towards us. Luckily, the public loved it. So many people tell me it’s their favourite Bananarama song. I’m so proud of it and what we did.
(Source : interview by Jack Watkins, The Guardian, Nov 20, 2017)