[REMIX] Getting The Party Started…

Get The Party Started by Dame Shirley Bassey provides the great backing to a new TV commercial from Italy…

This is the start of a new section on The Bassey Blog celebrating great and varied remixes by talented and creative DJs from all over the world. It is our mission to prove how Bassey’s unique voice transcends every boundary of musical possibility and we hope to encourage further talented and creative people to come up with interesting new ideas that we will consider playing on the Blog in the future!

It will come as no surprise that the first remix is Get The Party Started. The club mix by NorthXNWest is my personal favourite of the UK remixes.
 

Please join The Bassey Blog on Soundcloud where you can leave comments for the mixers and join a growing music community.

This track comes from the time when Dame Shirley worked with Nikki Lamborn and Catherine ‘Been’ Feeney of Never The Bride. After the recording session for Get The Party Started, Dame Shirley wrote “Nikki and Been, you are an inspiration.” I certainly agree with that statement as I too have become a great fan and some of their lesser known songs are in my opinion even better than The Living Tree!

Whilst on Soundcloud, discover some of the great NTB songs that got away. Here’s my top 5 that I particularly enjoy imagining being given the Shirley Bassey treatment! Some require more imagination than others!
 

I hope to demonstrate that there is much more to this talented duo than the “two tattooed lesbians” label that was so misleadingly given to them by The Guardian in their review of DSB at Glastonbury. If you are on Twitter please follow me at NTBFriendsUnite!

And finally.. Enjoy a trip down memory lane and revisit the original TV commercial that got the party started 5 years ago…

As long as he needs me

Today two videos of As Long As He Needs Me. One from the 1995 An Audience With Shirley Bassey and the one from the Roundhouse. Judging from the top 10′s by fans on Gay Radio As Long As He Needs Me is among the favourite songs of many fans.

For clip # 1 CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE

For clip # 2 CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE

As Long As He Needs Me
Written by Lionel Bart

As Long As He Needs Me recorded: June 22, 1960 released: UK: July 1960 on Columbia single DB 4490 US: September 14, 1962 on United Artists single UA 511 charted: single UK: #2, August 4, 1960

Released in 1960 on a single and later on an EP. The single climbed to number two in the charts. The single stayed in the singles Top 50 charts for 30 consecutive weeks, one of the longest unbroken runs in UK singles chart history. It was her first hit single with Columbia Records, where she had signed 1959. Released in 1963 on the collection album Shirley Bassey Sings The Hit Song From OLIVER!. Also recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra on the album I Am What I Am. The song is available on CD on many collections, and from the 1960′s to this day Shirley performs this song at many concerts, therefore there are many live recordings available too.

This song is from the musical “Oliver!” written by Lionel Bart. The musical is based on the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens. The premiere was on Thursday, June 30th, 1960 in the New Theatre in London. The film adaptation of Oliver! won six Oscars. Lionel Bart (his real name is Lionel Begleiter) was one of the best known composers of contemporary music. Bart disposed of the film and musical rights to Oliver! He sold them in 1973 – a decision that he thought had perhaps cost him £100 million. In 1994 Sir Cameron Mackintosh made a successful West End production of Oliver!. In the video An Audience With Shirley Bassey you can see Lionel Bart in the audience. Another song he had written was for example the title song of the second James Bond movie “From Russia With Love” (1963), performed by Matt Monroe. Other songs of Lionel Bart that Shirley Bassey has recorded are “Where is love” (also from “Oliver!”) and “Far away” (from “Blitz”). Lionel Bart died on April 3rd 1999 of cancer. He bequeathed a quarter of all the income from his work to establish a charitable foundation, to which he has also given a quarter of his net estate.

On the internet the following review of the 1962 Original Broadway Cast album of “Oliver!” was found: Lionel Bart’s musical version of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens’s novel of Industrial Revolution London in the late 19th century, was far more entertaining than the subject matter would suggest. The show has Dickens’s sad story of poverty and crime, but also one of the strongest scores heard on Broadway in the 60s – “I’d Do Anything,” “Be Back Soon,” “Oom-Pah-Pah,” “As Long As He Needs Me” – in fact, it’s one hit after another (no wonder this album reached #4 in the charts and went gold). And it has the incomparable Georgia Brown too.

There was a studio drama behind this hit: Producer Norman Newell had booked the vast number one recording studio at EMI’s Abbey Road for a Bassey recording session, and he and a large orchestra awaiting Shirley’s arrival. When she failed to appear at the expected time Norman made a frantic phone call to Shirley’s home to discover that she had completely forgotten about the recording session and had gone off to the cinema! Newell quickly arranged for every cinema in London’s West End to ‘page’ the missing singer and soon afterwards a breathless Shirley arrived at Abbey Road. The Orchestra was booked till 5:30pm and she came rushing in at ten past five … and gave one of the best recording performances of her career!

Lyrics

As longs as he needs me
I know where I must be
I’ll cling on steadfastly
As longs as he needs me

As long as life is long
I’ll love him, right or wrong
And somehow I’ll be strong
As long as he needs me

If you are lonely then you will know
When someone needs you, you love them so
I won’t betray his trust
Though people say I must
I’ve got to stay true just
As longs as he needs me

If you are lonely then you will know
When someone needs you, you love them so
I won’t betray his trust
Though people say I must
I’ve got to stay true just
As longs as he needs me

(lyrics provided by John Bol)

Lionel Bart with Dame Shirley Bassey

Dame Shirley Bassey Paws for Cats Protection

Shirley Bassey has kindly contributed a drawing to Cats Protection’s Celebrity Paws 2011 Auction, which is running on eBay 1-11 December. All money raised goes to help unwanted and abandoned cats in the UK.

For more information, please click here.

Astrid’s Simply Bassey #168

Today I’m playing a song for Avra who has been having difficulties obtaining the 1966 studio recording of Johnny One Note. I hope that you enjoy listening to it today. It is from the I’ve Got A Song For You album.

Lyrics

Johnny could only sing one note
And the note he sang was this: aaaahh

Poor Johnny One Note
Sang out with Gusto
And just overloaded the place
Poor Johnny One Note
Yelled willy-nilly
Until he was blue in the face
For holding one note was his ace
Couldn’t hear the brass
Couldn’t hear the drum
He was in a class
By himself, by gum

Poor Johnny One Note
Got in Aida indeed a great chance to be brave
He took his one note
Howled like the North Wind
Brought forth wind that made critics rave
While Verdi turned round in his grave

Couldn’t hear the flute
Or the big trombone
Everyone was mute
Johnny stood alone
Cats and dogs stopped yapping
Lions in the zoo
Were all jealous of Johnny’s big thrill
Thunderclaps stopped clapping
Traffic ceased its roar
And they tell us Niagara stood still
He stopped the train whistles
Boat whistles
Steam whistles
Cop whistles
All whistles bowed to his skill

Sing Johnny One Note
Sing out with gusto
And just overwhelm all the crowd
Aaah

So sing, Johnny One Note out loud
Sing, Johnny One Note
Sing – Johnny – One Note – Out loud

Johnny One Note

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