| "Echo Beach" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Martha and the Muffins | ||||
| from the album Metro Music | ||||
| B-side | "Teddy the Dink" | |||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Format | 7" Vinyl | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Genre | New Wave | |||
| Length | 3:38 | |||
| Label | DinDisc | |||
| Writer(s) | Mark Gane | |||
| Producer | Mike Howlett | |||
| Martha and the Muffins singles chronology | ||||
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"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. It was released as a single from their album Metro Music in 1980 and won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. It was certified gold in Canada on October 1, 1980, a month after Metro Music achieved gold status.[1] "Echo Beach" was the band's only significant international hit, although they had several other hits in Canada. It reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart[2] and No. 6 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report).[3]
In 2003, Q magazine listed it among the 1001 best songs ever.[4] In 2005, "Echo Beach" was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
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Although Mark Gane was not aware of a real "Echo Beach" when he wrote the song in 1978, several people wrote to him asking if it was about a beach in their local area. However, Echo Beach, as mentioned in the song, does not refer to a real beach but is rather a symbolic notion of somewhere the narrator would rather be, somewhere 'far away in time'. In reality, the song was created while Gane was working checking wallpaper for printing faults. He found the work rather dull and his mind drifted to times he would like to live over again. One such time was an evening spent at Sunnyside Beach on the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto in summer. In 1977, Echo Beach was a reference made to a faded time and place gone in the lyrics of the song "Hiroshima Mon Amour" by the band Ultravox.
The map shown on the cover of one version of the single is of the Toronto Islands, while another is of Chesil Beach in Dorset, England.
In June 2011, concert promoter Live Nation opened a 4,000-person outdoor concert facility in Toronto and named it after the song.[5]
The song was covered by British pop star Toyah in 1987, reaching number No. 54 in the UK Singles Chart,[6] as well as being released in Germany. The singer regularly includes the song in her live concert sets.
The Australian singer Robert Forster covered the song on his 1995 album I Had a New York Girlfriend. A cover by Gabriella Cilmi is used as the theme tune for the British soap opera Echo Beach.
The French singer La Grande Sophie covered and translated the song on her album La suite.