| "Williams' Blood" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Grace Jones | ||||||||||
| from the album Hurricane | ||||||||||
| Released | December 8, 2008 | |||||||||
| Format | CD single, Digital download, 12" single | |||||||||
| Genre | Soul, Funk, Alternative | |||||||||
| Label | Wall of Sound Records | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Grace Jones, Wendy Melvoin, Lisa Coleman | |||||||||
| Producer | Ivor Guest | |||||||||
| Grace Jones singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Williams' Blood" is the second single from Grace Jones' tenth studio album Hurricane.
Contents |
"Williams' Blood" is an autobiographical song, written by Jones and Wendy & Lisa, explaining how Jones takes after her mother's, Marjorie Jones née Williams, musical side of the family rather than that of her disciplinarian father Reverend Robert Jones. According to the lyrics, Jones' mother reveals that her grandfather was a musician who traveled with Nat King Cole, womanizing and drinking from town to town. The song describes her family's lament that she isn't more of a Jones like her sister or brother Noel while she expresses her desire to be free.[1]
Time Out London describes the composition as "among the most personal songs she’s ever recorded, celebrating the contradictions between Grace’s religious family background and outré public persona." [2] The Independent says the song "employs handclaps and choral refrain to build up an almost gospel fervour".[3]
In the song's introduction Jones distorts a line from the first stanza of "Amazing Grace" declaring, "You can't save a wretch like me." At the end of the track when Jones sings the first two lines of "Amazing Grace" Jones' mother Marjorie, a lyric soprano, can be heard singing the same hymn in church.[1][4]
The song's working title was "Keeping up with the Joneses", an idiom heard in the lyrics.[5]
Jones performed the number live on Later... with Jools Holland with her son, Paulo Goude, on percussion.[6]
Belgian duo Stephen Fasano and Vito De Luca of the band Aeroplane produced a Balearic disco remix of the single which was initially rejected by Jones' label but eventually approved.[7][8] 1,000 12" singles were released featuring mixes by Aeroplane, Mad Professor, Greg Wilson and Ivor Guest.[9]
A music video showing clips of Jones performing on her tour premiered on her album's official website in early January 2009 [10] The same video premiered on YouTube on February 5, 2009.[11] A Chris Cunningham-directed music video was reportedly in production in late 2008 but remains unreleased.[12]
| Chart (2008) | Position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[13] | 44 |
| Belgian Tip Chart (Wallonia)[13] | 12 |
| Belgian Dance Chart[13] | 2 |