Glory Box

For the chest used to collect items of clothing or household linen, see hope chest.
"Glory Box"
Single by Portishead
from the album Dummy
A-side "Glory Box"
B-side "Toy Box"
Released 2 January 1995
Format CD single, CD maxi, 12"
Recorded 1994
Genre Trip hop, downtempo [1]
Length 5:06
Label Go! Discs/London
Writer(s) Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, Adrian Utley, Isaac Hayes[2]
Producer(s) Portishead, Adrian Utley
Portishead singles chronology
"Sour Times"
(1994)		 "Glory Box"
(1995)		 "All Mine"
(1997)

"Glory Box" is a single by English musical group Portishead, released in 1995. The title song samples "Ike's Rap II" by Isaac Hayes (as does Tricky's "Hell Is Around The Corner" from Maxinquaye, released the same year). The song is a love song, featuring the frequent refrain, "I just want to be a woman.". The main repeating melody of the song is sampled from the 1960s TV series The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.

Music video

The music video is set in the 1950s, featuring lead singer Beth Gibbons as a jazz singer at a club while various office workers watch her perform. Sexual tension begins to rise between certain characters, as eventually, all of the workers, as separate couples, attend the club where Beth is performing. Apart from the band members, the entire cast of the video appear in drag.

Uses in the media

The song can be heard in several films, such as Stealing Beauty, When the Cat's Away, The Craft, B. Monkey, Tout pour plaire, Lord of War and Wild.

The song has also been used in several TV episodes, such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation ("Chaos Theory") Daria ("Pinch Sitter"), Rescue Me ("Thaw"), Numb3rs ("And The Winner Is..." ) and Ringer ("If You Ever Want a French Lesson").

In France, the song featured in early 2000s in a TV advert for fr:Candia milk.

"Glory Box" appeared in a Levi's Jeans commercial.

Covers and samples

Track listings

CD single
  1. "Glory Box" (edit)
  2. "Toy Box"
CD maxi
  1. "Glory Box" (edit)
  2. "Toy Box"
  3. "Scorn"
  4. "Sheared Box"
12"

Side One

  1. "Glory Box"
  2. "Scorn"
  3. "Sheared Box"

Side Two

  1. "Strangers"
  2. "Wandering Star"

Charts

Chart (1995) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop Wallonia)[3] 36
Ireland (IRMA)[4] 12
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[5] 31
Netherlands (Mega Single Top 100)[6] 25
France (SNEP)[7] 12
UK Singles Chart (Official Charts Company)[8] 13
Russian Singles Chart (Official Charts Company)[9] 4

References

  1. ↑ Nyre, Lars (2009). Sound Media: From Live Journalism to Music Recording. Routledge. p. 57. ISBN 1135253773.
  2. ↑ ASCAP entry for song
  3. ↑ "Portishead – Glory Box" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  4. ↑ "Search Charts" (To access, enter the search parameter "Portishead" in artist field). Irish Recorded Music Association.
  5. ↑ "Top 40 week 11 van 1995" (in Dutch). Stichting Nederlandse Top 40. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  6. ↑ "Portishead – Glory Box". dutchcharts.nl (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Portishead – Glory Box". lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Portishead". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "Portishead". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 June 2013.

External links