Strange Little Girl
| "Strange Little Girl" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by The Stranglers | ||||
| from the album The Collection 1977-1982 | ||||
| B-side | "Cruel Garden" | |||
| Released | 24 July 1982 (UK) | |||
| Format | Vinyl | |||
| Genre | Post-punk | |||
| Length | 2:40 | |||
| Label |
Liberty BP 412 | |||
| Writer(s) | Dave Greenfield, Hans Wärmling, Hugh Cornwell, J.J. Burnel, Jet Black | |||
| Producer(s) | The Stranglers, Steve Churchyard | |||
| The Stranglers singles chronology | ||||
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| "Strange Little Girl" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Tori Amos | ||||
| from the album Strange Little Girls | ||||
| B-side | "After All" "Only Women Bleed" | |||
| Released | 9 October 2001 | |||
| Format | CD | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Producer(s) | Tori Amos | |||
| Tori Amos singles chronology | ||||
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"Strange Little Girl" by The Stranglers was released in the UK in 1982 as their last single while signed to Liberty Records (part of EMI). By the time of release, the band had already decided to leave the label for Epic Records, and this last single was part of the severance deal, along with the compilation album, The Collection 1977-1982.
The band showed their talent for mischief in releasing "Strange Little Girl" as their last single on the label when they revealed that it had originally been written in 1974, and submitted to EMI years before the band had a recording contract. EMI had rejected the band on the basis of that demo. "Strange Little Girl" went on to peak at No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart in August 1982.[1]
The music video featured the band and a group of girl punks in London, and was shot around Cambridge Circus and Liverpool Street. The title character was played by Lisa Molinaro.[2]
Tori Amos version
The version by Tori Amos, was released as the first and only single from her 2001 album Strange Little Girls.
Track listing
German single
- "Strange Little Girl" - 3:50
- "After All" - 4:42
- "Only Women Bleed" - 3:34
Song information
The single for "Strange Little Girl" was never released outside of Germany. Unlike some of her other previously rare tracks, the two B-sides for the single ( "Only Women Bleed" and "After All" ) were not included on the Tori Amos compilation A Piano: The Collection, and have yet to appear on any other Tori Amos release to date. The two songs are also the only songs recorded for Strange Little Girls to not have accompanying "personas".
Of her cover, Amos stated:
| “ |
This is the little girl whose father killed her mother in Eminem's song, all grown up, having to deal with the fact that she was an accomplice to the murder. She's a dichotomy of things because she's divided - even when parents divorce, if they turn one child against one parent, you're dividing that child at the core. |
” |
As with all the dolls, Neil Gaiman wrote short "stories" about each of the girls with their respective song (the text was later released in the tour book/calendar called Strange Days. The story of this girl, in particular, is as follows:
| “ |
There are a hundred things she has tried to chase away the things she won't remember and that she can't even let herself think about because that's when the birds scream and the worms crawl and somewhere in her mind it's always raining a slow and endless drizzle. You will hear that she has left the country, that there was a gift she wanted you to have, but it is lost before it reaches you. Late one night the telephone will sing, and a voice that might be hers will say something that you cannot interpret before the connection crackles and is broken. Several years later, from a taxi, you will see someone in a doorway who looks like her, but she will be gone by the time you persuade the driver to stop. You will never see her again. Whenever it rains you think of her. |
” |
Music video
A music video was filmed for "Strange Little Girl". However, it has never been released officially (this is one of two videos that were excluded from her music video collection, Fade to Red, the other being "Glory Of The 80's".
The video takes place in a sort of crop field, with a young girl being chased by a wolf. Between the shots of the crops, the girl suddenly becomes Amos (this age shift goes back and forth throughout the video). After running, she discovers a house, in which she takes refuge. The wolf tries to get inside, but it cannot—in fact, at one point, the wolf is almost as large as the house. Conversely, near the end of the video, the wolf shrinks enough to be able to squeeze under the door. Amos then takes the wolf in her hand.
References
- ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 535. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ "Killyourpetpuppy". Killyourpetpuppy\accessdate=2014-04-08.
External links
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