Warwick Avenue (song)

"Warwick Avenue"
Single by Duffy
from the album Rockferry
B-side
  • "Put It in Perspective"
  • "Loving You"
Released 26 May 2008
Format
Recorded 2007
Genre
Length 3:46
Label
Writer(s)
Duffy singles chronology
"Mercy"
(2008)		 "Warwick Avenue"
(2008)		 "Stepping Stone"
(2008)
Music video
"Warwick Avenue" on YouTube

"Warwick Avenue" is a song by Welsh recording artist Duffy from her debut album Rockferry (2008). The title refers to Warwick Avenue tube station in London. It was written by Jimmy Hogarth, Eg White, and Duffy and produced by Hogarth. It was released in May 2008 as the third single (second in North America) from the album, but had already charted by March and April due to download sales. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart due to strong download and physical sales and has sold 249,165 copies in the UK to date. The B-side to the 7" single is "Loving You", and was written by Duffy, Richard J. Parfitt of the 60ft Dolls and Owen Powell of Catatonia.

This song was number forty-one on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.[1]

An official remix exists featuring a verse by rapper Wale.

Single promotion, performances and cultural use

Warwick Avenue Tube Station

The song has been used as background music to several British soap operas. Most recently, it was used at the end of an episode of Hollyoaks which aired on 10 October 2008.

Duffy performed the song at the 2009 BRIT Awards, where she won the awards for Breakthrough Artist, MasterCard British Album, and Best British Female, the most awards for a female artist in one night.

It was used in the 11 March 2009 episode of Waterloo Road.

It appears in the Activision game Band Hero.

The song was performed by Jenny Douglas on Over the Rainbow.

Music details

The song is played in the key of Bb Major at a tempo of 84bpm. The vocal range is G3-D5.[2]

Critical reception
"Warwick Avenue"
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The song received mostly positive reviews from critics. Digital Spy called it "cooler than a polar bear's freezer", "probably the finest cut from her debut LP", and "a classy affair", whilst also awarding the song four stars out of five.[3]

Awards and recognition

Year Award Category Result
2008 2008 MTV Video Music Awards Best UK Music Video Nominated
Rolling Stone Best Songs of 2008 41st

Chart performance

"Warwick Avenue" entered the UK Singles Chart at number eighty-three, more than two months before its release (because of digital downloads from Duffy's Rockferry release). It then began a gradual chart climb, before peaking at number three, and spending six weeks in the top ten.[4] During its first chart run it managed to spend a very successful number thirty-two weeks on the chart, last seen at number ninety-eight. Due to her ongoing success and the popularity of the song, "Warwick Avenue" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number seventy-five, before rising to number seventy-four and falling to number eighty-seven the following week. This brought its total chart run in the United Kingdom to 35 weeks.[4] On 28 December 2008, the UK Singles Chart landed this at number thirty-one for the year-end chart.

Music video

The music video for "Warwick Avenue" premiered on 23 April 2008, on Channel 4 and was directed by Daniel Wolfe. The video is almost entirely composed of a single shot; it starts with Duffy leaving Warwick Avenue tube station in the back of a black taxi, crying as she is singing the song. The video finishes with Duffy still in the car, wiping her tears, which had ruined her make-up. The taxi scene was only meant to be one scene from the whole video but the director felt that it was best to use this scene only when Duffy cried real tears. He continued to film it as the whole music video.

The video was later nominated for a MTV Video Music Award in 2008 in the Best UK Video category,[5] but lost to "Shut Up and Let Me Go" by the Ting Tings.

Formats and track listings

UK CD single

  1. "Warwick Avenue"
  2. "Put It In Perspective"

UK 7" vinyl single

  1. "Warwick Avenue"
  2. "Loving You"(Richard J. Parfitt, Owen Powell)

Australian digital download single

  1. "Warwick Avenue"
  2. "Put It In Perspective"
  3. "Loving You"

German maxi single

  1. "Warwick Avenue"
  2. "Put It In Perspective"
  3. "Loving You"
  4. "Warwick Avenue Video"

iTunes B-side single

  1. "Put It In Perspective"
  2. "Loving You"

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Austrian Singles Chart[6] 17
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders)[7] 14
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallonia)[7] 25
Danish Singles Chart[6] 7
Dutch Singles Chart[7] 9
European Hot 100 Singles[8] 5
Euro Digital Tracks[9] 5
Euro Digital Songs[10] 7
Finnish Singles Chart[11] 19
French Singles Chart[6] 14
German Singles Chart[6] 12
Irish Singles Chart[6] 11
Japan Hot 100[12] 28
New Zealand Singles Chart[6] 15
Norwegian Singles Chart[6] 15
Romanian Top 100[13] 82
Swedish Singles Chart[6] 16
Swiss Singles Chart[7] 12
UK Singles Chart[6] 3
U.S. Billboard Pop 100[14] 96

Year-end charts

Country (2008) Position
German Singles Chart[15] 69
UK Singles Chart 30

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[16] Gold 7,500^
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] Silver 200,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Date
United Kingdom 26 May 2008
Europe 4 July 2008
United States 5 August 2008
Australia 1 September 2008 (digital)
France 12 September 2008

References

  1. ↑ "The 100 Best Songs of 2008". Rolling Stone (25 December 2008). Retrieved 2008-12-25
  2. ↑ "Duffy: Warwick Avenue Sheet Music". sheetmusicdirect.com. © Copyright 2006 EMI Music Publishing Limited (50%)/Universal Music Publishing Limited (25%)/Universal Music Publishing MGB Limited (25%).
  3. ↑ Alex Fletcher (2008-05-26). "Duffy: 'Warwick Avenue'". digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  4. 1 2 Chart information from chartstats.com
  5. ↑ 2008 MTV Video Music Awards - Best UK Video MTV Music Video Nominations Best UK Video Warwick Avenue
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Duffy - Warwick Avenue - Music Charts". acharts.us. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Steffen Hung. "Swiss Singles Chart". Hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  8. ↑ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
  9. ↑ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
  10. ↑ Top Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales
  11. ↑ "Suomen virallinen lista". Ohjelmaopas.yle.fi. 2010-08-05. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  12. ↑ Japan Hot 100 Retrieved 26 October 2008
  13. ↑ "Romanian Top 100" Please see "Issue 21" of the year 2008
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑ "Danish single certifications – Duffy – Warwick Avenue". IFPI Denmark.
  17. ↑ "British single certifications – Duffy – Warwick Avenue". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Warwick Avenue in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search

External links

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