Where do you go to My lovely?
The other day somebody sent me a link to what is one of my favourite songs. “Where do you go to my lovely’ was all the rage when we were in school. I remember how we waited breathlessly for it to play in the Calcutta B Western music programmes and were lost in a world of racehorses and Swiss holiday resorts and what not. At that time they were as distant from our experience as the moon.
But I get ahead of my story. Peter Sarstedt was another of the Indian born singers who made it big in the sixties. Not that he was wildly popular the way Cliff Richard was, but he made a fairly large niche for himself, particularly with this song which reached the top of the pops in 1969. It was released in India by HMV a 45 RPM single later, probably in the early seventies and it was one of those songs that remain etched in your memory as one of your favourites for evermore. He came from a family of brothers who were in the show business. None of them were really very successful at the highest level but three brothers, Eden and Clive and Peter all were popular in Showbiz in their time. Apparently this song has been used in the movie The Darjeeling Limited which probably has led to renewed interest in the song and led to the You tube link sent to me..
The song talks of a jet setting woman who was born in a slum in Naples. The singer was her companion in those days, left behind as she rose to join the elite. There is touch of nostalgia for a woman who was close to him earlier but has now gone beyond his ken and it struck a chord in those days. The song created even more of a sensation n those days because it was suggested that it referred to Sophia Loren , who it is claimed was born in poverty stricken conditions in Naples and then climbed into the European jetset.. However the Wikepedia article on Peter suggests that the song was written about a girl he loved and lost (She apparently died in a hotel fire) in Vienna in the middle sixties. There is no citation however for this speculation. Apparently Peter also recorded a sequel to this song in 1997, where Marie Claire, the heroine if I may call her that is now living in London. I have however not heard this song. I did search You Tube but could not find it.
One sidelight is that our own Anjan Dutta has adapted this song in the nineties and his song uses the same tune but with Dutta’s Bengali lyrics. The lyrics adapt the situations to Calcutta. Anjan Dutta’s protagonist, Mala, is from the slums of Moulali but now moves around in circles that include Imran Khan! I like this song too, the lyrics are good and it has been sung excellently.
For those who want to renew their acquaintance with this song please check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XQZYIiNgo
The lyrics can be found at http://www.lyricsdownload.com/sarstedt-peter-where-do-you-go-to-my-loveley-lyrics.html.
The Anjan Dutta song is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNcCEEY-ik
If so those of you, at least of my generation who wish to wallow in nostalgia, go ahead.
But I get ahead of my story. Peter Sarstedt was another of the Indian born singers who made it big in the sixties. Not that he was wildly popular the way Cliff Richard was, but he made a fairly large niche for himself, particularly with this song which reached the top of the pops in 1969. It was released in India by HMV a 45 RPM single later, probably in the early seventies and it was one of those songs that remain etched in your memory as one of your favourites for evermore. He came from a family of brothers who were in the show business. None of them were really very successful at the highest level but three brothers, Eden and Clive and Peter all were popular in Showbiz in their time. Apparently this song has been used in the movie The Darjeeling Limited which probably has led to renewed interest in the song and led to the You tube link sent to me..
The song talks of a jet setting woman who was born in a slum in Naples. The singer was her companion in those days, left behind as she rose to join the elite. There is touch of nostalgia for a woman who was close to him earlier but has now gone beyond his ken and it struck a chord in those days. The song created even more of a sensation n those days because it was suggested that it referred to Sophia Loren , who it is claimed was born in poverty stricken conditions in Naples and then climbed into the European jetset.. However the Wikepedia article on Peter suggests that the song was written about a girl he loved and lost (She apparently died in a hotel fire) in Vienna in the middle sixties. There is no citation however for this speculation. Apparently Peter also recorded a sequel to this song in 1997, where Marie Claire, the heroine if I may call her that is now living in London. I have however not heard this song. I did search You Tube but could not find it.
One sidelight is that our own Anjan Dutta has adapted this song in the nineties and his song uses the same tune but with Dutta’s Bengali lyrics. The lyrics adapt the situations to Calcutta. Anjan Dutta’s protagonist, Mala, is from the slums of Moulali but now moves around in circles that include Imran Khan! I like this song too, the lyrics are good and it has been sung excellently.
For those who want to renew their acquaintance with this song please check:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8XQZYIiNgo
The lyrics can be found at http://www.lyricsdownload.com/sarstedt-peter-where-do-you-go-to-my-loveley-lyrics.html.
The Anjan Dutta song is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YNcCEEY-ik
If so those of you, at least of my generation who wish to wallow in nostalgia, go ahead.
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