Englishman in New York

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This article is about the Sting song. For the Godley and Creme song, see An Englishman in New York.
"Englishman in New York"
Song
B-side"Ghost in the Strand"

"Englishman in New York" is a song by Sting, from his 1987 album ...Nothing Like the Sun. The "Englishman" in question is the famous eccentric Quentin Crisp. Sting wrote the song not long after Crisp moved from London to an apartment in New York's Bowery. Crisp had remarked jokingly to the musician "...that he looked forward to receiving his naturalization papers so that he could commit a crime and not be deported."

The song was released as a single in 1988, but only reached #51 on the UK Singles Chart.[1] In the US, "Englishman in New York" peaked at #84 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1988.[2] The song reached #32 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart that same month.[3] Branford Marsalis played soprano saxophone on the track and Manu Katche the percussions. In 1990, just prior to the release of his third studio album The Soul Cages, Sting's record label licensed Dutch DJ and producer Ben Liebrand to remix "Englishman in New York" and subsequently release it as a single. The remix played around with the introduction and some of the instrumentation, but the essence of the song remained the same. The new version was commercially successful, reaching number 15 in the UK charts in mid-1990.[4]

The video was directed by David L. Fincher, and featured scenes of Sting and his band in New York, as well as the elusive Crisp. At the end of the video, after the song fades, an elderly male voice says: "If I have an ambition other than a desire to be a chronic invalid, it would be to meet everybody in the world before I die... and I'm not doing badly."

The song was used in the mid-1990s by Rover Cars in the UK, in a television advert for the Rover 200.

The sequel to the Crisp biographical film The Naked Civil Servant is titled An Englishman in New York after the song.

Cover versions

  • Max B sampled this song in "Goon Music (We Run New York)"
  • The band Loose Ties performed Englishman in New York at the 1992 Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado. It's available on the album: 1992 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Vol 1.
  • Shinehead made a cover version of the song called Jamaican in New York in 1992, its video parodying the original.
  • K-pop group Roo'ra made a cover version called Koreana in New York in their second album; 날개 잃은 천사 (Angel Without Wings).
  • The Black Eyed Peas sampled the song in their recording Union, featured on their 2005 album Monkey Business, which included a guest appearance by Sting singing new lyrics. A music video was made for the song.
  • Filipino rock band Bamboo also recorded a cover of this song for their album We Stand Alone Together where it is featured as a hidden track.
  • Razorlight have contributed a cover of this song for BBC Radio One's Radio 1. Established 1967 CD
  • German comedian Otto Waalkes recorded a cover of this song and called it "Friesenjung". The lyrics are about his life in Emden , East Frisia.
  • Davide Esposito covered the song on his album Amore Eterno, as "Un italien à Paris" ("An Italian in Paris") with Italian and French lyrics.
  • The Turkish band Dolapdere Big Gang covered the song on their album Local Strangers in 2006.
  • Tiken Jah Fakoly covered the song on his 2007 album L'Africain, as Africain à Paris (African in Paris), with French lyrics.
  • Omid Djalili used the song to promote his 2007 BBC1 show, The Omid Djalili Show, the title becoming An Iranian in UK and the lyrics reflecting British Iranian culture.
  • Masao Taneura recorded a cover of the song called 関西人 in Tokyo (Kansaijin in Tokyo) in 2007, with Kansai Japanese lyrics.
  • Tanghetto, the neo tango band from Argentina released in March 2008 an instrumental version of the song on their album El Miedo a la Libertad, with the vocal part replaced by a bandoneon, and keeping the reggae and jazz elements of the original in the arrangements.
  • Michael Wilkins, A Scouser in New York from Bolton FM 96.5 radio did a cover version for the intro of his segment beginning in February 2010.
  • Canadian comedy duo Bowser and Blue perform a similar song, "Anglophone In Quebec", satirizing the trials and tribulations of a native-English speaker living among the predominantly French-speaking citizens of Quebec. The melody is identical to the original.
  • Jazz pianist Eric Reed recorded a spacious, laid-back instrumental version on his cd, Manhattan Melodies, released in '99 on Verve Records.
  • Jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval recorded a version for his 1999 album Americana.
  • Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall performs an interpolation of the song's chorus, in his 2008 song, "Ill Eagle Alien".
  • Spanish band Che Sudaka covered the song as "Sin papeles", with Spanish lyrics.
  • Fans of English football team Arsenal FC sing an adapted version of the song in support of Theo Walcott, with the words "Woah, Theo Walcott, Theo, Theo Walcott; he's an Englishman at Arsenal," referring to the fact that Walcott was the only Englishman in their first team.
  • Former Fulham FC player Moritz Volz recorded a cover version which you can hear on his website. It features the lyrics "Ja ja, he is an alien; a humorous Westphalian, he's a German man in West London."
  • Japanese singer Haruka Shimotsuki performed a cover of the song on an album called "SoulS"
  • German rappers Pint, Dikan and S.T. Pain perform an interpolation of the song's chorus, in their 2009 song, "Wir sind Aliens".
  • Swedish humour group Rally recorded a version about a finn living in Gothenburg; "Finne i Göteborg".
  • Sampled by Washed Out for the song "Belong"
  • Greek artist Sotis Volanis made a cover of the song in 2010 under the title "Eksogiinos"
  • German DJ PH Electro performed the remix of the song in 2010
  • In Nigeria, Ese Agesse performed a radio-popular parody called "Bendel Girl in Lagos" in the 1990s
  • German a cappella band Wise Guys performed a version called "Kölsche Jung in New York", of which the (adapted) lyrics are written in the Kölsch dialect.

References

  1. ^ UK Singles Chart info at chartstats.com
  2. ^ Billboard Hot 100 info at billboard.com
  3. ^ Billboard Mainstream Rock info at billboard.com
  4. ^ UK Singles Chart remix info at chartstats.com

External links

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