Feelings (song)
| "Feelings" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Morris Albert | ||||
| from the album Feelings | ||||
| B-side | This World Today is a Mess | |||
| Released | 1974 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 3:46 | |||
| Label | RCA Victor | |||
| Writer(s) | Loulou Gasté Morris Albert |
|||
| Producer | Morris Albert | |||
| Morris Albert singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Feelings" is a song based on a melody composed by Loulou Gasté and made famous by Morris Albert, who recorded it as a single released in 1974 that later appeared as the title track of his 1975 debut album. The song's lyrics, recognizable by their "whoa whoa whoa" chorus, concern the singer's inability to "forget my feelings of love". Albert's original recording of the song was very successful, performing well internationally. "Feelings" peaked at #6 on the pop and #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts in America.[1] Over the next few years "Feelings" was performed by many other vocalists including Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, José José, Caetano Veloso, Frank Sinatra, Engelbert Humperdinck, Shirley Bassey, Glen Campbell, The O'Jays, Sarah Vaughan, Walter Jackson, Sergey Penkin, Dobie Gray and Johnny Mathis. It was also recorded by numerous easy listening bandleaders and ensembles such as Percy Faith, Ferrante & Teicher, 101 Strings and Herb Ohta whose ukelele rendition was recorded with Andre Popp's orchestra for A&M Records.
In more recent years "Feelings" has been best known as a target of parody and ridicule for embodying what are perceived by many as the most insipid lyrical and musical qualities of 1970s "soft rock" music. It appears frequently on lists of "the worst songs ever"[2][3] and was included on the 1998 Rhino Records compilation album '70s Party Killers.[4]
Because of stylistic similarities "Feelings" is sometimes mistakenly associated with Barry Manilow, though Manilow has never recorded the song.
Contents |
[edit] Dispute over authorship
In 1981 the French songwriter Loulou Gasté sued Morris Albert for copyright infringement, claiming that "Feelings" plagiarized the melody of his 1957 song "Pour Toi". In 1988 Gasté won the lawsuit and was awarded 78% of the royalties generated by the song.[5]
Recordings of the song have credited authorship variously to Albert alone, to Albert and Gasté, to Albert and Michel Jourdan, and to Albert and "Kaisermann". The last of these attributions is redundant, since the singer's real name is Mauricio Alberto Kaisermann.[6]
[edit] Other versions
Mexican singer José José recorded the song in Spanish entitled "Sentimientos", it was included in his album Tan Cerca...Tan Lejos of 1975.
Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez also recorded the song when she was a young girl. The song was only released in 1997 and included in her album Through The Years/A Traves de los Años. The released version is a remixed version of the original that was recorded in the 1970s.
Israeli born French pop star Mike Brant recorded a French language version of the song entitled "Dis Lui" in 1975.
In 1976, Dutch comedian Andre van Duin recorded the song in his own language as the roadblock-themed "File". Although its parent album "And're Andre" was meant to include serious songs only, "File" can be considered a compromise.
Japanese vocal group Hi-Fi Set released a Japanese language version of the same title in late 1976 and it became their breakthrough hit the next year.
The American punk rock band The Offspring recorded a version of "Feelings" for their 1998 album Americana, substituting the original lyrics about love for ones about hate.
Greek singer Sakis Rouvas released a Greek language version entitled "Pes Tis" in 2003, while also covering "Feelings" and Brant's "Dis Lui" French version. The Greek version of the song won two MAD Video Music Awards for "Sexiest Appearance in a Video" awarded to Sakis Rouvas, and one awarded to Gens for "Best Direction".[citation needed]
The O'Jays released a version on their 1977 Travelin' At The Speed Of Thought album.
Perry Como included the song in his 1978 album, Where You're Concerned.
Enzo Stuarti released a version partly in English, mostly in Italian.
In 2011, the song was parodied by The Fringemunks to recap Fringe episode 3.14, "6B."[7]
A cover of the song appears on the Sesame Street album, Let Your Feelings Show, sung by "Marry Banilow and the Muppettones". The song is first sung as normal (substituting 'girl' with 'boy' as it's sung by a girl), then is redone faster with a bunch of sound effects and soundbytes in the background.
[edit] Appearances in other media
- "Feelings" was included on the soundtrack of the 2005 film Breakfast on Pluto.
- "Feelings" was sung by Jaime Sommers (Lindsay Wagner) in the "Bionic Beauty" episode of The Bionic Woman (Season 1, 1976).
- A version of the song appeared on an episode of The Muppet Show sung by Beaker in his "mee-mee" speaking.
- MC Hammer sings it in a Pepsi commercial after he drinks a glass of cola not knowing it was replaced with Coke.
[edit] See also
Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime
[edit] References
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 17.
- ^ The worst song of all time, part II cnn.com
- ^ Wilkening, Matthew (September 11, 2010). "100 Worst Songs Ever". AOL Radio. http://www.aolradioblog.com/2010/09/11/worst-songs/?icid=main. Retrieved December 20, 2010.
- ^ DEAD LINK[dead link]
- ^ Louis Gaste v. Morris Kaiserman, 863 F.2d 1061 (2d Cir. 1988) columbia.edu
- ^ Review by Joe Viglione allmusic.com
- ^ "Fringemunks Web site". Davidwumusic.com. http://davidwumusic.com/fringemunks/. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
