Swing When You're Winning

Swing When You're Winning
Studio album by Robbie Williams
Released	19 November 2001
Recorded	2001
Genre	Vocal jazz, swing
Length	73.59
Label	Capitol
Robbie Williams chronology
Sing When You're Winning (2000) Swing When You're Winning (2001) Escapology (2002)
Singles from Swing When You're Winning
"Somethin' Stupid" Released: 10 December 2001 "Mr. Bojangles / I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen" Released: 11 March 2002

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
NME	(5/10)
Slant

Swing When You're Winning is a swing cover album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams.

Background

After the success of his third studio album, Sing When You're Winning, Williams wanted to take another musical direction. He took two weeks off his tour to record what would be his fourth studio album, an album he described as the "big band album he had always dreamed of making." The album was released in November 2001. Consisting mainly of pop standard covers common to the Great American Songbook, the album counts as Williams' fourth studio album. Aside from the title, the album is not directly associated with Williams' previous album, Sing When You're Winning. Born from his lifelong love for Frank Sinatra, combined with the success of the track "Have You Met Miss Jones?" that he recorded for the film "Bridget Jones's Diary" in early 2001, the album was recorded at the Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, California, and was symbolically released under the Capitol label. The album features duets with actors Rupert Everett, Nicole Kidman, Jon Lovitz and Jane Horrocks, as well as a special guest performance from Robbie's friend and former flatmate Jonathan Wilkes. Surprisingly the album features a duet with Frank Sinatra on the song "It Was a Very Good Year", in which Williams sings the first two verses, and a recording of Sinatra is used for the vocals on the third and fourth verses. Williams explains this came about after one of his session musicians played his vocals to Sinatra's family. This musician was purportedly a good friend of the family, and played with Sinatra on the original release of "It Was a Very Good Year". Another surprising guest musician is pianist Bill Miller who accompanies Williams on "One For My Baby". Miller played on many of Sinatra's tours and recordings, among them, the original 1954 soundtrack recording of "One For My Baby" and the 1958 Capitol studio recording. Additionally, backing musicians for portions of the album include the London Session Orchestra. The album's lead song, "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen", is the only original song on the album. Additionally, Williams' recording of "Beyond The Sea" featured in the 2003 animated motion picture Finding Nemo.

Success

When the album was released in late 2001, it became an instant #1 hit in the United Kingdom, spending six consecutive weeks at #1. In Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, it reached the top 10, going on to sell over two million copies by the end of 2001 in the United Kingdom and over seven million copies worldwide. The album spent 57 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, certified 7x Platinum, and became the 49th best-selling album of all-time in the UK. In Germany, the album has become Williams' best-selling album there, selling more than 1,500,000 copies being certified 5x Platinum. The album debuted at #1 and stayed there for nine non-consecutive weeks. It managed to stay 83 weeks on the German Albums Chart, nineteen weeks in the top 10. Thanks to its success, it became the fourth best-selling album of the decade in Germany.

Singles

• "Somethin' Stupid", a duet with Nicole Kidman, was released as the album's first single. A cover of Frank & Nancy Sinatra, the song became Williams' fifth number 1 in the United Kingdom, selling almost 100,000 copies in the week of release, as well as hitting the top spot in Argentina, New Zealand, Latvia and scoring top ten placings all over Europe. It became one of the biggest hits of 2001, selling over 200,000 copies in the UK alone after spending three weeks at the top of the charts, being certified Silver in January 2002.

• A double A-side of "Mr. Bojangles" and "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen" was released as the album's second and final single, however, it was only released in Central and Eastern Europe.

Live performances

Main article: Live At The Albert

A live performance of the album from The Royal Albert Hall was released on DVD in December 2001. It has become one of the best selling music DVDs of all time in Europe, being certified 6x Platinum in the United Kingdom alone and 2x Platinum in Germany. The performance includes renditions of nearly all of the songs from the album, with guest appearances from Jonathan Wilkes, Jon Lovitz, and Jane Horrocks, as well as a live version of Robbie's 'duet' with Frank Sinatra. Rupert Everett emceed, and Nicole Kidman attended the show, but neither performed their duets featured on the album. Thus, They Can't Take That Away From Me and Somethin' Stupid, were the only songs from the album which were not performed live. Additionally, there were three songs performed live which did not appear on the album: "The Lady is a Tramp", which featured as a b-side to "Mr. Bojangles", and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and "My Way", which features as b-sides to "Somethin' Stupid".

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen"	Guy Chambers, Robbie Williams	3:17
2.	"Mack the Knife"	Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill	3:18
3.	"Somethin' Stupid" (with Nicole Kidman)	Carson Parks	2:50
4.	"Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me"	Duke Ellington, Bob Russell	2:58
5.	"It Was a Very Good Year" (with Frank Sinatra)	Ervin Drake	4:28
6.	"Straighten Up and Fly Right"	Nat King Cole, Irving Mills	2:36
7.	"Well, Did You Evah!" (with Jon Lovitz)	Cole Porter	3:50
8.	"Mr. Bojangles"	Jerry Jeff Walker	3:17
9.	"One for My Baby"	Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer	4:17
10.	"Things" (with Jane Horrocks)	Bobby Darin	3:22
11.	"Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"	Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen	2:27
12.	"They Can't Take That Away from Me" (with Rupert Everett)	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	3:07
13.	"Have You Met Miss Jones?"	Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart	2:34
14.	"Me and My Shadow" (with Jonathan Wilkes)	Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson, Billy Rose	3:16
15.	"Beyond the Sea"	Jack Lawrence, Charles Trenet	4:32
16.	"Outtakes" (Hidden Track)		2:51

Japanese Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
17.	"The Lady Is A Tramp"
18.	"That's Life"

Special Edition Bonus DVD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Live At The Royal Albert Hall"		1:43:05

Asian Special Edition Bonus VCD
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Angels" (Music Video)
2.	"She's The One" (Music Video)
3.	"Rock DJ" (Music Video)
4.	"Better Man" (Music Video)
5.	"Supreme" (Music Video)
6.	"Eternity" (Music Video)

Certifications, Peaks and Sales

Country	Peak position	Certification (if any)	Sales/shipments
Argentina	9	Platinum	40,000+
Australia	3	4x Platinum	280,000+
Austria	1	4x Platinum	120,000+
Canada		Gold	50,000+
Europe	1	6x Platinum	6,000,000
France	21	Gold	100,000+
Germany	1	5x Platinum	1,500,000+
Hungary	2	Gold	5,000+
Ireland	1
Netherlands		Platinum	80,000+
New Zealand	1	5x Platinum	75,000+
Poland		Gold	20,000+
Sweden	4	Platinum	60,000+
Switzerland	1	3x Platinum	120,000+
United Kingdom	1	7x Platinum	2,100,000+

End of Decade Charts

2000–2009	Peak position
German Albums Chart	4
UK Albums Chart	17

Preceded by World of Our Own by Westlife

UK number one album 1 December 2001 – 19 January 2002

Succeeded by Just Enough Education to Perform by Stereophonics

See also

• List of best-selling albums in Germany