Lady Marmalade

"Lady Marmalade"
Song

"Lady Marmalade", released in December 1974, is a 1975 number-one single recorded by Labelle for CBS Records' Epic label. An early disco hit, the song is most famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of "voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?". The song held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States for one week, from March 23 to March 29, 1975, replacing "My Eyes Adored You" by Frankie Valli and replaced by "Lovin' You" by Minnie Riperton.

Although the song gave way to many cover versions over the years, the most successful was recorded twenty-six years later by singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and P!nk as a single for the Moulin Rouge! film soundtrack. Their version, a more successful single than Labelle's original, was a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. for five weeks, from May 26 to June 30 2001. The Moulin Rouge! version of "Lady Marmalade" was also a number-one hit in the United Kingdom and Australia, introduced the song to a whole new generation of music listeners, and brought the song's infamous catchphrase back into mainstream culture.

History

Labelle's original version

"Lady Marmalade" was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, who also wrote "My Eyes Adored You". Labelle lead singer Patti LaBelle, accompanied by backing from her bandmates Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash, tells the story of a woman known only as "Lady Marmalade", who seduces a man she met on the street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Although the man has moved on from the experience, when he tries to sleep his memories of their tryst remain vivid. The song's chorus "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?" means "Do you want to sleep with me (tonight)?" in French, and is an unsubtle invitation for sexual intercourse. The same line appeared previously in the play A Streetcar Named Desire, coming from the promiscuous Blanche DuBois.

"Lady Marmalade" was first recorded by the relatively obscure group Eleventh Hour (of which songwriter Nolan was a member) in 1974 on Eleventh Hour's Greatest Hits LP, but Labelle's producer Allen Toussaint decided to record it as the main track of the album Nightbirds, which became highly successful. The record was produced by Toussaint, with instrumental backing from The Meters.

"Lady Marmalade" was a number-one hit for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States during the late winter of 1975, and charted at number-one for one week on the Billboard Top Soul Singles chart. The single also charted at number seventeen in the United Kingdom. "Lady Marmalade" replaced another Crewe/Nolan composition, Franki Valli's "My Eyes Adored You", as the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. This made Crewe and Nolan the third songwriting team in Billboard history (after Lennon-McCartney and Holland-Dozier-Holland) to replace themselves at number-one.

The single's disco success inspired Labelle to adopted a more eclectic, Funkadelic-based image for their next album, Phoenix. However, the group never had another top forty hit after "Lady Marmalade", and broke up in 1976. Patti LaBelle would go on to have a successful solo career on another CBS Records-owned label, Columbia Records.

The song was first covered by Sheila E. on her 1991 album Sex Cymbal in a jazz-oriented rendition, with horns as the centerpiece. In 1995 disco cover band Boogie Knights covered "Lady Marmalade", fronted by singer Jeff Scott Soto. In 1998 the song was covered by the English female pop group All Saints as part of the double A-sided single "Under the Bridge"/"Lady Marmalade", which reached number one on the official UK Top 40. The All Saints' version contains different lyrics for its verses; the only lyrics retained from the original composition are those for the chorus. The Labelle version appears in several films, including The Long Kiss Goodnight, Dick, and Jacob's Ladder.

Moulin Rouge! cover

"Lady Marmalade"
Song

Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and P!nk recorded a cover version of "Lady Marmalade" for the soundtrack to the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!, and it was released as the soundtrack's first single in spring 2001 (see 2001 in music). The cover version was produced by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and writing partner Rockwilder. Lil' Kim wrote her rapped verse for the song, but does not receive publishing credit. A lyric was changed from the original version, with the song's setting being transferred from New Orleans to the Paris nightclub Moulin Rouge.

"Lady Marmalade" became a number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the second time; it reached number one in its eighth week and spent five weeks at the top of the chart, from May 27 to June 30 2001. It replaced "All for You" by Janet Jackson, and was replaced by Usher's "U Remind Me". It was the second song in Billboard chart history (after Aaliyah's "Try Again", 2000) to hit number one without being released in a major commercially-available single format such as a CD or CD maxi single. "Marmalade" was Aguilera's fourth U.S. number-one single, and was the first number-one for the other three performers. It remained in the U.S. top forty for seventeen weeks and topped the charts in fifteen different countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia. It also occupied the top spot on the United World Chart for nine weeks.

The music video features all four performers in lingerie. Aguilera's appearance in the video was the topic of some discussion in the entertainment industry upon the video's release, and many compared her image to that of Dee Snider from Twisted Sister. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Video of the Year" and the MTV Video Music Award for "Best Video from a Film", and the song won a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".

Credits

Labelle's version

• Lead vocals by Patti LaBelle
• Background vocals by Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash
• Instrumentation by The Meters

Moulin Rouge! version

• Lead and background vocals by Christina Aguilera, Mýa, and P!nk
• Rap by Lil' Kim
• Vocal ad-libs by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
• Vocal arrangements by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott
• Instrumentation, sequencing, and drum programming by Rockwilder

Track listings and remixes

• Labelle 7" single #1

1. "Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir? (Lady Marmalade)" — 3:14
2. "It Took a Long Time" — 4:04

• Labelle 7" single #2

1. "Voulez Vous Coucher Avec Moi Ce Soir? (Lady Marmalade)" — 3:14
2. "Space Children" — 3:04

Single cover for All Saints' version of "Lady Marmalade".

• All Saints CD maxi single

1. "Lady Marmalade" (98 mix) - 4:02
2. "Lady Marmalade" (Mark's Miami Madness mix) — 7:55
3. "Lady Marmalade" (Sharp South Park vocal remix) — 8:09
4. "Lady Marmalade" (Henry & Hayne's La Jam mix) — 6:47

• Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa and P!nk

"Lady Marmalade" (Thunderpuss club mix) — 9:35

"Lady Marmalade" (Thunderpuss Mixshow mix) — 6:21

"Lady Marmalade" (Thunderpuss radio mix) — 4:09

"Lady Marmalade" (ThunderDUB) — 8:21

"Lady Marmalade" (ThunderDrums) — 3:42

Charts

Labelle Chart (1974/1975) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1 U.S. Billboard Top Soul Singles 1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play 1 Austrian Singles Chart 17 UK Singles Chart 17 All Saints Chart (1998) Peak position UK Top 40 1 French Singles Top 100 28 Swiss Singles Top 100 45

Moulin Rouge! Chart (2001) Peak position U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay 1 U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 1 U.S. Billboard Top 40 Tracks 1 U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream 1 U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 1 U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 1 U.S. Billboard Latin Pop Airplay 1 World Chart Show 1 Argentina Top 40 Singles 89 Australian ARIA Top 50 Singles 1 Brasil Top 50 Singles 55 Germany Top 100 Singles 1 Mexican Top 100 90 New Zealand RIANZ Top 50 Singles 1 Sweden Top 60 Singles 1 Switzerland Top 100 Singles 1 UK Top 40 Singles 1 Belgium Top 50 Singles 2 Netherland Mega Top 100 Singles 2 Austria Top 75 Singles 3 Italy Top 50 Singles 6 Finland Top 20 Singles 2 France Top 100 Singles 12 Canadian Singles Chart 18 Tokio Hot 100 18 Notes