"Alphabet" is a song by French singer

Amanda Lear Amanda Lear (; born 1939) is a French singer, songwriter, painter, television presenter, actress, and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s, and went on to model for Paco Rabanne, Ossie Clark, and ...

, released as a single from her debut album '' I Am a Photograph'' in 1977 by

Ariola Records Ariola (also known as Ariola Records, Ariola-Eurodisc and BMG Ariola) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of the Bertelsmann Music Group, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomera ...

Song information

"Alphabet" is a mid-tempo disco song, arranged by

Charly Ricanek ''Charly'' (marketed and stylized as ''CHAЯLY'') is a 1968 American drama film directed and produced by Ralph Nelson and written by Stirling Silliphant. It is based on ''Flowers for Algernon'', a science-fiction short story (1958) and subseque ...

and Anthony Monn, and is largely based on the melody from

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's ''

Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846 The Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846, is a keyboard composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach. It is the first prelude and fugue in the first book of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', a series of 48 preludes and fugues by the composer. ...

''. Autobiographical lyrics were written by

and include her personal associations with each letter of the

alphabet An alphabet is a standardized set of basic written graphemes (called letters) that represent the phonemes of certain spoken languages. Not all writing systems represent language in this way; in a syllabary, each character represents a syllab ...

recited over the music. In a 2013 interview, Lear stated that "Alphabet" was "the first song to be completely just spoken onto classical music". The song carries a subtitle "Prelude in C by J. S. Bach" in the track listing of its parent album, and was also known as "My Alphabet" when released as the B-side on the single "

Queen of Chinatown "Queen of Chinatown" (also typed "Queen of China-Town") is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1977 by Ariola Records. It met with a big chart success and remains one of Lear's biggest hits to date. The song's lyrics were written by Le ...

". French- and Italian-language versions of the song were also recorded, entitled "Mon alphabet" and "Alfabeto", respectively. "Mon alphabet" was the B-side on the single " Tomorrow", released in France earlier that year. "Alphabet", just like the previous single, "

Blue Tango "Blue Tango" is an instrumental composition by Leroy Anderson, written for orchestra in 1951 and published in 1952. It was later turned into a popular song with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. Numerous artists have since covered "Blue Tango". Song his ...

", at that time was only released in the Netherlands. "Queen of Chinatown" made the B-side, however, it would become Lear's next single the same year. "Alphabet" was not a commercial success and did not chart. In 2015, the track was used in a

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French high-end luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ranging from luxury bags and leather ...

jewelry advert.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

was directed by Michael Leckebusch for German TV show ''

Musikladen ''Der Musikladen'' (german: The Music Shop) was a West German music television programme that ran from 13 December 1972 to 29 November 1984. The show continued the 1960s '' Beat-Club'' under a new name, and in turn was replaced by ''Extratour' ...

''. It used the

chroma key Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fields to ...

technique, and shows Amanda Lear performing the song with respective letters of the alphabet in

Brush Script Brush Script is a casual connecting script typeface designed in 1942 by Robert E. Smith for the American Type Founders (ATF). The face exhibits an exuberant graphic stroke emulating the look of handwritten written letters with an ink brush. Lower ...

appearing in the background. The music video was released on a 3-DVD box set ''Das beste aus dem Musikladen Vol. 1'' in 2012, together with ten other videos that Lear had made for ''Musikladen''.

Track listing

*7" Single :A. "Alphabet" – 4:00 :B. "

Queen of China-Town "Queen of Chinatown" (also typed "Queen of China-Town") is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1977 by Ariola Records. It met with a big chart success and remains one of Lear's biggest hits to date. The song's lyrics were written by L ...

" – 4:15

References

{{authority control Songs about language 1977 singles 1977 songs Amanda Lear songs Ariola Records singles Arrangements of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach Songs written by Amanda Lear Songs written by Anthony Monn