"Annie, Let's Not Wait" is a song by the multinational band Guillemots. It was written by Guillemots lead singer

Fyfe Dangerfield Fyfe Antony Dangerfield Hutchins (born 7 July 1980) is an English musician and songwriter, best known as the founding member of the indie rock band Guillemots (band), Guillemots. Early life Born in Moseley, Birmingham, in 1980, he moved to Bro ...

, and featured on the band's debut album ''

Through the Windowpane ''Through the Windowpane'' is the debut full-length album from the British indie rock band Guillemots. It was released on 10 July 2006 in the United Kingdom and reached number 17 in the UK Album Chart. The album was highly anticipated followi ...

''. A rerecorded version was released as a single on 15 January 2007 in four formats: two

CD singles A CD single is a music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any single recorded onto a CD of any ...

, a

7-inch In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

and a digital download. A music video for the single version was directed by the British filmmaker

Corin Hardy Corin Hardy (born 6 January 1975) is an English film director. He made his directorial debut with the 2015 horror film '' The Hallow'', which he also co-wrote. He directed the 2018 horror film '' The Nun'', a spin-off of ''The Conjuring 2'' (201 ...

of Mysterious Cat Ltd., and was inspired by the 1926 animated film ''

The Adventures of Prince Achmed ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' () is a 1926 German animated fairytale film, written and directed by Lotte Reiniger. Since two earlier Quirino Cristiani films are lost, it is the oldest surviving animated feature film. The plot is based on ...

''. Critical reaction to "Annie, Let's Not Wait" was positive: in a retrospective review in 2020, ''

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

'' listed the single as the 47th best indie song of the period.

Recording

The original version of "Annie, Let's Not Wait", which featured on Guillemots' debut album ''Through the Windowpane'', was recorded at

AIR Studios Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess (record producer), John Burgess, Ron Richards (producer), Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan (rec ...

in early 2006, produced by Dangerfield with Chris Shaw, and mixed by Adam Noble. For the single release, the song was rerecorded in the hope of getting more exposure through

radio airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

. The rerecorded version was produced by Dangerfield and Noble, was mixed by

Cenzo Townshend Vincenzo "Cenzo" Capellini Townshend (born 25 March 1963) is an English record producer, mixer, and audio engineer, and has worked with artists and bands including the Rolling Stones, a-ha, Kaiser Chiefs, U2, Snow Patrol, Florence and the Machi ...

, and featured new vocals from Toun Anibi, Beverly Tapiwa and Tanisha Spring, a trio named the Guillemettes. The Guillemettes had first appeared with the band during their appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'' in June 2006, providing backing vocals for a performance of their single " Made-Up Love Song #43". Speaking with the journalist Andy Welch in 2008, Dangerfield expressed regret at rerecording the track, saying: "We didn't do it under duress, but we regret doing that now. It worked, though, because that song's the most played thing we've ever had."

Promotion and release

"Annie, Let's Not Wait" was released as a single on 15 January 2007 in four formats: two CD singles, a 7-inch and a digital download. The first CD single featured a

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

only version of Guillemots' previous single "

We're Here ''We're Here'' is a HBO reality television series featuring former ''Drag Race'' contestants, documenting the drag queens as they travel across the United States to recruit small-town residents to participate in one-night-only drag shows. The sh ...

" as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, while the second's B-sides included a cover of "

Take Me Out A take is a single continuous recorded performance. The term is used in film and music to denote and track the stages of production. Film In cinematography, a take refers to each filmed "version" of a particular shot or "setup". Takes of each ...

" by the Scottish band Franz Ferdinand. The B-side on the 7-inch was a new track named "In Your Arms", written by Guillemots members

MC Lord Magrão Ricardo Bombine Pimentel (born October 5, 1978), known professionally as MC Lord Magrão (stylized as mCLoRDmAGrãO), is a Brazilian-British multi-instrumentalist, composer, songwriter and music producer best known as the former guitarist of Englis ...

and

Aristazabal Hawkes Aristazabal Emi Chen Hawkes is the double bass player for the British indie band Guillemots. She was born in Sointula, on Malcolm Island in British Columbia, Canada. Hawkes is of mixed Chinese and Japanese ancestry. Promotion for the single's release included a performance by the band on ''

Friday Night with Jonathan Ross ''Friday Night with Jonathan Ross'' is a British chat show presented by Jonathan Ross and broadcast on BBC One between 2001 and 2010. The programme featured Ross' take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews (usually three per show ...

'' on 8 December 2006.

Critical reception

Critical reaction to "Annie, Let's Not Wait" was positive. Shilpa Ganatra of ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' praised the rerecorded version and called it "a fantastic choice of single".

Yahoo! Music UK Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

reviewed "Annie, Let's Not Wait" by saying that there was "a great band in

he single He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter cal ...

waiting to get out". In a 2020 retrospective of British indie rock music in the late 2000s, Lauren O'Neill of ''Vice'' named "Annie, Let's Not Wait" as the 47th best song of the period, and described it as "a pretty, poppy love song backed by weirdo synths".

Music video

The music video for "Annie, Let's Not Wait" was directed by the British filmmaker Corin Hardy of Mysterious Cat Ltd. Hardy had previously directed music videos for bands such as Keane, Dogs Die in Hot Cars and

McFly McFly are a British pop rock band formed in London in 2003. The band took their name from the ''Back to the Future (franchise), Back to the Future'' character Marty McFly. The band consists of Tom Fletcher (lead vocals, guitar, and piano), Da ...

. The video was inspired by the 1926 film ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'' by the German director

Lotte Reiniger Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger (2 June 1899 – 19 June 1981) was a German film director and the foremost pioneer of silhouette animation. Her best known films are ''The Adventures of Prince Achmed'', from 1926, the oldest surviving feature-length a ...

, which is the oldest surviving feature-length animated film.

Charts

Formats and track listings

*CD single 1 #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" (radio version) – #"We're Here" (strings only) – *CD single 2 #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" (single version) – #"Photograph" (demo) – #"

" (

Live Lounge The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio stations BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 1Xtra. It was originally hosted by Simon Mayo, and later by Jo Whiley on her weekday mid-morning, and later weekend lunchtime radio shows, then by Fearne Cott ...

) – #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" (video) – *7-inch vinyl #"Annie Let's Not Wait" (single version) – #"In Your Arms" – *Digital download #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" (single version) – #"Photograph" (demo) – #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" – #"Annie, Let's Not Wait" (Acoustic Gideon Coe Hub session) –

References

External links

"Annie, Let's Not Wait"
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annie, Let's Not Wait 2006 songs 2007 singles Guillemots (band) songs Polydor Records singles