"I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" is a single by

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n singer

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

, released in 1981. The song is a reworking of

Astor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fr ...

's "

Libertango ''Libertango'' is a composition by tango composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla, recorded and published in 1974 in Milan. The title is a portmanteau merging " Libertad" (Spanish for "liberty") and "tango", symbolizing Piazzolla's break fr ...

Background

The song juxtaposes "

", an

Argentine tango Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a Time signature, or rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in pat ...

classic written by composer and

bandoneon The bandoneon () or bandonion is a type of concertina particularly popular in Argentina and Uruguay. It is a typical instrument in most tango ensembles. As with other members of the concertina family, it is held between the hands, and played ...

ist Astor Piazzolla (first recorded by Piazzolla himself in 1974), against a

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

chanson A (, ; , ) is generally any Lyrics, lyric-driven French song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval music, medieval and Renaissance music or to a specific style of ...

sound and new lyrics penned by Jones herself and

Barry Reynolds Barry Reynolds (born 27 October 1949, in Bolton, Lancashire) is a British guitar player, songwriter, composer and producer, best known for his long-lasting collaboration with Marianne Faithfull. Reynolds first emerged with the band TTPS://www. ...

. Lyrically, it describes the darker side of Parisian nightlife. The song includes spoken parts in French, written by actress Nathalie Delon: "Tu cherches quoi? À rencontrer la mort? Tu te prends pour qui? Toi aussi tu détestes la vie…" which translates "What are you looking for? To meet death? Who do you think you are? Do you hate life too?" Jones also recorded a

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

version of the track entitled "Esta cara me es conocida", and an English version with the French passage recited in Portuguese. Recorded in Nassau, Bahamas, with

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

Wally Badarou Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific wor ...

, Barry Reynolds,

Mikey Chung Michael Chung (1950 – 28 December 2021) also known as Mao Chung, was a Jamaican musician who played keyboards, guitar and percussion instruments. He was also an arranger and record producer of Jamaican music, and worked with a wide array of ...

, and

Uziah "Sticky" Thompson Uzziah "Sticky" Thompson (1 August 1936 – 25 August 2014) was a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active from the late 1950s. He worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums. Biog ...

, aka the Compass Point Allstars under

Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...

's and

Alex Sadkin Alex Sadkin (April 9, 1949July 23, 1987) was an American record producer, engineer, mixer and mastering engineer. Early life Sadkin grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and played saxophone in Sunrise Junior High School and Fort Lauderdale Hig ...

's direction, "I've Seen That Face Before" was released as the second single from Jones' album '' Nightclubbing'', after " Demolition Man" made no chart impact. It met with a commercial success, reaching Top 20 in no fewer than five European countries, including number 1 in Belgium, and now counts as one of Jones' signature tunes. A longer version of the song was released on a 12" single. "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" has been described as "one of the highlights of ''Nightclubbing''" and "one of the highlights of Jones' musical career".

Music video

The song is famous for its music video, directed by

Jean-Paul Goude Jean-Paul Goude (born in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis 8 December 1938) is a French graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, advertising film director and event designer. He worked as art director at ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'' magazine i ...

. It begins with a picture of Grace wearing a tall black hat and her face concealed under a three-piece paper mask. These are then removed and her trademark

flattop A flattop is a classic hairstyle characterized by short hair on the sides and back of the head, with the top hair cut short and styled to stand upright in a flat, level plane. Styling In the most classic style of flattop for men and boys, the ...

haircut is displayed. Jones then starts to perform the song, singing straight into the camera, and plays

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

. The camera then zooms out, revealing that the video set is located on the roof of a tower block. The single cover recreates an image from the clip. The video is the closing track on Jones' classic ''

A One Man Show ''A One Man Show'' is a long-form music video collection featuring Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1982. The video mainly consists of music videos, with some concert footage filmed when Jones was touring with the eponymous tour. Backgroun ...

'' music documentary.

Track listing

*7" single :A. "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" – 4:29 :B. "

Warm Leatherette "Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller's project the Normal, released in 1978. Grace Jones recorded a well-known cover of the song in 1980. The Normal original Overview The lyrics of "Warm Leatherette" reference J. G. Ballard's controve ...

" – 4:25 *7" single :A. "I've Seen That Face Before" – 4:30 :B. " Demolition Man" – 4:32 *7" ES single :A. "Esta cara me es conocida (I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango))" – 4:32 :B. "El demoledor (Demolition Man)" – 3:31 *12" single :A. "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" – 5:32 :B. "Warm Leatherette" – 4:25 *12" single :A. "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" – 5:36 :B. " Pull Up to the Bumper" – 5:01 * 7" Brazilian single :A. "I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" (Sung in Portuguese) - 4:30 :B. "Warm Leatherette" - 4:25

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1981 singles Grace Jones songs Macaronic songs Tangos Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles 1981 songs Songs written by Barry Reynolds Astor Piazzolla