"Lovely Head" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by

Alison Goldfrapp Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp (born 13 May 1966) is an English musician and record producer, known as the vocalist of English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. Early life Goldfrapp was born on 13 May 1966, in Enfield, London, the youngest o ...

and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album ''

Felt Mountain ''Felt Mountain'' is the debut studio album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp. It was released on 11 September 2000 by Mute Records. The album takes influence from a variety of music styles such as 1960s Pop music, pop, cabaret, Folk mus ...

'' (2000). It was released as the album's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in May 2000 but did not chart. In November 2001, the song was re-issued as a double A-side single with " Pilots (On a Star)" and reached number sixty-eight on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. In 2002, "Lovely Head" appeared in the Guy Ritchie film ''Swept Away''. It appeared in

Jan Kounen Jan Kounen (born Jan Coenen; 2 May 1964) is a Netherlands-born French film director and producer. In France, he is mostly known for his films ''Dobermann'' (1997), '' Blueberry, l'experience secrete'' (2004) and ''99 francs'' (2007). Outside Fr ...

's ''99 francs'' (2007), as well as in Pawel Pawlikowski's '' My Summer of Love'' (2004). During 2001 the song was used in a TV and cinema advertising campaign for UK mobile phone company

One2One T-Mobile UK was a mobile network operator in the UK. First launched as Mercury One2One (stylised one2one) on 7 January 1993, the network was originally operated by Mercury Communications. one2one was purchased by Deutsche Telekom in 1999, wh ...

, which featured

Gary Oldman Gary Leonard Oldman (born 21 March 1958) is an English actor and filmmaker. Known for his versatility and intense acting style, he has received various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and three British Academy Fi ...

. The song was also used in Arte documentary series about photographer

Helmut Newton Helmut Newton (born Helmut Neustädter; 31 October 192023 January 2004) was a German-Australian photographer. The ''New York Times'' described him as a "prolific, widely imitated fashion photographer whose provocative, erotically charged black-a ...

, "Mein Leben" (2002). In 2000, the song was used by carmaker BMW in a commercial advertising its 5 Series (E39). "Lovely Head" is used as the background music in most scenes of BBC animated television series '' Monkey Dust'' that contain the character Clive Pringle.

Background and writing

Goldfrapp began work on "Lovely Head" in September 1999 in a rented

bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

in the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

countryside.Simpson, Dave
"The Friday Interview: 'The Mercury prize? Oh God, that would be great. I deserve something'"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. 4 May 2001. Retrieved 12 April 2009. Alison Goldfrapp contributed the song's

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

, and William Gregory and Goldfrapp composed the music together.Flinn, Sean
"Scaling Felt Mountain"
. ''Choler Magazine''. 25 January 2002. Retrieved 12 April 2009. The duo recorded the song outside their bungalow, drawing inspiration from nature. Full Discography > Lovely Head"">"Goldfrapp > Full Discography > Lovely Head"

Mute Records Mute Records is a British independent record label owned and founded in 1978 by Daniel Miller. It has featured several prominent musical acts on its roster such as Depeche Mode, Erasure, Einstürzende Neubauten, Fad Gadget, Goldfrapp, Grinderm ...

. Retrieved 12 April 2009. The song was originally titled "Your Lovely Head". "Lovely Head" features high lonesome whistling and cold vocals set to harpsichord and strings. What is often mistaken for a

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone/etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named afte ...

synth in the song is, in fact, Alison's vocals manipulated through a

Korg MS-20 The Korg MS-20 is a patchable semi-modular monophonic analog synthesizer which Korg released in 1978 and which was in production until 1983. It was part of Korg's MS series of instruments, which also included the single oscillator MS-10, the ke ...

synthesiser. It was inspired by Welsh singer

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

and Italian film director

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone (; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter credited as the pioneer of the Spaghetti Western genre and widely regarded as one of the most influential directors in the history of cin ...

.Reno, Brad
"Goldfrapp"
''Trouser Press''. Retrieved 12 April 2009. In August 2009, American music website '' Pitchfork'' listed "Lovely Head" in their Top 500 tracks of the 2000s at number 493.

Formats and track listings

* CD & 12” single (UK) / digital single #"Lovely Head" – 3:50 #"Lovely Head" (Staré Město Mix) – 3:51 #"Lovely Head" (Miss World Mix) – 3:50

Credits and personnel

– lead vocals, backing vocals, whistling, keyboards, songwriting,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

* Will Gregory – synthesizer, keyboard, songwriting, production *Nick Batt, Chris Weston – additional programming * Adrian Utley – bass guitar * John Parish – drums *Stuart Gordon – violin,

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

*John Dent – masteringGoldfrapp ''Felt Mountain'' (2000) liner notes

Charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovely Head 1999 songs 2000 debut singles 2001 singles Goldfrapp songs Songs written by Alison Goldfrapp Songs written by Will Gregory Mute Records singles