"Warwick Avenue" is a song by Welsh singer Duffy from her debut album ''

Rockferry ''Rockferry'' is the debut studio album by Welsh singer Duffy, released on 3 March 2008 in the United Kingdom by A&M Records. It was released in the United States by Mercury Records. Taking four years to record the album, Duffy worked with se ...

'' (2008). The title refers to Warwick Avenue tube station in London. It was written by

Jimmy Hogarth Jimmy Hogarth (born 1974, Orkney Islands, Scotland) is a London-based producer and songwriter, whose production and writing credits include, Amy Winehouse, Sia, Tom Grennan, Paolo Nutini, Duffy, Corinne Bailey Rae, Ren Harvieu, Estelle, Tina ...

, Eg White, and Duffy and produced by Hogarth. It was released in May 2008 as the third single (second in North America) from the album, but had already charted by March and April due to download sales. It peaked at number three 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 ...

due to strong download and physical sales and has sold 249,165 copies in the UK to date. The B-side to the 7" single is "Loving You", and was written by Duffy, Richard J. Parfitt of the

60ft Dolls 60 Ft. Dolls were a Welsh rock trio active in the 1990s, known as the Cool Cymru era. Formation They were formed in Newport in 1992 by Richard J. Parfitt and Michael Cole, who met through Donna Matthews (later of Elastica), who was at the time ...

and

Owen Powell Owen Powell (born 1967) is a Welsh guitarist. He played in the Welsh rock band Catatonia from 1995 until the band disbanded in 2001. Career Catatonia Powell joined Catatonia in 1995 as a second guitarist. He went on to write for the band, includ ...

Catatonia Catatonia is a complex neuropsychiatric behavioral syndrome that is characterized by abnormal movements, immobility, abnormal behaviors, and withdrawal. The onset of catatonia can be acute or subtle and symptoms can wax, wane, or change during ...

. This song was number forty-one on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2008.The 100 Best Songs of 2008
. ''Rolling Stone'' (25 December 2008). Retrieved 2008-12-25

Single promotion, performances and cultural use

The song has been used as background music to several British soap operas. It was used at the end of an episode of ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' which aired on 10 October 2008, and was used in the 11 March 2009 episode of '' Waterloo Road''. It also appears in the Activision game ''

Band Hero ''Band Hero'' is a spinoff video game as part of the ''Guitar Hero series'' of music rhythm games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is struct ...

'' and was performed by Jenny Douglas on '' Over the Rainbow''. Duffy performed the song at the 2009 Brit Awards, where she won the awards for Breakthrough Artist, MasterCard British Album, and Best British Female, the most awards for a female artist in one night.

Music details

The song is played in the key of Bb Major at a tempo of 84bpm. The vocal range is G3-D5.

Critical reception

The song received mostly positive reviews from critics.

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

called it "cooler than a polar bear's freezer", "probably the finest cut from her debut LP", and "a classy affair", whilst also awarding the song four stars out of five.

Awards and recognition

Chart performance

"Warwick Avenue" entered the

at number eighty-three, more than two months before its release (because of digital downloads from Duffy's ''

'' release). It then began a gradual chart climb, before peaking at number three, and spending six weeks in the top ten.
Chart information from

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

During its first chart run it managed to spend a very successful number thirty-two weeks on the chart, last seen at number ninety-eight. Due to her ongoing success and the popularity of the song, "Warwick Avenue" re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number seventy-five, before rising to number seventy-four and falling to number eighty-seven the following week. This brought its total chart run in the United Kingdom to 35 weeks. On 28 December 2008, the UK Singles Chart landed this at number thirty-one for the year-end chart.

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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Warwick Avenue" premiered on 23 April 2008, on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

and was directed by Daniel Wolfe. The video is almost entirely composed of a single shot; it starts with Duffy leaving Warwick Avenue tube station in the back of a

black taxi A hackney or hackney carriage (also called a cab, black cab, hack or London taxi) is a carriage or car for hire. A hackney of a more expensive or high class was called a remise. A symbol of London and Britain, the black taxi is a common ...

, crying as she is singing the song. The video finishes with Duffy still in the car, wiping her tears, which had ruined her make-up. The taxi scene was only meant to be one scene from the whole video but the director felt that it was best to use this scene only when Duffy cried real tears. He continued to film it as the whole music video. The video was later nominated for a MTV Video Music Award in 2008 in the Best UK Video category,2008 MTV Video Music Awards – Best UK Video
MTV Music Video Nominations Best UK Video ''Warwick Avenue'' but lost to "

Shut Up and Let Me Go "Shut Up and Let Me Go" is the fourth single from English musical duo the Ting Tings' debut studio album, ''We Started Nothing'' (2008). The song was released in the United Kingdom on 21 July 2008, and was the follow-up to the number one hit sin ...

" by

the Ting Tings The Ting Tings are an English indie pop duo from Salford, Greater Manchester formed in 2007. The band consists of Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drums, bass guitar, cowbells) and Jules De Martino (drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, ...

Formats and track listings

UK CD single #"Warwick Avenue" #"Put It in Perspective" UK 7" vinyl single #"Warwick Avenue" #"Loving You" Australian digital download single #"Warwick Avenue" #"Put It in Perspective" #"Loving You" German maxi single #"Warwick Avenue" #"Put It in Perspective" #"Loving You" #"Warwick Avenue Video" iTunes B-side single #"Put It in Perspective" #"Loving You"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2008 singles Duffy (singer) songs Sarah De Bono songs Songs about London Songs written by Eg White Songs written by Jimmy Hogarth Soul ballads Rock ballads 2000s ballads 2008 songs British soft rock songs