"Strange Little Girl" is a song by

the Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origin ...

, originally written in 1974 and re-recorded and released in the UK in 1982 as their last single while signed to

Liberty Records Liberty Records was a record label founded in the United States by chairman Simon Waronker in 1955 with Al Bennett as president and Theodore Keep as chief engineer. It was reactivated in 2001 in the United Kingdom and had two previous revival ...

(part of EMI). By the time of release, the band had already decided to leave the label for

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical m ...

, and this last single was part of the severance deal, along with the

compilation album A compilation album comprises tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several performers. If by one artist, then generally the tracks were not originally intended for rel ...

, '' The Collection 1977–1982''.

Recording and release

The band showed their talent for mischief in releasing "Strange Little Girl" as their last single on the label when they revealed that it had originally been written in 1974, and submitted to EMI years before the band had a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. EMI had rejected the band on the basis of that demo. "Strange Little Girl" went on to peak at No. 7 in 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 August 1982. 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 devic ...

featured the band and a group of girl punks in London, and was shot around Cambridge Circus and Liverpool Street.

Track listing

# Side A – "Strange Little Girl" – 2:40''Strange Little Girl'' on Discogs.com
/ref> # Side B – "Cruel Garden" – 2:17

Tori Amos version

The version by

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

, was released as the first and only single from her 2001 album ''

Strange Little Girls ''Strange Little Girls'' is a concept album released by singer-songwriter Tori Amos in 2001. The album's 12 tracks are covers of songs written and originally performed by men, reinterpreted by Amos from a female point of view. Amos created f ...

''.

Track listing

German single # "Strange Little Girl" – 3:50 # " After All" – 4:42 # " Only Women Bleed" – 3:34

Song information

The single for "Strange Little Girl" was never released outside of Germany. Unlike some of her other previously rare tracks, the two B-sides for the single ("Only Women Bleed" and "After All") were not included on the Tori Amos compilation ''A Piano: The Collection'', and have yet to appear on any other Tori Amos release to date.

Music video

A music video was filmed for "Strange Little Girl". However, it has never been released officially (this is one of two videos that were excluded from her music video collection, '' Fade to Red'', the other being "Glory of the '80s"). The video takes place in a sort of crop field, with a young girl being chased by a wolf. Between the shots of the crops, the girl suddenly becomes Amos (this age shift goes back and forth throughout the video). After running, she discovers a house, in which she takes refuge. The wolf tries to get inside, but it cannot—in fact, at one point, the wolf is almost as large as the house. Conversely, near the end of the video, the wolf shrinks enough to be able to squeeze under the door. Amos then takes the wolf in her hand.

References

{{Authority control The Stranglers songs Tori Amos songs 1982 singles 2001 singles 1982 songs Liberty Records singles Songs written by Dave Greenfield Songs written by Hans Wärmling Songs written by Hugh Cornwell Songs written by Jean-Jacques Burnel Songs written by Jet Black Music videos directed by David Slade