Alphabet (Amanda Lear song)

"Alphabet" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released as a single from her debut album I Am a Photograph in 1977 by Ariola Records.

"Alphabet"
Single by Amanda Lear
from the album I Am a Photograph
B-side"Queen of Chinatown"
Released1977
GenreEuro disco
Length4:00
LabelAriola Records
Songwriter(s)Johann Sebastian Bach, Charly Ricanek, Anthony Monn, Amanda Lear
Producer(s)Anthony Monn
Amanda Lear singles chronology
"Blue Tango"
(1977)		 "Alphabet"
(1977)		 "Queen of Chinatown"
(1977)

Song information

"Alphabet" is a mid-tempo disco song, arranged by Charly Ricanek and Anthony Monn, and is largely based on the melody from Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846. Autobiographical lyrics were written by Amanda Lear and include her personal associations with each letter of the alphabet recited over the music. In a 2013 interview, Lear stated that "Alphabet" was "the first song to be completely just spoken onto classical music".[1]

The song carries a subtitle "Prelude in C by J. S. Bach" in the track listing of its parent album, and was also known as "My Alphabet" when released as the B-side on the single "Queen of Chinatown". French- and Italian-language versions of the song were also recorded, entitled "Mon alphabet" and "Alfabeto", respectively. "Mon alphabet" was the B-side on the single "Tomorrow", released in France earlier that year.[2]

"Alphabet", just like the previous single, "Blue Tango", at that time was only released in the Netherlands. "Queen of Chinatown" made the B-side, however, it would become Lear's next single the same year. "Alphabet" was not a commercial success and did not chart. In 2015, the track was used in a Louis Vuitton jewelry advert.[3]

Music video

The music video was directed by Michael Leckebusch[4] for German TV show Musikladen. It used the chroma key technique, and shows Amanda Lear performing the song with respective letters of the alphabet in Brush Script appearing in the background.[5] The music video was released on a 3-DVD box set Das beste aus dem Musikladen Vol. 1 in 2012, together with ten other videos that Lear had made for Musikladen.[6]

Track listing
A. "Alphabet" – 4:00
B. "Queen of China-Town" – 4:15

References
  1. "The Original Queen Of Reinvention". Ponystep. ponystep.com. Archived from the original on 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2013-08-29.
  2. "TOMORROW 1977 France". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  3. "Louis Vuitton presents LV and Me Jewellery Collection - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  4. "Amanda Lear Special". Das beste aus dem Musikladen. Die grössten Hits aus der legendären Musik-Show Vol. 1 Folge 2 (DVD) (in German). Sony Music. 2012 [1978]. Event occurs at 39:32.
  5. Fraser Muggeridge (2011-12-12). "Amanda Lear: Alphabet (1976)". www.itsnicethat.com. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  6. "Various Artists - Das beste aus dem Musikladen, Vol. 1 3 DVDs: Amazon.de: Roger Whittaker, The Manhattans, The Jacksons, Diverse: Filme & TV". Amazon.de (in German). www.amazon.de. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  7. "ALPHABET 1977 Holland". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 2 May 2011.
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