1234 (Feist song)

"1234"
Song

"1234" (pronounced "One Two Three Four") is a song from Feist's third studio album, The Reminder. It is Feist's most successful single. The song initially was written by Sally Seltmann, a Melbourne, Australia singer-songwriter who records under the name New Buffalo. Feist added and rewrote parts of the lyrics. In an interview with Songfacts, Seltmann said:

I had been listening to Feist's album Let It Die. I thought my little song about lost love, and the hope to recapture what you once had, sounded too much like a Feist song for me to use for New Buffalo, so I shelved it. Then, in late 2005 I did a tour across Canada supporting Feist, and Broken Social Scene. After meeting Feist, I started to wonder whether she might like to do a cover of "1234," but I was too shy to tell her about it. At the last Broken Social Scene show, I plucked up the courage to tell her that I had written a song which I thought she might like to use. We went onto the tour bus, and I recorded a simple version of the song into her laptop, with guitar and vocals. To my surprise, she loved the song, and started playing it live.

Feist was nominated for a Grammy Award for the category Best Female Pop Vocal Performance with "1234". This song was #19 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. "1234" also won the Juno award for Single of the Year on April 6, 2008 in Calgary.

Release

The song was digitally released through iTunes Music Store. It became famous subsequent to its use in an iPod nano commercial. It also appeared in an Australian commercial for eBay. It has been released in the United Kingdom, in Canada and in other countries digitally.

Chart success

Since its digital release, "1234" peaked at #2 at the US Hot Digital Songs. The single has also reached #8 in the US Hot 100, #10 at the US Pop 100, and #34 at the US Modern Rock Tracks chart. The single's unexpected success led to its release worldwide. In the UK it proved to become a huge hit, making it in the top 10 peaking at #8. It had a very successful release in Canada making it at number 3. The song has also entered the top 10 in other European countries. The single's success has made Feist famous globally and it has boosted the remaining sales. It also managed to debut at number 67 on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, as digital tracks were added from the 5th of November 2007 to the singles chart in Australia. It later entered the top 50 of the chart in late December, and has thus far peaked at #36.

It also ranked as the #4 single of 2007 on CBC Radio 3's year-end R3-30 chart and placed at number 34 in the Triple J Hottest 100

Time magazine named "1234" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #2. Writer Josh Tyrangiel called the song a “masterpiece”, praising Feist for singing it “with a mixture of wisdom and exuberance that's all her own."

In the April 28, 2008 episode of The Colbert Report where she was a guest, Feist said that she had planned to offer "1234" as the official campaign theme for Stephen Colbert's Presidential bid, before he dropped out.

Remix

The song has been remixed by Van She Tech, members of the band Van She.

Charts

Chart	Peak Position
Brazil Hot 100 Singles	33
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	8
U.S. Billboard Pop 100	10
U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks	34
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	30
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	36
European Hot 100 Singles	20
Canadian Hot 100	3
UK Singles Chart	8
Dutch Singles Charts	97
Swiss Singles Charts	63
United World Chart	15

External links

• Feist performs the song live on NPR with banjos and trumpets and drums