Alfie (Lily Allen song)
| Alfie | |
|---|---|
| Lily Allen | |
| publication | March 5, 2007 |
| length | 2:46 |
| Genre (s) | pop |
| Author (s) | Lily Allen, Greg Kurstin |
| album | Alright, still |
Alfie is a song by British pop singer Lily Allen . The song was released on March 5, 2007 as the fourth single from Allen's debut album Alright, Still .
song
The song is about Allen's brother Alfie Allen . She sings about how he just sits in his room all the time, watching TV, playing video games and being too lazy to work.
"I only say it, 'cause I care
So, please, can you stop pulling my hair?"
Allen said in an interview with Pitchfork Media that when she wrote to Alfie , she was still relatively unknown. “At first my brother got very upset when he heard the song because he thought that I just wanted to show his bad points. I actually found it flattering. After all, I just wanted to show him with the song that I take care of him, that I care and that he should do something with his life. "
When I wrote "Alfie", nobody really knew who I was. At first he was really upset about it, because he thought that I was just pointing out all of his bad points and attacking him. I thought it was really flattering [Laughs]. I thought he'd be really, really happy because it proved to him how much I loved him, that I care about him, and I want him to do something with his life. I suppose his paranoia - induced by smoking so much weed - made him think, "Why are you trying to be mean?"
music
The song is written in 4⁄4 time and has a tempo of 120 beats per minute . It is in C major and is accompanied by a piano and guitar. Alfie uses a sample of Sandie Shaw's song Puppet on a String , which won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1967 .
Music video
The music video for Alfie was filmed by Sarah Chatfield as a parody or homage to the cartoon series Tom and Jerry . Alfie is played by a puppet , while Allen appears as herself. While "Alfie" is just doing nonsense in the video, for example smoking a joint or trying to masturbate , Allen tries to stop him. In an alternate version of the video, the words "weed" ( "were grass ") and " THC " cut out. The whistle in the video has been replaced by a joystick . A “Censored” sign was inserted when “masturbating”. The video won the CAD Awards for Best Pop Video and Best New Director in June 2007 . It was also nominated for the Q Award for Best Video , but lost to Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs .
reception
Rosie Swash of The Guardian newspaper describes the song's music as "fairground pomp". Drowned in Sound's Rob Webb said "Alfie" made up for the lack of wit and ingenuity of some of the previous songs on the album.
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the production of "Alfie" as being as good as "Shame for You", with plenty of catchy melodies and clever samples, but complained that Allen lacked charisma. Heather Phares from Allmusic gave the song a negative rating and criticized that it was too weak to end the album, so that the album lost momentum in the end.
Charts
Alfie was released in Great Britain together with the song Shame for You as a double single and rose to number 15 there together.
Chart placements
| Charts | Top position |
Weeks |
|---|---|---|
 United Kingdom
|
15th | 10 |
Individual evidence
- ^ Alfie by Lily Allen Songfacts . Song facts . Retrieved September 5, 2009.
- ↑ Scott Plagenoef: Interview: Lily Allen . Pitchfork Media . November 6, 2006. Retrieved September 1, 2009.
- ^ A b Lily Allen Sheet Music . In: Music Notes . Alfred Music Publishing . Retrieved September 3, 2009.
- ^ Contributors: Chatfield . SHOWstudio. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ↑ Winners in full: Q Awards 2007 . In: ' BBC News ' , BBC , October 8, 2007. Retrieved on January 19 of 2010.
- ↑ Rosie Swash: CD: Lily Allen -Alright, Still . In: The Guardian . Guardian Media Group . July 16, 2006. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
- ^ Rob Webb: Alright, Still Review . In: Drowned in Sound . Silentway. July 18, 2006. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
- ^ Sal Cinquemani: Lily Allen: Alright, Still - Musical Review . Slant Magazine . December 28, 2006. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Retrieved on September 3, 2009.
- ↑ Heather Phares: allmusic (((Alright, Still> Overview))) . In: allmusic . Macrovision . Retrieved September 4, 2009.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
