Charly (The Prodigy song)

Charly
The Prodigy
publication	August 1991
length	3:56
Genre (s)	Hardcore
Author (s)	Liam Howlett
album	The Prodigy Experience

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Singles

Charly   UK 3 08/24/1991 (18 weeks)

Charly was the second single release by the English big beat band The Prodigy . It appeared for the first time in August 1991 and in various versions both with XL Recordings and (1992) with Elektra Records .

sample

The song is based on a sample of the English information and educational film Charly Says , a cartoon that aims to teach children safety precautions in a wide variety of situations. The text reads: "Charly says, always tell your mummy before you go off somewhere!" (Charlie says always let your mom know when you go outside!).

Liam Howlett was sued for the illicit use of the sample, but ultimately won the lawsuit.

Effects

The single became a great chart success and resulted in a wave of rave productions, which were also based on samples from various children's programs, such as B. the Smart E’s with Sesame's Treet or Urban Hype with A Trip to Trumpton . The dance magazine Mixmag accused the band of having triggered the "most insane sampling phase in the history of dance music" with Charly and thus becoming the pioneer of a pop oriented teenage raves that would be in contrast to the original underground rave culture.

Music video

The music video by director Russell Curtis contains live recordings of the band reworked with effects from typical rave videos and various scenes from the film Charley Says and was produced by Jill Mumford.

Tracklist

XL recordings

7 "vinyl

A. Charly (Alley Cat Mix 7 "Edit) (3:38)

B. Charly (Original Mix) (3:56)

CD single and 12 "vinyl

1. Charly (Original Mix) (3:56)
2. Pandemonium (4:25)
3. Your Love (6:00)
4. Charly (Alley Cat Mix) (5:27)

Elektra

12 "vinyl

A1. Charly (Beltram says mix) (5:27) (remixed by Joey Beltram )

A2. Charly (Alley Cat mix) (5:27)

AA1. Everybody in the Place (Dance Hall version) (5:32) (remixed by Moby )

AA2. Everybody in the Place (Fairground mix) (5:08)

CD single

1. Charly (Beltram says Mix) (5:29) (remixed by Joey Beltram)
2. Charly (Alley Cat Mix) (5:27)
3. Everybody in the Place (Dance Hall Version) (5:33) (remixed by Moby)
4. Everybody in the Place (Fairground Mix) (5:08)
5. Your Love (The Original Excursion) (6:00)
6. G-Force (Part 1) (5:18)

Other versions

Charly (Trip into Drum and Bass Version) (5:12) - on the album The Prodigy Experience

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Charly in the UK charts
2. ↑ Dom Phillips: Did Charly Kill Rave? . In: Mixmag, August 1992

Web links

• Charly ( Memento from January 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on "Kotta's Prodigy site"
• Charly video