Released 1985 Genre Soft rock Writer(s) Chris Rea | Recorded December 1984 Label Magnet Producer(s) Chris Rea | |
"Josephine" is one of the most popular and the most successful songs by Chris Rea, released in 1985 on the Shamrock Diaries. "Josephine" was written by Rea for his daughter of the same name. Rea would later pay the same compliment to his youngest daughter, Julia, on the album Espresso Logic (1993).
"Josephine" is a track that Rea has re-recorded many times, existing in 6 distinct versions. The semi-acoustic version released on the original LP was replaced in later CD editions by the "disco" version, which is an edit of "Josephine (La version Francais)" AKA "Josephine Extended French re-record". The original LP version was later made available on the French release "The Best of Chris Rea" in 1998. Soon after the original LP was released, Josephine was released as a single, the 7-inch version of which was a completely different, rockier version. This version appeared again in 2001 on the album "The Very Best of Chris Rea". The original video for Josephine uses this version but is approximately twenty seconds longer at the start. Then in 1988 two further versions were released for "New Light Through Old Windows". The version on the European and UK album is undoubtedly the most well known and was also made available on the 1994 "The Best of Chris Rea". For the US album a different, faster recording was released and is the rarest of all renditions. Finally in 2008 another re-recording was released on the Germany-only "Fool (If You Think It's Over) - The Definitive Greatest Hits"
The song enjoyed popularity on the Balearic beat scene in the 1980s.