Format CD, 12-inch Label Mute | Length 3:41 | |
Released May 15, 2000 (2000-05-15)
November 5, 2001 (re-issue) Recorded September 1999 – February 2000 in Wiltshire, England Genre Baroque pop, trip hop, electronica | ||
"Lovely Head" is an electronic song performed by British group Goldfrapp. The song was written and produced by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory for the duo's debut album Felt Mountain (2000). It was released as the album's first single in May 2000 but did not chart. In November 2001, the song was re-issued as a double A-side single with "Pilots (On a Star)" and reached number sixty-eight on the UK singles chart.
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In 2002, "Lovely Head" appeared in the Guy Ritchie film Swept Away. It appeared in Jan Kounen's 99 francs (2007), as well as in Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love (2004). During 2001 the song was used in a TV and cinema advertising campaign for UK mobile phone company One2One, which featured Gary Oldman.
"Lovely Head" is used as the background music in most scenes of BBC animated television series Monkey Dust that contain the character Clive Pringle.
Background and writing
Goldfrapp began work on "Lovely Head" in September 1999 in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside. Alison Goldfrapp contributed the song's lyrics, and William Gregory and Goldfrapp composed the music together. The duo recorded the song outside their bungalow, drawing inspiration from nature. The song was originally titled "Your Lovely Head". "Lovely Head" features high lonesome whistling and cold vocals set to harpsichord and strings. What is often mistaken for a theremin synth in the song is, in fact, Alison's vocals piped through a Korg MS-20 which modulates and distorts them. This technique can be seen here during a live performance at Somerset House. It was inspired by Welsh singer Shirley Bassey and Italian film director Sergio Leone.
In August 2009, American music magazine Pitchfork listed Lovely Head in their Top 500 tracks of the 2000s at number 493.