Released 11 December 2000 Recorded 2000 Length 4:15 | Format CD single
Cassette Genre Pop Label Chrysalis | |
"Supreme" is a song recorded by English singer Robbie Williams for his third studio album Sing When You're Winning. It was released as the third single from the album on 11 December 2000, by Chrysalis Records.
Contents
Composition
The song contains an interpolation of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive". The string instrument part is a François de Roubaix-composed piece from the José Giovanni-directed film Dernier domicile connu starring Lino Ventura and Marlène Jobert. The song is the title theme for the Polish TV drama series Londyńczycy (Polish for The Londoners) aired on TVP 1 since late 2008.
The song was re-recorded in a swing tone, and titled "Swing Supreme" for his 2013 album Swings Both Ways.
Music video
The "Supreme" video, titled "Gentlemen racers" as seen in its opening credits, is a tribute to British Formula One driver Jackie Stewart. Williams portrays the fictitious character Bob Williams, a rival driver competing for the 1970s F1 World Championship. Williams eventually crashes his car, but makes a surprise recovery. But ultimately loses the title when he gets diarrhea before a race and is unable to appear at the starting grid due to getting locked into his caravan when the manager thought there was no one in the caravan. An epilogue reveals that Bob Williams went on to become a celebrated blues guitarist while Jackie Stewart won the championship.
The video includes stock footage of Stewart with Williams digitally inserted in many scenes, creating the near-perfect illusion of a neck-and-neck pursuit of the championship title. The video makes extensive use of the split-screen technique as it is often seen in movies from the 1960s and 70s (for instance in the 1970 feature racing movie Le Mans), and the scenes with Robbie Williams were given a yellowed, grainy image texture in the digital editing process to match the faded look of the original 35mm celluloid footage with Jackie Stewart. As yet another movie cliché, fake newspaper headlines are shown intermittently to help narrate the story.
Chart success
The song became another massive success for Williams. It managed to make the top ten in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand and other countries. The song was also recorded in French and released in France, peaking at number-twelve and spending thirty-four weeks inside the French charts being certified Gold by the SNEP.
Cover versions
The McFly song "I Need a Woman" from 2010's Above the Noise album samples the riff from "Supreme". The Turkish band Dolapdere Big Gang does a version on their 2010 album Art-Ist.
Track listing
UK CD1
- "Supreme" – 4:15
- "Don't Do Love" – 4:56
- "Come Take Me Over" – 4:13
UK CD2
- "Supreme" – 4:15
- "United" – 5:56
- "Supreme" (recorded live at the Manchester Arena) – 4:18
- "Supreme" (filmed live at the Manchester Arena) – 4:08