Monday, February 11, 2008

Not as Black as she's painted


Say what you like about Cilla Black, but I think she's got quite an interesting voice.

To most, she's the dumpy ginger woman catterwauling her way through the Surprise! Surprise! theme tune.

But to me, she's the woman with a great range. Have you heard her Alfie? It's amazing. I'll admit that sometimes she is just the other side of ear-splitting, but when she really sings, there's nothing like it. She's unique.

I write this because I've just discovered Cilla's Love Of The Loved. It's always been there on the greatest hits I've got, but I've just never got round to listening to it. I should have - it's marvellous. Groovy as you like.

I went to interview her once at her penthouse, which has a lift which opens straight into her living room. I brought up some of her hits and she couldn't actually remember most of them. Love's Just A Broken Heart? No recollection. It reached number six for God's sake! She did talk about singing Life's A Gas with Marc Bolan though, and she knew all the Beatles! The woman's a legend.

She's too easily written off as a toothy, party-crazed, light entertainment professional Liverpudlian fag hag with a rubbish voice.

I beg to differ.

My top five Cilla songs:

1. Love's Just A Broken Heart
2. Conversations
3. You're My World
4. Anyone Who Had A Heart
5. Alfie

7 comments:

Suzy Norman said...

Here here, x20, I take it you have the Abbey Road Decade. I think 'i've been wrong before' is just beautiful. Also love some of the more stompy numbers, such as 'la la la lu'.

Bright Ambassador said...

'Interesting' is one way of describing her voice.


I take great comfort in the fact that Dionne Warwick hates Cilla's guts for nicking her songs and having hits with them in the UK.
Frankly, I think Cilla should be horsewhipped.

Jon Peake said...

Those songs were not Warwick's, they were Bacharach and David's. Surely they were free to give them to who they liked.

The thought of her being horsewhipped is quite funny though.

Thanks for the tip Empress, I shall check them out.

Bright Ambassador said...

Fair point, but Warwick had a voice as far removed from an out of tune foghorn as it's possible to get so she deserved the hits.
Let's face it, Black was only popular because she was hanging on to The Beatles coat tails. If I hear once more her stories about John and Paul at The Cavern, I'll vomit myself inside-out. What a pity Lennon never spiked her, I'd love to hear a psychedelic version of Step Inside Love.

Matthew Rudd said...

I always was quite well disposed to her until she did that horrific routine at the Royal Variety Show.

Mondo said...

How about the magical 'Something Tells Me'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEYEa9_ir0

And as Roman Empress says 'La La La Lu' theme from the Please Sir film.

Not so sure about her team up with Bryan Ferry though
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0z5vGmhwHo

Jon Peake said...

Something Tells Me... I've rather gone off at the moment, due it's use in a bingo ad.

Don't know that Bryan Ferry one. How intriguing.

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