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Butterfly (Lloyd Cole song)

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"Butterfly"
Single by Lloyd Cole
from the album Don't Get Weird on Me Babe
Released2 March 1992[1]
Length3:05
LabelPolydor
Songwriter(s)Lloyd Cole
Producer(s)
Lloyd Cole singles chronology
"Weeping Wine"
(1991) 		"Butterfly"
(1992) 		"So You'd Like to Save the World"
(1993)

"Butterfly" is a song by English singer, songwriter and musician Lloyd Cole, released in 1991 as the third and final single from his second studio album, Don't Get Weird on Me Babe. The song was written by Cole, and produced by Cole, Fred Maher and Paul Hardiman. It peaked at number 90 in the UK Singles Chart.

Background

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Cole wrote "Butterfly" on the piano.[2] It was the last track on his second studio album Don't Get Weird on Me Babe for which he recorded the vocals. The lyrics for the song were left incomplete until towards the end of the album's recording sessions. In a 1991 interview on the Irish TV show An Eye on the Music, Cole said, "I hadn't written [the lyrics] because there just hadn't been time, I'd been doing something else all the time. We had three days left so I said [to the others in the studio], 'Go do something for a while, leave me in here' and I actually wrote the whole lyric in about half an hour which is quite quick by my standards."[3]

The song's lyrics have been described as "a dark, twisted tale of possession and pain masquerading as love". Speaking of the song, Cole told the Chicago Tribune in 1991, "The actual sound of 'Butterfly' is pretty aggressive once it gets going. Those chords are not pretty chords. I think it's very nice to juxtapose lyrics like that against a scenario of music which people tend to associate with Barry Manilow. A lot of people heard my orchestral side and thought, 'Oh, he's gone soft.' I think 'Butterfly' [is one] of the hardest things I've ever done."[4]

Release

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Cole had originally agreed to Polydor's wishes for "She's a Girl and I'm a Man" to be the lead single from Don't Get Weird on Me Babe on the condition that "There for Her" or another track from the album's "orchestral side" would be the second single. The label ultimately decided to release the more commercial "Weeping Wine" as the second single instead without Cole's input.[5] In early 1992, Polydor decided to release "Butterfly", one of the album's orchestral tracks, as a single and Cole agreed to their request of commissioning someone to remix the track. Polydor chose Adam Peters who, in turn, created a near seven-minute version of the track titled "The Planet Ann Charlotte Mix", which was included on the 12-inch and CD formats of the single.[6]

Cole later recalled of Peters' remix, "I thought what he did with 'Butterfly' was wonderful and completely unexpected – he didn't even keep the piece in the same key. He was thinking outside the box, or at least outside my box."[6] He added to Hearsay Magazine in 2000, "At the time I wanted to go further with being less like myself and what he'd done with something I'd written was far more radical than anything I had done."[7] Cole was so impressed with the remix that he invited Peter to come to New York and work with him. Peters would serve as producer among other roles on Cole's 1993 album Bad Vibes and his 1995 album Love Story.[6][8]

Critical reception

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Upon its release as a single, John Mulvey of NME felt that, on "Butterfly", Cole "practises his hard bastard fantasies while an orchestra swirls and broods behind him" and added that he come across "not half as mean as he hopes, of course, but still effectively sullen". Mulvey felt that Adam Peters' "Planet Ann Charlotte Mix" was "a failure, but a noble one", commenting that he "tries to pull off an 'Unfinished Sympathy'-style coup by adding a techno pulse and a soulful female vocal to all the strings and surly suffering".[9] In a review of Don't Get Weird on Me Babe, Jon Wilde of Melody Maker described the song as "preposterously melodramatic".[10] Diana Valois of The Morning Call noted its "strong drum beat" and "Chris Isaak-meets-Marc Almond sense of romantic surrealism".[11]

Track listing

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7–inch single (UK and Europe)[12]

  1. "Butterfly" – 3:02
  2. "Jennifer She Said" (Recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon, 26 October 1991) – 3:20

12–inch single (UK and Europe)[13]

  1. "Butterfly" (The Planet Ann Charlotte Mix) – 6:50
  2. "Butterfly" – 3:02
  3. "Jennifer She Said" (Live) – 3:20

CD single (UK and Europe)[14]

  1. "Butterfly" – 3:02
  2. "Jennifer She Said" (Live) – 3:20
  3. "Butterfly" (The Planet Ann Charlotte Mix) – 6:50

CD single (France)[15]

  1. "Butterfly" – 3:02
  2. "Jennifer She Said" (Live) – 3:20

Personnel

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Credits are adapted from the Don't Get Weird on Me Babe CD album liner notes and the UK CD single.[16][14]

"Butterfly"

Additional musicians on "The Planet Ann Charlotte Mix"

  • Ann Charlotte Vensgaarde – additional vocals

Production

  • Lloyd Cole – producer, mixer ("Butterfly")
  • Fred Maher – producer, mixer ("Butterfly")
  • Paul Hardiman – producer, mixer, engineer ("Butterfly")
  • Tim Young – mastering ("Butterfly")
  • Adam Peters – remixer ("The Planet Ann Charlotte Mix")
  • Pete Dauncey – producer ("Jennifer She Said")
  • Chris Sheldon – mixing ("Jennifer She Said")
  • Dave Mulkeen – engineer ("Jennifer She Said")

Charts

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Chart (1992) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart (OCC)[17] 90
UK Music Week Airplay Top 10 Breakers[18] 4

References

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  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 29 February 1992. p. 21. ISSN 0265-1548. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via World Radio History.
  2. ^ Cole, Lloyd (29 January 2008). "Butterfly". lloydcole.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  3. ^ Lloyd Cole (1991). An Eye on the Music (Irish TV show). RTÉ. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via YouTube.
  4. ^ Heim, Chris (13 December 1991). "Music: Restive Lloyd Cole delights in challenges, changes". Chicago Tribune. p. N7. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Moore, Ewen (2000). "Failing Upwards: going upstate with Lloyd Cole". hearsaymagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Cleaning Out the Ashtrays (Collected B-Sides & Rarities 1989-2006): CD2 - Re-Make/Re-Model (UK CD album liner notes). Lloyd Cole. Tapete Records. 2009. TR138, CD 915912.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  7. ^ Moore, Ewen (2000). "Failing Upwards: going upstate with Lloyd Cole". hearsaymagazine.co.uk. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  8. ^ Cole, Lloyd (8 September 2005). "Remixes of Commotions songs". lloydcole.com. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  9. ^ Mulvey, John (14 March 1992). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 19.
  10. ^ Wilde, Jon (21 September 1991). "Albums". Melody Maker. p. 33.
  11. ^ Valois, Diana (14 December 1991). "Records". The Morning Call. p. A77. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Butterfly (UK and European 7-inch single sleeve). Lloyd Cole. Polydor Records. 1992. COLE 16, 865454-7.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  13. ^ Butterfly (UK and European 12-inch single sleeve). Lloyd Cole. Polydor Records. 1992. COLEX 16, 865 455-1.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  14. ^ a b Butterfly (UK and European CD single liner notes). Lloyd Cole. Polydor Records. 1992. COLCD 16, 865455-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ^ Butterfly (French CD single liner notes). Lloyd Cole. Polydor Records. 1992. 865 454-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  16. ^ Don't Get Weird on Me Babe (UK CD album liner notes). Lloyd Cole. Polydor Records. 1991. 511 093-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  17. ^ "Singles - Positions 76 to 200". Charts Plus. Spotlight Publications. 14 March 1992. p. 2.
  18. ^ "Top 50 Airplay Chart - Top 10 Breakers" (PDF). Music Week. 14 March 1992. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via World Radio History.
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