A hit is a hit in any language. Laura Branigan likely would have agreed with that sentiment. One of the most popular female singers of the 80s, Branigan did very well with English versions of songs that had first been successful in other countries.<\/p>\n
That pattern began with \u201cGloria\u201d, the 1982 single that took off upon its release and made Branigan a household name amongst pop music fans. Many of those fans were likely oblivious to the original Italian version of the song, released a few years earlier.<\/p>\n
Hey, Laura<\/p>\n
Laura Branigan, born in New York state, took her first crack at musical stardom in the early 70s. She acted as lead singer for a folky band called Meadow. After a single, relatively unheard album was released, the band went under. That left Branigan looking for another outlet for her talents.<\/p>\n
She worked for a while as a backup singer to Leonard Cohen. Once she secured a record deal, her solo career started off inauspiciously when her debut single \u201cAll Night With Me\u201d did little. But her second single, \u201cGloria\u201d, already had some pedigree as a hit in Europe. How would it do in the US?<\/p>\n
Found in Translation<\/p>\n
The Italian artist Umberto Tozzi co-wrote \u201cGloria\u201d with Giancarlo Bigazzi and released the song in 1979. Tozzi\u2019s melody and the basic instrumental structure is similar to what Branigan would use a few years later. His Italian lyrics concern a girl whose absence haunts the narrator, to the point where it\u2019s fair to wonder if she\u2019s only a figment of his imagination.<\/p>\n
Not only did Branigan\u2019s producer, Jack White, suggest a remake of \u201cGloria\u201d, but also Greg Mathieson, who played keyboards on Tozzi\u2019s original, was in the same role on the Branigan album. At first, Branigan couldn\u2019t see the potential of the song. But a lyrical rewrite aided by Trevor Veitch changed her mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cGloria\u201d proved an ideal vehicle for Branigan\u2019s wailing vocals. The song exploded on the radio, reaching No. 2 on the US pop charts. And it set the artist up as the go-to singer for songs that had already enjoyed a test-run in European markets. \u201cSolitaire\u201d, \u201cSelf Control\u201d, and \u201cTi Amo\u201d were all hits for her that had first been done by foreign artists.<\/p>\n
Behind the Lyrics<\/p>\n
The refocused version of \u201cGloria\u201d features a narrator warning a young girl to slow down her pace a bit. \u201cI think you\u2019re headed for a breakdown,\u201d she warns. \u201cIf everybody wants you, why isn\u2019t anybody calling?\u201d Branigan queries. And then: \u201cAre the voices in your head calling, Gloria?\u201d<\/p>\n
Later, the narrator questions Gloria about her romantic escapades. \u201cHow\u2019s it gonna go down?\u201d the narrator wonders. \u201cWill you meet him on the main line or will you catch him on the rebound?\u201d Gloria\u2019s need to take a lover might supersede her wisdom. \u201cFeel your innocence slipping away, don\u2019t believe it\u2019s comin\u2019 back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGloria\u201d is a can\u2019t-miss pop song, one where the upbeat music clashes effectively with the cautionary tale told by the lyrics. Laura Branigan sold it to the hilt, putting a definitive stamp on this multinational hit.<\/p>\n
Photo of Laura Branigan Photo by Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hit is a hit in any language. Laura Branigan likely would have agreed with that sentiment. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,193207,216,17172],"class_list":{"0":"post-400271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-laura-branigan","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-pop-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}