Friday, October 28, 2011

Morris Albert - "Feelings" (1974)

"Feelings" is a song based on a melody composed by Loulou Gasté and made famous by Morris Albert, who recorded it as a single released in 1974 that later appeared as the title track of his 1975 debut album. The song's lyrics, recognizable by their "whoa whoa whoa" chorus, concern the singer's inability to "forget my feelings of love". Albert's original recording of the song was very successful, performing well internationally.

"Feelings" peaked at #6 on the pop and #2 on the Adult Contemporary charts in America. Over the next few years "Feelings" was performed by many other vocalists including Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, José José, Caetano Veloso, Frank Sinatra, Engelbert Humperdinck, Shirley Bassey, Glen Campbell, The O'Jays, Sarah Vaughan, Walter Jackson, Sergey Penkin, Dobie Gray and Johnny Mathis. It was also recorded by numerous easy listening bandleaders and ensembles such as Percy Faith, Ferrante & Teicher, 101 Strings and Herb Ohta whose ukelele rendition was recorded with Andre Popp's orchestra for A&M Records.

In more recent years "Feelings" has been best known as a target of parody and ridicule for embodying what are perceived by many as the most insipid lyrical and musical qualities of 1970s "soft rock" music. It appears frequently on lists of "the worst songs ever" and was included on the 1998 Rhino Records compilation album '70s Party Killers.

Because of stylistic similarities "Feelings" is sometimes mistakenly associated with Barry Manilow, though Manilow has never recorded the song.

No comments:

Post a Comment