Lady D'Arbanville

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"Lady D'Arbanville"
Single by Cat Stevens
from the album Mona Bone Jakon
B-side"Fill My Eyes"
ReleasedApril 1970
Recorded1970
GenreFolk rock
Length3:15
LabelIsland (UK/Europe)
A&M (US/Canada)
Songwriter(s)Cat Stevens
Producer(s)Paul Samwell-Smith
Cat Stevens singles chronology
"Lovely City (When Do You Laugh)"
(1968) 		"Lady D'Arbanville"
(1970) 		"Father and Son"
(1970)

"Lady D'Arbanville" is a song written and recorded by Cat Stevens and released in April 1970. It subsequently appeared on his third album, Mona Bone Jakon, released later that year. It was his first single released after signing a contract with Island Records, with the encouragement of his new producer, Paul Samwell-Smith, fostering a folk rock direction. "Lady D'Arbanville" has a madrigal sound, and was written about Stevens' former girlfriend, Patti D'Arbanville, metaphorically laying her to rest.

Background

"Lady D'Arbanville" was the first single released from

British pop music charts, he chafed against the "Carnaby Street musical jangle" and "heavy-handed orchestration" that his producer, Mike Hurst (of Deram Records) favoured.[1] Just at the completion of his second album with Hurst, Stevens contracted tuberculosis and a collapsed lung,[2] requiring hospitalisation and rest for a year. During this time, he spent his empty hours writing more than 40 songs, and upon a clean bill of health successfully negotiated out of his Deram contract, and settled on Island Records' Paul Samwell-Smith as his new producer, who encouraged Stevens' inclinations towards an emerging folk rock genre
.

As Stevens was nearing the end of his period of recuperation, he attended a party that boasted a gathering of musicians in London including

Paris, and New York City
. After over a year together, Stevens was ready to invest in a more serious relationship than was his young, ambitious girlfriend. It was on a foray to New York that she heard his song about her on the airwaves. Her reaction was one of sadness. She said,

I just have to be by myself for a while to do what I want to do. It's good to be alone sometimes. Look, Steven [Stevens' given name] wrote that song when I left for New York. I left for a month, it wasn't the end of the world was it? But he wrote this whole song about 'Lady D'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still.' It's about me dead. So while I was in New York, for him it was like I was lying in a coffin... he wrote that because he missed me, because he was down... It's a sad song.[6]

D'Arbanville continues,

I cried when I heard it, because that's when I knew it was over for good.[3]

Musical genre and sound

While Stevens' previous singles featured

British pop music chart, and became the first Stevens' track to get noticeable airplay in the United States.[8] "Lady D'Arbanville" was issued in June 1970 and became his third top ten hit in the UK, with the album Mona Bone Jakon, beginning a modest climb up the charts as well.[9]

Charts

Song

Year Chart Chart Position
1970
U.K. Singles
 8
1970 Canada RPM [10] 69

Personnel

Other versions

Elton John also performed a version of "Lady D'Arbanville" for a covers record, at a time in his career when he was still in relative obscurity. However, in parts of the song, he substitutes the word fille (French for girl which Cat Stevens pronounces like fill). The original song is written thus:

"My Lady D'Arbanville, why do you sleep so still?
I'll wake you tomorrow, and you will be my fille,
Yes, you will be my fille

Elton John's version has him singing "You will be my pill", instead of the original lyrics. John's career took off around the same time as that of Stevens, and the cover songs that John sang on, including "Lady D'Arbanville", remained in obscurity until they were eventually released on a compilation album titled Chartbusters Go Pop in 1994.

In 1970, the song was recorded in both French and Italian by French-Italian Singer Dalida and released on singles in France and Italy. Italian singer Gigliola Cinquetti also recorded the song in Italian the same year.

English band And Also the Trees also performed the song on their 1989 album Farewell to the Shade.

References

  1. ^ Islam, Yusuf (2008). "Lifeline1966". Official Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens Website. Official Website. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  2. ^ O'Driscoll, Michelle (29 July 1972). "Tea With The Tillerman". Disc Magazine. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-1-55652-668-8
    .
  4. ^ "Pamela Des Barres & Friends". Punkcast #1117. Soho McNally Robinson. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  5. ^ By her own account, D'Arbanville was about 14 years old at the time, although, having been born on 25 May 1951, she would have been 16 or 17 in 1968.
  6. ^ D'Arbanville, Patti; Warhol, Andy (1970). "Patti D'Arbanville in Andy Warhol's Interview". Interview. Warholstars. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  7. ^ DeYoung, Bill (2005). "Cat Stevens Box Set Liner Notes". Liner notes for songs for the Cat Stevens Box Set. Archived from the original on 6 February 2003. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  8. ^ Islam, Yusuf (2008). "Lifeline1970". Official Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens Website. Official Website. Retrieved 30 November 2008.
  9. ^ Ruhlmann, William (2007). "Artist Biography - Cat Stevens". Billboard.com. All Media Guide. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  10. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - October 3, 1970" (PDF).
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