Sing
Annie Lennox
2008: RCA/BMG 88697284282
with guest vocalists Anastacia, Angelique Kidjo, Beth Gibbons, Beth Orton, Beverley Knight, Bonnie Raitt, Celine Dion, Dido, Faith Hill, Fergie, Gladys Knight, Isobell Campbell, Joss Stone, k.d. lang, KT Tunstall, Madonna, Martha Wainwright, Melissa Etheridge, Pink, Sarah McLachlan, Shakira, Shingai Shoniwa, and Sugababes
In my notes on Lennox’s album Songs of Mass Destruction, I indicated that I really wanted to like this song but just didn’t, despite its lofty intentions. I was hoping a remix would have a longer playing field for the guest vocalists, as it does (although not as long as I was hoping for), so I bought this single when BMG finally got their shit together and released it.
And, to my surprise and delight, the main mix of “Sing” here is NOT the same as the one on the album! It begins without the Treatment Action Campaign spoken bit and Annie’s first statement of the chorus, which gets things moving a little sooner, but the crucial difference is that “Jikelele,” which was the inspiration for Annie doing this at all, is now solidly and poundingly inserted into the climax of the track, turning it into quite the tribal dance romp and adding immeasurable depth and power to what was a one-note bore on the album. It is MUCH much better in this version.
Comments © 2008 Mark Ellis Walker, except as noted, and no claim is made to the images and quoted lyrics.