Lady Marmalade
"Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, originally for Nolan's disco group. The song is famous for the repeated refrain of ""Voulez-vous coucher avec moi"?" in French as part of the chorus, a sexually suggestive line which translates into English as "Do you want to sleep with me?". The song first became a popular hit when it was recorded in 1974 by the American R&B group Labelle and held the number-one spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for one week, and also topped the Canadian "RPM" national singles chart . In 2021, the Library of Congress selected Labelle's version for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant." The song has had many cover versions over the years. In 1998, girl group All Saints released a cover of the song that peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart. The 2001 version by singers Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink and rapper Lil' Kim, recorded for the "Moulin Rouge!" soundtrack, was a number-one hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for 5 weeks, and also a number-one hit in the UK. "Lady Marmalade" was  the ninth song to reach number one by two different musical acts in America. Background and release. The song was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan, and was inspired by Crewe's experiences in New Orleans and the sex workers in the area. A demo of the song was first recorded by The Eleventh Hour, a disco group made up of studio musicians fronted by Nolan on vocals. It was added in 1974 as a track on the "Eleventh Hour's Greatest Hits" LP which did not chart. Crewe showed the song to Allen Toussaint in New Orleans, and  Toussaint then decided to record the song with Labelle. Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was produced by Allen Toussaint and Vicki Wickham. It was released in November 1974 from "Nightbirds", their first album after signing with Epic Records. Patti LaBelle sang lead vocals on "Lady Marmalade" with backing vocals being contributed by bandmates Nona Hendryx and Sarah Dash. The song is best known for the explicit French lyric "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?" (English: "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?") in the refrain. "Lady Marmalade" is a song about a prostitute, although Patti LaBelle, the  lead vocalist of the band, was completely oblivious to its overall message, saying: "I didn't know what it was about. I don't know French and nobody, I swear this is God's truth, nobody at all told me what I'd just sung a song about." Reception. Steve Huey from AllMusic selected the song as one of the best tracks on Labelle's 1995 compilation "Lady Marmalade: The Best of Patti and Labelle". Critic Robert Christgau described it as "great synthetic French-quarter raunch." "Lady Marmalade" is billed as the song that made Labelle one of the "hottest  girl groups" of the 1970s. It was a number-one hit for one week on the "Billboard" Hot 100 singles chart in the United States during the early spring of 1975, and charted at number one for one week on the "Billboard" Top Soul Singles chart. Along with the track, "What Can I Do for You?", "Lady Marmalade" peaked at number seven on the disco/dance charts. The single was also a major hit in the United Kingdom, where it charted at number seventeen . "Lady Marmalade" replaced another Crewe/Nolan composition, Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You", as the  Billboard Hot 100 number-one single. This feat made Crewe and Nolan the third songwriting team in "Billboard" history (after Lennon–McCartney and Holland–Dozier–Holland) to replace themselves at number-one. "Billboard" ranked it as the No. 22 song for 1975. Labelle performed "Lady Marmalade" on "Soul Train" on December 7, 1974. "Lady Marmalade" debuted at number 92 on the Canadian "RPM" singles chart on February 1, 1975. It subsequently peaked atop the chart on March 29, 1975, after five weeks on the chart. Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in  2003. and was ranked number 479 on "Rolling Stone"s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The Labelle version also appears in several films, including "The Long Kiss Goodnight", "Dick", and "Jacob's Ladder". It was used in the video game "Karaoke Revolution Volume 2" as a version performed with Patti LaBelle. "Billboard" named the song number 16 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. In 2021, the Library of Congress selected the song for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant". Track listings. US 7-inch  single Europe 7-inch single Sabrina Salerno version. Background and release. "Lady Marmalade" was covered by Italian pop star Sabrina on her eponymous album. It was released in 1987 as the album's second single by Baby Records. In some countries, including France and the Netherlands, the song was known as "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi? (Lady Marmalade)" and was released in 1988. Author James Arena named the cover among Sabrina's "relentlessly catchy" singles. Track listings. 7-inch maxi 12-inch maxi CD maxi Chart performance. The song charted at number 36 on the Belgian Flanders Singles Chart, number  40 on the Dutch Single Top 100, and number 41 on the French Singles Chart. Credits and personnel. Credits for Sabrina's version are adapted from CD liner notes: All Saints version. Background and release. In 1998, English-Canadian girl group All Saints recorded a cover version of "Lady Marmalade" as part of the double A-sided single "Under the Bridge" / "Lady Marmalade". In Europe, only the "Lady Marmalade" single was released. The All Saints version contains different lyrics for its verses; the only lyrics retained from the original composition are the chorus. A version remixed by Timbaland appeared on  the "Dr. Dolittle" soundtrack. Reception. "Daily Record" described All Saints' version as a "passable version of LaBelle's disco classic." "Lady Marmalade" was the third single taken from their self-titled debut studio album; it contained the "Marmalade" cover and a cover version of "Under the Bridge" by Red Hot Chili Peppers. The single reached number one on the official UK Top 40 chart, becoming the group's second number-one hit. A total of 424,799 singles have been sold in the UK, with proceeds from the single going to breast cancer charities. Music video. The music video for the  song shows the band members and other people having a dance party on one of the floors of a skyscraper in New York City at night. British actress Kathryn Allerston appears in the music video. Track listings. All Saints CD maxi single All Saints CD 1 All Saints CD 2 Section::::"Moulin Rouge!" version. Background and release. In 2001, the song "Lady Marmalade" appeared as part of a medley in the film "Moulin Rouge!". For the film's soundtrack album, Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink recorded a cover version; it was released as the soundtrack's first single in  April 2001. Produced by Missy Elliott and writing partner Rockwilder, it includes an intro and outro from Elliott. Lyrics were changed from the original version, transferring the song's setting from New Orleans to the Paris nightclub Moulin Rouge. Aguilera said she embraced the idea of collaborating with Elliott, Pink, Mýa and Lil' Kim on the track as soon as it was pitched to her. "I'm a fan of all of theirs, and just to be in the same song doing something with them—collaborating, which I love to do, is a really big thing for me", she said . "And it's cool to be out there before my next album comes out there, too." Critical reception. AllMusic's Brand Kohlenstein praised the song. saying that the ladies "teamed up for a surefire hit with their naughtier version of Patti Labelle's 'Lady Marmalade.'" "Slant Magazine" praised the collaboration as well, describing it as "an accolade to the performers' various distinctive styles, with Lil' Kim trashing it up and Aguilera caterwauling her way through the second half of the song." However, Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" called the cover "god-awful". The "Sun Journal" opined that the "Moulin Rouge !" version helped the song "find a new life." "Entertainment Weekly"s Andrew Hampp named it the best all-female collaboration of the time span 1988–2018. Chart performance. This version of the song reached number-one in its eighth week on the U.S. "Billboard" Hot 100 and spent five weeks at the top of the chart, 26 years after Labelle's version had reached number-one, making "Lady Marmalade" the ninth song in history to top the U.S. chart as performed as different artists. It was the third airplay-only song in "Billboard" chart history (after Aaliyah's 2000 single "Try Again  and Shaggy's 2001 single Angel") to hit number one without being released in a major commercially available single format. The song also holds the record for the longest reigning number one on "Billboard"s Mainstream Top 40 chart for an all female collaboration, topping the chart for nine consecutive weeks. "Lady Marmalade" is the best-selling single for Lil' Kim and Mýa. Lil' Kim also held the record for having the longest number one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for a female rapper, with "Lady Marmalade" being on the top of the charts for five consecutive weeks, until Australian  rapper Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" surpassed the record by holding on to the number one position for seven weeks in 2014. The song was included on non-US versions of Aguilera's first greatest hits album, "". Lady Marmalade was the top selling song of 2001 and has sold 5.2 million copies worldwide as of December 2001. Music video. The music video, directed by Paul Hunter, shows all four performers in lingerie in a cabaret-style video (with rapper Missy Elliott giving an introduction) and was filmed on sets built to resemble the actual Moulin Rouge night club around the turn  of the 20th century. Interviewed by "MTV News", the singers expressed their excitement about the video. P!nk predicted the clip would be like a "circus on acid". Aguilera said, "The video's going to be dope", while elaborating on the video's concept, "We're going to be having cabaret costumes. It's something you've never seen from us before. So, it's going to be fun." The video's art direction anachronistically merged hip-hop sensibility with the film's French cabaret setting, thanks to some props and costumes actually used in the movie, according to Hunter's  office. Choreographer Tina Landon was hired to choreograph the video. The video won the MTV Video Music Awards for "Best Video of the Year" and "Best Video from a Film". The song won the 2002 Grammy Award in the category of "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals". In March 2021, Glenn Garner of the "People" magazine noted that "Lady Marmalade" "remains one of the most iconic music videos of our time". Legacy. According to Kelley Dunlap of BuzzFeed, "Lady Marmalade" influenced Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj's song "Bang Bang". It was featured in the music montage at the  92nd Academy Awards, which covered iconic movie soundtrack songs. It was also featured in the episode of the thirteenth season of "RuPaul's Drag Race", where contestants Tina Burner, Elliott with 2 Ts and Kahmora Hall had to lipsync to it. Broadway version. "Moulin Rouge!" — the musical — opened on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 25, 2019, featuring "Lady Marmalade" sung by The Lady M's: Nini Legs-in-the-Air (Robyn Hurder), Arabia (Holly James), Baby Doll (Jeigh Madjus) and La Chocolat (Jacqueline B. Arnold). The song has been used in many promotional videos and, both opens  and closes the show. It has been announced that a full cast recording is set to come out in the Fall of 2019. Track listing. CD maxi