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Robbie Williams' I Will Survive mashup

Seems I’m not done with Robbie Williams yet. (If you still haven’t seen Better Man, it’s streaming now.) I’ve been listening to In and Out of Consciousness: Greatest Hits 1990–2010 and I’ve discovered 3 other tunes I really like. I’ll start with this one. I had heard it before and knew it was a big hit, but it didn’t really take. However, this week it has.

I’ve seen this described everywhere as using a sample of I Will Survive. I’ve sung both songs and can see it’s more than that. The verses are I Will Survive with different lyrics. The brilliance of this song is how seamless it transitions to a chorus that is completely different from Gloria Gaynor’s classic.

Take a minute to listen to Williams describe the imputus for the song. He’s talking about the strings in the middle of I Will Survive, which is actually from an European film. At least, I ran across the name of the film in my initial research for this post and now I can’t find that page again. That would explain the “Euros” making the sounds Williams describes.

The song, co-written with Williams’ long time collaborator Guy Chambers, was released as the album's third single and was promoted in different countries with international-language versions. I’ve only been able to find versions in French and Spanish. The French version was included as a bonus track in the Canadian release. Check it out - I’m tickled pink. His French sounds great to my ear.

In 2013 he did a 40s style version of the song on his second swing album Swings Both Ways. He described it thus:

It’s nice to have a bit of my history in here with me, given a bit of a cleaning, some new clothes on it. I’m very fond of the original record - it was an out-and-out pop song and I’m proud and pleased to have it in my artillery - but now there’s a sophistication that it didn’t have before, and some gravitas. It feels more whole. It’s become a real love song. I think it’s found its home.

You can be the judge. I’m not really enthralled with it although he does a great job in adapting it.

And you didn’t think I would go without talking about the video, right? The music video is a tribute to the British Formula One racing driver Jackie Stewart. Williams becomes Bob Williams, a fictitious rival driver competing alongside Stewart in the World Championships in Monte Carlo. Directed by Vaughan Arnell, the video used footage of Stewart from Roman Polanski's Weekend of a Champion (shot in 1971) with Williams digitally inserted into a number of scenes with Stewart as well as having a sepia tinged storyline of his own which ends rather humourously.

There were a series of behind the scenes videos created for the release. They intercut the director talking about various decisions around the shoot with Robbie goofing around or the crew doing setup. It’s fascinating. You can watch them here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and finally here.

Enjoy your song of the day!