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Robbie Williams competes with peers like Justin Timberlake for the crown of sovereign of international pop too soon abandoned by the late Michael Jackson. Active since the very early nineties with the cult band Take That, one of the most successful groups under the Union Flag, Williams left the team in 1995 to fully dedicate himself to a solo career. The debut of Life Thru a Lens is perhaps more famous for the artist's drug&sex scandals and his fierce battles with the Gallagher brothers than for hits like Angels, Let Me Entertain You or the cover of George Michael's Freedom 90, however, a nice pile of millions of copies sold ended up in the former Take That's pocket. The "refined" James Bond-like twist with Millennium and his second work I've Been Expecting You was his definitive consecration and the springboard for about a decade of enormous success, at least until the semi-debacle of the overly electronic Rudebox. The latest Reality Killed The Video Stars and Take The Crown allowed the now-reformed bad boy to regain lost ground with the previous rogue production, although with a lesser chart performance in singles compared to past glory.
Apart from the already mentioned temporary dance-revival digression of the already mentioned Rudebox and the swing-jazz plays proposed with Nicole Kidman in Something Stupid, Williams has never strayed too far from the pop-rock aura with strong britpop hints that has always distinguished him since his debut and he has always disdained the chameleonic shift, at least musically, typical instead of other male and female pop stars. Sing When You're Winning, released in 2000, was perhaps the "farewell" album to Oasis-style britpop that had enclosed Life Thru a Lens and I've Been Expecting You, and the definitive embrace of light rock still not abandoned. Dry-cleaned the Bond-like tuxedo from Millennium and banned the relative fake refined and lavish atmosphere, Robbie returns to wearing the clothes of the sly street boy, funky and brazen with the famous music video of Rock Dj, the disco-rock'n'roll anthem to extreme striptease that also includes in the package skin, muscles, and internal organs. Classy is also the duet with the female pop counterpart Kylie Minogue (also a half princess, being snubbed in narrow-minded United States) in Kids, an anomalous sensual-funky formula compared to the rest of the English main performer's production.
Rock Dj and Kids represent the diamonds of a simple, effective, and even captivating mainstream pop craftsmanship, albeit with few sonic digressions. Further gems, also released as singles, lie in the sincere britpop farewell of Let Love Be Your Energy, the nostalgic folk-country ballad The Road To Mandalay and the ideal sequel of Millennium's strings, namely the big single Supreme complete with a video tribute to fellow Formula One driver Jackie Stewart. Further mentions go to the hard rock flashes of Forever Texas, the dark and subdued ballad If It's Hurting You, and the hyper classical Better Man.
With Sing When You're Winning Mr. Williams managed to combine brazenness, the ability to balance on the already precarious trapeze of the music biz, and began to leave behind a youth a little too quarrelsome and reckless, stained by wrong friendships that quickly turned into bitter and malevolent rivalries among dominators of Her Majesty's Kingdom in the form of charts. Williams, having moved past the extremely retro vein of Swing When You're Winning, would continue on this path with the tumultuous Escapology until he once again found himself with the first signals of Intensive Care and the too showy sequins of Rudebox (an album instead very rich and tasty, made so also by the precious collaborations with the monumental Pet Shop Boys). Currently, little Robert of England has settled down, getting married and having children, yet it remains a pleasure to listen to the post-adolescence of an artist who, despite excesses and media pastiches (see moments of pure androgyny and the much-talked-about rumors about his sexual preferences), has never strayed from a respectable throne of "little prince of pop" still occupied today and difficult to conquer.
Robbie Williams, Sing When You're Winning
Let Love Be Your Energy - Better Man - Rock Dj - Supreme - Kids - If It's Hurting You - Singing For The Lonely - Love Calling Earth - Knutsford City Limits - Forever Texas - By All Means Necessary - The Road To Mandalay.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 Better Man (03:22)
Send someone to love me
I need to rest in arms
Keep me safe from harm
In pouring rain
Give me endless summer
Lord I fear the cold
Feel I'm getting old
Before my time
As my soul heals the shame
I will grow through this pain
Lord I'm doing all I can
To be a better man
Go easy on my conscience
Cause it's not my fault
I know I've been taught
To take the blame
Rest assured my angels
Who catch my tears
Walk me out of here
I'm in pain
As my soul heals the shame
I will grow through this pain
Lord I'm doing all I can
To be a better man
Once you've found that lover
You're homeward bound
Love is all around
Love is all around
I know some have fallen
On stony ground
But love is all around
Send someone to love me
I need to rest in arms
Keep me safe from harm
In pouring rain
Give me endless summer
Lord I fear the cold
Feel I'm getting old
Before my time
As my soul heals the shame
I will grow through this pain
Lord I'm doing all I can
To be a better man
03 Rock DJ (04:18)
Me with the floorshow
Kickin' with your torso
Boys getting high
And the girls even more so
Wave your hands if you're not with a man
Can I kick it?
(Yes you can)
I got
(Funk)
You got
(Soul)
We got everybody
I've got the gift
Gonna stick it in the goal
It's time to move your body
Babylon back in business
Can I get a witness?
Every girl, every man
Houston, do you hear me?
Ground control, can you feel me?
Need permission to land
I don't wanna rock, DJ
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop, DJ?
Cause you're keepin' me up all night
Singin' in the classes
Music for your masses
Give no head
No backstage passes
Have a proper giggle
I'll be quite polite
But when I rock the mic
I rock the mic
(Right)
You got no love, then you're with the wrong man
It's time to move your body
If you can't get a girl
But your best friend can
It's time to move your body
I don't wanna be sleazy
Baby just tease me
Got no family plan
Houston, do you hear me?
Ground control, can you feel me ?
Need permission to land
I don't wanna rock(rock) DJ (DJ)
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop (stop), DJ?(DJ)
Cause you're keeping me up all night
I don't wanna rock (rock), DJ(DJ)
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop (stop), DJ?(DJ)
Cause you're keeping me up all night
Pimpin' aint easy
Most of them fleece me
Every night
Pimpin' ain't easy
But if you're sellin' it
It's alright
Come on
I don't wanna rock (rock), DJ(DJ)
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop(stop), DJ?(DJ)
Cause you're keeping me up all night
I don't wanna rock(rock), DJ(DJ)
But you're making me feel so nice
When's it gonna stop (stop), DJ?(DJ)
Cause you're keeping me up all night
04 Supreme (04:18)
Oh it seemed forever stopped today
All the lonely hearts in London
Caught a plane and flew away
And all the best women are married
All the handsome men are gay
You feel deprived
Yeah are you questioning your size?
Is there a tumour in your humour?
Are there bags under your eyes?
Do you leave dents where you sit
Are you getting on a bit?
Will you survive
You must survive
When there's no love in town
This new century keeps bringing you down
All the places you have been
Trying to find a love supreme
A love supreme
Oh what are you really looking for?
Another partner in your life
to abuse and to adore?
Is it lovey dovey stuff
Do you need a bit of rough?
Get on your knees
Yeah turn down the love songs that you hear
'Cause you can't avoid the sentiment
That echoes in your ear
Saying love will stop the pain
Saying love will kill the fear
Do you believe
You must believe
When there's no love in town
This new century keeps bringing you down
All the places you have been
Trying to find a love supreme
A love supreme
I spy with my little eye
Something beginning with (ah)
Got my back up
And now she's screaming
So I've got to turn the track up
Sit back and watch the royalties stack up
I know this girl she likes to switch teams
And I'm a fiend but I'm living for a love supreme
When there's no love in town
This new century keeps bringing you down
All the places you have been
Trying to find a love supreme
A love supreme
Come and live a love supreme
Don't let it get you down
Everybody looks for love
(Repeat until fade)
06 If It's Hurting You (04:10)
Please don't think of me
If you do you gotta block it
I got chills tonight
And you can't be here to stop it
I'm not a parasite
It's just a lonely night
Tonight
I walked from the bar
Cause they were only laughing
I wished on our star
But they covered it in satin
I'm not a gigolo
That's what I want you to know
Tonight
Ooh ooh
I've hurt you I can see
Ooh ooh
Do you think it's not hurting me
Ooh ooh
The grass ain't always green
And if it's hurting you
You know that it's hurting me
You know that it's hurting me
You'll meet other men
Who will break your heart
If I see you with them
It's gonna tear me apart
Maybe in another life
We wouldn't be alone
Tonight
Ooh ooh
I've hurt you I can see
Ooh ooh
Do you think it's not hurting me
Ooh ooh
The grass ain't always green
And if it's hurting you
You know that it's hurting me
You know that it's hurting me
You know that it's hurting me
You know that it's hurting me
10 Forever Texas (03:37)
First you say you want me
Then you don't want me really
Baby do I scare you
Am I talki' too freely
I got no perspective
On the things that you lack
Baby I don't care
Just lie on your back
Baby I'm crazy
But lady I'm lazy
Amaze me
Baby I'm faded
My mind's all jaded
Amaze me
I'm so superstitious
So there's something you should know
The reason I'm doing you is
'Cause your friend said 'no'
I've been suicidal since
God I don't know when
So get down on your knees
Say your prayers Amen
Baby I'm crazy
Lady I'm lazy
Amaze me
Baby I'm faded
My mind's all jaded
Give me Texas wisdom
Massive systems
Can I pay you in kind?
Mother said 'Son if you do
it too long you'll go blind'
Baby I'm lazy
But lady I'm crazy
Amaze me
Baby I'm faded
My mind's all jaded
One, two
Everybody getting cash for the bung
Everybody wants to know how I'm hung
You can read it in the papers
I'm a giver not a taker
But it won't be the same
Repeat...
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