I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You

Album: Evita Soundtrack (1976)
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Songfacts®:

  • The sheet music for this heavily orchestrated uptempo love song can be found in Evita: Musical Excepts Complete Libretto from the opera based on the life story of Eva Peron 1919-1952, published by Evita Music Ltd, Sole Selling Agents Leeds Music of Croydon. In 1977, this publication retailed for £3.00.

    The song itself was written by the British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice. Eva Duarte became an actress; she met army officer Juan Perón in January 1942 at a charity event to raise funds after an earthquake; the following year he was involved in a military coup, and in 1946 became President of Argentina. Eva was Perón's second wife; he was some twenty-four years older than her, but it was a marriage made in Heaven. The Peróns embarked on a program of political and social reforms, Eva working through her Eva Perón Foundation. In common with many politicians and powerful people generally, the couple were subjected to a fair amount of mud slinging, but Eva's premature death from cancer ensured her canonization in the eyes of her people.

    This song is based on their first meeting; in the musical and film it is sung as a duet between the couple. Madonna was an obvious choice to play Eva in the film, and was widely tipped for an Oscar. The original studio recordings were made by Julie Covington, who declined the stage role, which went to Elaine Paige.
  • In spite of the success of the musical, the definitive version of this particular song is probably that recorded by Linda Lewis, a fine songwriter in her own right (with a five octave vocal range). She recorded her version as a straightforward love song. Released in June 1979 and backed by "The Best Days Of My Life," it deserved better chart success.
  • This song was also recorded by the actress Michelle Pfeiffer. At one time she was prime candidate for the lead role in Evita and actually spent months working on the film, until then director Oliver Stone withdrew, and the production was moved from Los Angeles to Argentina. Although her audition version was never released as a single, it has since found its way into cyberspace. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

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