Torn

by

Natalie Imbruglia

Album: Left Of The Middle

Released: 1997

Charted:

Get the Ringtone

Get Song @ Amazon

Get the Sheet Music

View Lyrics

Send "Torn" Ringtone to your Cell phone

Songfacts®: You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

View Lyrics

In 1993, Anne Previn and Scott Cutler from the group Ednaswap wrote this song along with the producer Phil Thornalley. Next year the Danish singer Lis Sorensen had a hit in Denmark with "Braendt," which was a Danish translation of the song. In 1995 Ednaswap recorded their own version of the song for the first time and in 1996 the Norwegian singer Trine Rein had a hit with it in Norway. (thanks, Philip - Ahus, Sweden)

Imbruglia is an Australian actress who launched her singing career with this hit. She was on the Australian Soap Opera Neighbours from 1992-1994.

Despite being a big radio hit spending 11 weeks on top of Airplay/Radio Songs the song only reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100. The reason being it was released as a radio-only promo single, as Imbruglia's label withheld commercial availability in the hope that consumers would instead purchase her album. Thus "Torn" was ineligible to chart on the Hot 100 according to rules in place at the time. However, at of December 5, 2008 the Hot 100 policy was revised allowing songs not available at retail to appear and "Torn" was able to squeeze in a few weeks in the lower reaches of the chart at the end of its run at radio. Another song to fall victim to the same rules was No Doubt's, "Don't Speak," which failed to chart at all.

Send "Torn" Ringtone to your Cell phone

More Natalie Imbruglia songs
More songs from 1 hit wonders
More songs that were also recorded in other languages
More songs covered by the Glee cast

Comments (8):

Well she is a hauntingly beautiful girl and she does a good job on this song but her follow-ups like ´Wishing you were here¨sucked like an industrial vacuum. i guess she needs to carefully choose material in future.

- rod, Gainesville, FL

I heard this song a lot during road trips.

- Joel, Any town, KS

I absolutely could relate to this song when all is going wrong in your life. You look for answers with a ray of hope ..and of course you have to deal with the let down of disappointment "illusion never changed into something real" You keep on wishing for that guy to come thru ..and he winds up not calling or is caught with someone else...or you look for that situation at work to turn around...and it stays the same...just some examples...Its an awesome song..but the words really make you think.

- Tricia, Rockville Centre, NY

Yeah, give the girl a break. It's a great recording, in any case.

- Guy, Woodinville, WA

The horns are similar to those of "She's a Star," but the 1995 Ednaswap and 1996 Trine Rein versions had a guitar solo almost exactly like those of Imbruglia's version.

- Max Robertson, Morrison, IL

i dont care who wrote it...its still a good song

- natalie, fulshear, TX

Ednaswap's version of "Torn" is the definitive version, even if Natalie Imbruglia's version is the more famous. Her attempts to launch herself as the depressed rock chick soon saw her fall out with the critics, and after a million-selling debut album in "Left Of The Middle", her next two albums flopped. Unkind critics have labelled her a poor man's Alanis Morrissette, but she didn't do herself any favours by embarassing herself on an episode of Chris Evans' TV show "TFI Friday" in 1998. Chris Evans said to her "Great lyrics, you're one hell of a songwriter", Natalie replied "Thank you Chris, my pleasure", at which point someone in the audience shouted out "Hang on - you didn't wite it, it's a cover version!". Natalie was also accused of stealing the horns at the end of the song from Indie band James' hit "She's A Star", which hit the chart less than six months before she covered "Torn"

- Dave, Cardiff, Wales

Natalie Imbruglia is married to the lead singer of Silverchair.

- Suzi, Charleston , SC

You have to to post comments.

Colbie Caillat
Since emerging from MySpace with her hit "Bubbly," Colbie has become a top songwriter, even crafting a hit with Taylor Swift.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers
JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Graham Parker
When Judd Apatow needed under-appreciated rockers for his Knocked Up sequel, he immediately thought of Parker, who just happened to be getting his band The Rumour back together.

Songs About Movies
Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.