When I Was Your Girl

Album: The Minutes (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This is the lead single from The Minutes, Alison Moyet's eighth studio album. The record reached #5 on the UK Albums Chart, Moyet's highest placing for a studio long player in over 25 years.
  • This song, along with the rest of the album, was produced by Guy Sigsworth, who has worked with Seal ("Crazy"), Björk ("It's Oh So Quiet") and Madonna ("What It Feels Like For A Girl"). Moyet told Digital Spy that Sigsworth was the perfect fit for her. "He started off as a harpsichordist at Cambridge University so he really knows his stuff," she explained, "but he's also really techy, which is a rare combination to find. I was disappointed with a lot of tech music in the '90s because vocals were often jammed in for the sake of it, whereas Guy really crafts a voice around it."
  • Regarding the song's meaning, Moyet explained: "The song is about how you use different language in songs as you grow older and how you relate to it."
  • Moyet's youngest daughter, Caitlin, features in the music video, which was shot on Southend Pier. The singer explained her daughter's involvement to Digital Spy: "I thought it would be a good idea because the song is about two voices," she said, "which is something I'm really aware of these days. Nothing pisses me off more than being called an '80s singer - especially as I started in the '60s."
    Moyet added: "It was a funny video shoot as they spent hours doing our hair and then it pissed it down!"

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