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Echo Beach
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Echo Beach
| cover = Echo_Beach_cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Martha and the Muffins
| album = Metro Music
| B-side = Teddy the Dink
| released = 8 February 1980
| recorded = August 1979
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = New wave
| length = 3:38
| label = Dindisc
| writer = Mark Gane
| producer = Mike Howlett
| prev_title = Insect Love
| prev_year = 1979
| next_title = Saigon
| next_year = 1980
| misc =
}}
"'Echo Beach'" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album 'Metro Music' in 1980 and went on to reach number 5 in Canada, number 6 in Australia, and number 10 in the UK. It was certified gold in Canada on 1 October 1980, a month after 'Metro Music' achieved gold status, and also won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. "Echo Beach" was the band's only significant international hit, although they had other popular singles in Canada.
In 2003, 'Q' magazine listed "Echo Beach" among the 1001 best songs ever. In 2005, it was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series '50 Tracks'.
Background
Echo Beach, as mentioned in the song, does not refer to a real beach, but rather a symbolic notion of somewhere the narrator would rather be, somewhere "far away in time". The song was created while Gane was working checking wallpaper for printing faults. He found the work rather dull and his mind drifted to times he would like to live over again. One such time was an evening spent at Sunnyside Beach on the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto in summer. 'Echo Beach' was a reference made to a faded time and place gone in the lyrics of the song "Hiroshima Mon Amour" by the band Ultravox. The map shown on the cover of one version of the single is of Toronto Islands, while another single shows the north-western end of the Fleet Lagoon and the bar of Chesil Beach, the location of Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset.
In 2010, the band released a 30th anniversary version of "Echo Beach". A commentator described the new version as "definitely a different song compared to the previous version; it's slower and the famous guitar riff that introduces the song is acoustic. [The original] was also good to be danced to, whereas the new one is darker and languid." Mark Gane explained, "We wanted to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the song, by not trying to replicate the version that we originally recorded, but as musicians who've experienced three decades of living. We'd like to refer to the new recording of 'Echo Beach' as our 'grown-up' version."
In June 2011, concert promoter Live Nation opened a 4,000-person outdoor concert facility in Toronto and named it after the song.
Track listing
* '7" single'
:A. "Echo Beach" 3:38
:B. "Teddy the Dink" 3:32
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Toyah version
{{Infobox song
| name = Echo Beach
| cover = Toyah-echo_beach_7"_cover.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Toyah
| album = Desire
| B-side = Plenty
| released = 6 April 1987
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 3:20
| label = E.G.
| writer = Mark Gane
| producer = Mike Hedges
| prev_title = World in Action
| prev_year = 1985
| next_title = Moonlight Dancing
| next_year = 1987
| misc =
}}
British singer Toyah covered "Echo Beach" on her 1987 album 'Desire'. The song was released as the lead single from the album and reached number 54 in the UK Singles Chart. It is Toyah's last charting single in the UK to date.
Track listing
* '7" single':A. "Echo Beach" 3:20
:B. "Plenty" 3:40
* '12" single'
:A. "Echo Beach" (Surf Mix) 5:36
:B1. "Echo Beach" (7" Mix) 3:20
:B2. "Plenty" 3:40
Charts
Other versions
* Robert Forster covered the song on his 1994 album 'I Had a New York Girlfriend'.
* An adaptation of the song, titled "Egoiste" (translated as "Selfish"), was released by French singer-songwriter La Grande Sophie on her 2005 album 'La Suite', in which the lyrics have been changed, while the music and layout of the song remains the same.
* Gabriella Cilmi covered the song; her version was used as the theme for the soap opera of the same name and appeared exclusively on the deluxe UK edition of her 2008 album 'Lessons to Be Learned'.
* The 2009 song "Box 'n' Locks" by MPHO samples the melody from Echo Beach.
In popular culture
"Echo Beach" was used in the 2005 British film 'The Business', the 2008 comedy series, 'Moving Wallpaper', for which it can be heard in the first episode, and it was also part of the soundtrack for the 2016 Greek film, 'Suntan'.
References
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