Pearl's a Singer

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"Pearl's a Singer"
Single by Elkie Brooks
from the album Two Days Away
B-side	"You Did Something for Me"
Released	25 February 1977
Recorded	1976
Genre	Blues rock, soft rock
Length	3:39
Label	A&M
Songwriter(s)	Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Ralph Dino, John Sembello
Producer(s)	Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller
Elkie Brooks singles chronology
"He's a Rebel" (1976) "Pearl's a Singer" (1977) "Saved" (1977)

"Pearl's a Singer" is a song made famous by the British singer Elkie Brooks, as taken from her 1977 album Two Days Away which was produced by the song's co-writers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. The original version of "Pearl's a Singer" had been introduced by the duo Dino and Sembello – also the song's co-writers – on their 1974 self-titled album which Leiber and Stoller had produced.^[1]

The song is a ballad, telling the story of a failed singer who still dreams of the success she might have had.

History[]

Brooks would recall that at a rehearsal session for her Two Days Away album "Jerry Leiber [said]: 'I want to play you this song, I don't think you're going to like it, it's too countryish for you but I'll play it for you anyway.'...I said: 'Go on, I've got an open mind, I like a lot of country [music].' I listened to 'Pearl's a Singer' and told [Leiber & Stoller] I liked it but that they needed to [modify it with] a middle section. To which Jerry said: 'No problem'. And with that he disappeared and came back half an hour later with the [modified] version of 'Pearl's a Singer'" which Brooks recorded.^[2] Brooks - "To be honest [in the mid-1970s] I just wanted to enjoy myself in music and I never thought 'Pearl...' was going to be a big hit but [after] it was released on my birthday in 1977 the record company really pushed it, [it] got played on all the radio stations and became very successful. No one was more surprised than me."^[3]

Chart performance[]

"Pearl's a Singer" afforded Elkie Brooks her debut chart single – thirteen years after she'd recorded her first track – reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in spring 1977. It remained her highest placing in that chart until "No More the Fool" reached No. 5, in early 1987.

Personnel[]

• Elkie Brooks – vocals
• Isaac Guillory – guitars
• Jean Roussel – keyboards
• Trevor Morais – drums
• Steve York – bass

Additional personnel[]

• Mike Stoller – keyboards
• Eric Weissberg – guitars
• George Devens – percussion
• Muscle Shoals Horns
  • Harrison Calloway (arranger)
  • Charlie Rose
  • Harvey Thompson
  • Ronnie Eades
• Meco Monardo (arranger), Tony Posk, Guy Lumia, Elliot Rosoff, Rick Sortonne, Carol Webb, Joe Goodman, Julien Barber, Jesse Levy – strings
• Carl Hall, Peggy Blue, Marry Ellen Johnson – backing vocals

Other versions[]

"Pearl's a Singer" has also been recorded by Bernadette Peters (album Bernadette/ 1980), by Viktor Lazlo (album My Delicious Poisons/ 1991), and by (nl) (album Anny En Ik/ 2007). The Czech rendering "Černý Zpěvák" was recorded by (cs) in 1978; the German rendering "Tingel-Tangel " was recorded by Wencke Myhre for her 1979 album So bin ich; the Swiss German rendering "Pearl tuet singe" was recorded by (als) for his 1999 album Tegsass.

"Pearl's a Singer" is featured in the score of the Leiber & Stoller musical revue Smokey Joe's Cafe. It is also performed at the end of season 1, episode 2 ("Compromising Positions") of Ally McBeal by Vonda Shepard.

Richard Digance parodied the song as "Earl's a Winger", about an inept footballer.

References[]

External links[]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

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