Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads – History Repeating

This song just drew me in…not the type of song that would normally do that but it just does. Bassey is a little over the top but she’s not at the same time…she makes the song move. I have to listen whenever I hear it played….hey it swings.

Alex Gifford from Propellerhead wrote this song and he had Shirley Bassey in mind when he wrote it. Shirley Bassey said:  “He said he was asleep, and he thought about me, and these words came out. And I asked, what’s a 35-year-old man doing thinking about a grandmother? I couldn’t imagine!”

They sent her a demo and she liked the song but she told them that Tina Turner would probably fit more. They argued that they wrote it for her so she decided to do it. Gifford said: We approached her last summer when our profile was rising and we felt confident enough to try a few mad ideas. The song was written specifically for her and she recognized we weren’t taking the mickey. We couldn’t expect her to come to our hovel in Bath so we booked a London studio, got the champagne and roses in and wore our best shirts.” The song got a lot of help from the movie There’s Something About Mary because it was on the soundtrack.

The song took off and peaked at #19 in the UK, #10 on the Billboard Dance Charts, #32 in New Zealand in 1997. I didn’t find any Canadian chart position. It was on their album Decksandrumsandrockandroll. The album peaked at #6 in the UK, #56 in Canada, #29 in New Zealand, and #100 on the Billboard Album Charts.

The cover of this single was a homage to Nat King Cole.

Bassey making the video

History Repeating

The word is about, there’s something evolving,
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving…
They say the next big thing is here,
That the revolution’s near,

But to me it seems quite clear
That’s it’s all just a little bit of history repeating.
The newspapers shout a new style is growing,
But it don’t know if it’s coming or going,

There is fashion, there is fad
Some is good, some is bad
And the joke rather sad,
That it’s all just a little bit of History repeating.

And I’ve seen it before
And I’ll see it again
Yes I’ve seen it before
Just little bits of history repeating

Some people don’t dance, if they don’t know who’s singing,
Why ask your head, it’s your hips that are swinging
Life’s for us to enjoy
Woman, man, girl and boy,
Feel the pain, feel the joy
Aside set the little bits of history repeating

Just little bits of history repeating
And I’ve seen it before
And I’l see it again
Yes I’ve seen it before
Just little bits of history repeating

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

36 thoughts on “Shirley Bassey and the Propellerheads – History Repeating”

  2. Well that’s just a little mind blowing. Never heard this song before or at least don’t recall it. I do know of Shirley Bassey but really only from her hit songs. Very cool Max.

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  3. It was big on CFNY in Toronto. I always liked it, unusual as it was. I don’t remember seeing the album though, it’s a cool cover and neat how closely they duplicated that Nat record. They did for Shirley what the Pet Shop Boys did for Dusty Springfield around the same time- made her known to a young generation.

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    1. Yes they did…funny she said that it would fit Tina Turner better…it fit her perfectly. It’s something about the song that I really like.

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  5. I didn’t remember this song being in Something About Mary, but I did find a video where it is being played in a subdued background mode. This was such a great movie and I watched it in a theater in Brazil where it had Portugues subtitles.

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  10. I never heard of Propellerheads and their collaboration with Shirley Bassey. As the TV host says at the very end, yeah, “it’s different” and pretty cool. Bassey’s vocals give me chills and are an intriguing contrast to that combination of electronic music and jazz.

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  11. Shirley always teeters at the top without quite tumbling into parody. For instance ‘Gowaldfiiiiiingerrrr. the maaaan with the midas toucccchhh.’ But it works, and so does this. Nicely droll intro and outro by Roger Humphries too.

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  14. You crack me up Max; you say you have to listen whenever you hear it played, but my question is, where exactly would you hear it played unless you’re playing it? But seriously, though I love Shirley Bassey, I’ve never heard this song, and certainly don’t remember it from the film There’s Something About Mary. Bassey was always much more popular in the UK that she was in the U.S., unfortunately.

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