| "Take That Look Off Your Face" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byMarti Webb | ||||
| from the albumTell Me on a Sunday | ||||
| B-side | "Sheldon Bloom" | |||
| Released | January 1980 | |||
| Recorded | 1979 | |||
| Genre | Pop,Middle of the road, theatrical | |||
| Length | 3:27 | |||
| Label | Polydor | |||
| Songwriters | Andrew Lloyd Webber,Don Black | |||
| Producer | Andrew Lloyd Webber | |||
| Marti Webb singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Take That Look Off Your Face" is the title of a hit song by musical theatre composerAndrew Lloyd Webber. Collaborating with lyricistDon Black, it was written for the song cycle showTell Me on a Sunday in 1978. It was sung and released byMarti Webb in 1980, and became a number 3 hit in the UK charts.[1] The song was also popular in Ireland, and made it to number 1.[2]
The song is about a woman being told of her boyfriend's infidelity. The woman denies this initially, before rebuking her news-bearer (a girlfriend) with the revelation that she "knew before" and had done for some time. She also spends much of the song criticising her friend for rushing to break the "bad news" to her.
Despite having been written during the creative process forTell Me on a Sunday, the song wasn't recorded during the album's principal sessions. Black reminded Lloyd Webber that they had missed a track, then entitled "You Must Be Mistaken".John Mole, the bass guitar player, improvised a part reminiscent of the arrangement style ofPhil Spector, inspiring the rest of the orchestration. The track was recorded in one take, apart from adouble tracking of the orchestra.
A briefer 3:02 edit of the song is included on the album, however, a longer 3:29 version was released as the single.
The lyrics were substantially rewritten byRichard Maltby Jr. for the original Broadway production ofSong and Dance. The British productions of the show have always used the lyrics written by Black.
Black himself amended the line, "He's doing some deal up in Baltimore now" after realising that Baltimore is south of New York. In subsequent versions, the song's protagonist is said to be "down" in Baltimore.
For the 2003 production ofTell Me on a Sunday, the storyline instead placed the action in England prior to an emigration to New York, requiring some further revision of the lyrics to reference London instead.
Weekly charts[edit]
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A German-language version with lyrics byMichael Kunze, "Freu' dich bloß nicht zu früh",[17] by the Danish singerGitte Hænning spent 22 weeks in the German charts in 1980, peaking at no. 10.[18] The song appeared on Gitte's albumBleib noch bis zum Sonntag!, a collection of songs fromTell Me on a Sunday, which won the 1980Deutscher Schallplattenpreis for best German-language pop album.[19]
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