Tigers and Fireflies

Tigers and Fireflies is an album released by Lynsey de Paul^[1] in April 1979 on the Polydor record label.^[2][3][4][5] It was launched at a special event at the Mayfair Club in London, with de Paul looking similar to the 1940s film star Veronica Lake. Recorded at Long View Farm Studios^[6][7] with additional recording at Mediasound and produced by Rupert Holmes.^[8][9] In his 1986 biography, Justin de Villeneuve, de Paul's manager at the time wrote "I gave Rupert Holmes a call in New York. He agreed to see me if I flew to America. Polydor, with the prospect of the involvement with Holmes, agreed to up the budget".^[10] The collaboration between de Paul and Holmes was recently mentioned on the Ray Shasho Show, when Shasho interviewed Holmes on his BBS radio show on 7 August 2018.^[11]

The album features lead single "Hollywood Romance"^[12] (co-written by de Paul and David Jordan) which was well received^[13] and became a radio hit,^[14] and the follow-up single "Tigers and Fireflies".^[15] Some years later, de Paul revealed that the song 'Tigers and Fireflies' was about two of her former managers Gordon Mills and Don Arden and is about being cheated and lied to with dazzling promises.^[16][17]

Other tracks include "Losin' the Blues for You" (which was the B-side to the single version of "Hollywood Romance")^[18][19] and "Melancholy Melon"^[20], both co-written by de Paul and her boyfriend at the time,^[21][22] the actor James Coburn,^[23][24][25] "'Twas" is a piano bar song with a blues tinged feel and is to date the only song that was co-written with the album's producer, Rupert Holmes.^{[26][14][27][28]} De Paul teamed up with former Eurovision singing partner Mike Moran to write the jaunty, jazzy and uptempo "Without You".^[29] The album also featured an updated, rerecording of her earlier hit single "My Man and Me", giving it a more blues/country style than the original ballad.^[4][30] The final track "Beautiful" is a song in its own right but ends by reprising snatches of each of the albums songs woven into the fade out, giving it a moody atmospheric feel.^[31]

As noted elsewhere, de Paul's vocals had never sounded stronger, in a style somewhere between Crystal Gayle and Maria Muldaur, in spite of her apparently suffering from a bout of hay fever at the time.^[10] The album was well received and garnered positive reviews in the music press,^[32] with Smash Hits nominating "Hollywood Romance" and "Losin' the Blues for You" as the album's best tracks.^[33]

Tom Malone (musician) (aka Tom "Bones" Malone) played brass, reeds and flutes on the album^[34] and Joel Diamond played acoustic piano. Long term Holmes collaborators Dean Bailin^[35] and John Caruso^[36] played various guitars and Electric Bass, respectively. Gary Burke of Professor Louie & The Crowmatix played drums and percussion, Bob Christianson^[37] played synthesizers as well as clarinet and singing backing vocals, and former Mick Ronson collaborator Dede Washburn^[38] provided percussion and backing vocals. Holmes also played clarinet and electric piano.^[39] Jesse Henderson was the engineer and mixed the album.^[40]

Six of the original tracks, including the title track, "Melancholy Melon" and "Without You", were finally released on CD on de Pauls' anthology CD Into My Music in March 2013 and the original album sleeve was used for a limited issue release on Think! Records label in Japan.^[41][42] "Hollywood Romance" was not included and has yet to be released on CD.

Songs on the album that have been covered by other artists include "My Man and Me", covered by Carl Wayne (as "My Girl and Me");^[43] and by Japanese artist Hummingbird^[44] "Hollywood Romance", which was given Japanese lyrics and recorded as "Romance" on her album Froggie. Singer Lena Zavaroni also covered the song as the fifth number from the second episode of her first TV series, Lena Zavaroni and Music.^[45][46]

Track listing

A-side

1. "Hollywood Romance" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Dave Jordan)^[47][48]
2. "My Man and Me" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[47][48]
3. "Without You" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Mike Moran)^[47][48]
4. "Forever and a Day" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[47][48]
5. "Tigers and Fireflies" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[47][48]

B-side

1. "Melancholy Melon" (written by Lynsey de Paul and James Coburn)^[47][48]
2. "Losin' the Blues for You" (written by Lynsey de Paul and James Coburn)^[47][48]
3. "Before You Go Tonight" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[47][48]
4. "'Twas" (written by Lynsey de Paul and Rupert Holmes)^[47][48]
5. "Beautiful" (written by Lynsey de Paul)^[47][48]

References