Alfie (Lily Allen song)
March 5, 2007
Alfie is a song by British pop singer Lily Allen. The song was released on March 5, 2007 as the fourth single from Allen's debut album Alright, Still.
Song
The song is about Allen's brother Alfie Allen. She sings about how he herumsäße all the time in his room and would watch TV, video games play games and was too lazy to work.
" I only say it, 'cause I care So, please, can you stop pulling my hair? "
Allen said in an interview with Pitchfork Media, that, as she wrote Alfie, was still relatively unknown. " At first, my brother got upset very much when he heard the song, because he thought that I wanted only his bad points. I found it really flattering. After all, I just wanted to show him with the song but that I take care of him, I care about him and that he should make something of his life. "
When I wrote " Alfie ", nobody really knew who I was. At first he was really upset about it, Because He did thought I was just pointing out all of his bad points and attacking him. I thought it was really flattering [ Laughs ]. I thought he'd be really, really happy Because it Proved to him how much I loved him, I did care about him, and I want him to do something with his life. I suppose his paranoia - induced by smoking so much weed - made him think, " Why are you trying to be mean? "
Music
The song is written a 4/4-time and has a tempo of 120 beats per minute. It is kept in C major and is accompanied by a piano and guitar. Alfie used a sample of Sandie Shaw's song Puppet on a String, the 1967 Euro Vision Song Contest won.
Music Video
The music video for Alfie was shot by Sarah Chatfield as a parody or homage to the cartoon series Tom and Jerry. Alfie is played by a doll while she Allen himself appears. While " Alfie " only engages nonsense in the video, such as smoking a joint or tries to masturbate, Allen tried to dissuade it. In an alternate version of the video, the words " weed" ( "grass" ) and were " THC " cut out. The whistle in the video was replaced by a joystick. When " masturbate " a " Censored " sign has been inserted. The video won the CAD Awards for Best Pop Video and Best New Director in June 2007. It was also nominated for the Best Video for the Q Awards, but lost to Ruby by Kaiser Chiefs.
Reception
Rosie Swash from the Guardian newspaper describes the music of the song as " dolled carnival music " ( " fairground pomp "). Said Rob Webb of Drowned in Sound that " Alfie " the lack of wit and ingenuity of some of the previous songs on the album will balance.
Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine praised the production of " Alfie " to be as good as " Shame for You", with a lot of catchy melodies and clever samples ( "plenty of catchy melodies and clever samples" ), but he complained that Allen lacked charisma. Heather Phares of Allmusicgab the song a negative review, complaining that it was too weak as the end of the album, so the album loses momentum at the end.
Charts
Alfie was released in the UK together with the song Shame for You as a double single and rose together at No. 15, there