Echo Beach
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| “Echo Beach” | |||||
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| Single by Martha and the Muffins from the album Metro Music |
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| B-side | "Teddy the Dink" | ||||
| Released | 1980 | ||||
| Format | 7" Vinyl | ||||
| Recorded | 1980 | ||||
| Genre | New Wave | ||||
| Length | 3:38 | ||||
| Label | DinDisc | ||||
| Writer(s) | Mark Gane | ||||
| Producer | Mike Howlett | ||||
| Martha and the Muffins singles chronology | |||||
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"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1980. It was released as a single from their album Metro Music in 1980 and won the Juno Award for Single of the Year; it is the band's only significant international hit, although they had several other hits in Canada. It reached number 10 in the UK singles chart.[1]
In 2005, "Echo Beach" was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.
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Although Mark Gane was not aware of a real "Echo Beach" when he wrote the song in 1978, several people wrote to him asking if it was about a beach in their local area. However, Echo Beach, as mentioned in the song, does not refer to a real beach but is rather a symbolic notion of somewhere the narrator would rather be, somewhere 'far away in time'. In reality, the song was thought of while Gane was working checking wallpaper for printing faults. He found this rather dull and his mind drifted to times he would rather be reliving. One such time was an evening spent at Sunnyside Beach on the shoreline of Lake Ontario in Toronto in summer.
The map shown shown on the cover of one version of the single is of the Toronto Islands, while on another - pictured on this page - it is of Chesil Beach in Dorset, England.
[edit] Other versions
The song was covered by British pop star Toyah in 1987, reaching number #54 in the UK charts as well as being released in Germany.[2] Toyah's version of the song was also reportedly successful in Portugal. The singer regularly includes the song in her live concert sets.
The Australian singer Robert Forster covered the song on his 1995 album I Had a New York Girlfriend.
A cover version by Gabriella Cilmi is used as the theme tune for the UK TV series Echo Beach, first broadcast on UK ITV1 on 10 January 2008.
