Thursday, November 2, 2023

Patsy Gallant -- From New York to L.A./Gilles Vigneault -- Mon Pays

From Good Free Photos

I once heard a song on the radio a number of times. The singer, Patsy Gallant, who hails from New Brunswick Canada, didn't become a major superstar but her single "From New York to L.A." did catch my ears as a fun and upbeat song about someone unshackling the chains that were keeping her down (including her now erstwhile beau) and making her dreams come true.

There seems to be some confusion on whether "From New York to L.A." was released in 1976 or 1977 but for the sake of argument, let's go with that first year. Listening to the song for the first time in years a few times now, I can now readily hear the disco element in there, but remembering it, I'd assumed that it was also an AOR tune. Whichever the genre though, it's dug so deep into my psyche as a cherished tune that when I wrote about Momoe Yamaguchi's(山口百恵)own dalliance with American AOR through her "Get Free" song, "From New York to L.A." was the first song that came to my mind.

The interesting thing that I found out just before typing this was that "From New York to L.A." is actually a reworking of a 1964 song "Mon Pays" (My Homeland) by Quebec singer-songwriter Gilles Vigneault who created it to pay tribute to his home province. The tone is much more different as the original sounds more like the showstopper piece in a musical. Incidentally, the English lyrics for the Gallant cover were written by Gene Williams and the song itself managed to peak at No. 6 in Canada.

The release time of the song gets even murkier since a month hasn't been ascertained either. But once again for the sake of argument, let's go with November 1976. What were two singles which were released in that specific month?

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Dream (ドリーム)


Pink Lady -- S.O.S.


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