- Echo Beach
Infobox Single
Name = Echo Beach
Cover size =
Border =
Caption =
Artist =Martha and the Muffins
Album =Metro Music
B-side = "Teddy the Dink"
Released = 1980
Format = 7" Vinyl
Recorded = 1980
Genre = New Wave
Length = 3:38
Label =DinDisc
Writer = Mark Gane
Producer =Mike Howlett
Audio sample? =
Certification =
Last single = "Insect Love" (1979)
This single = "Echo Beach" (1980)
Next single = "Saigon" (1980)
Misc ="Echo Beach" is a
song recorded by the Canadian groupMartha and the Muffins in 1980. It was released as a single from their album "Metro Music " in 1980 and won theJuno 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 theUK singles chart. [UKChartHits|3268]In 2005, "Echo Beach" was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the
CBC Radio One series "".ubject
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 on the cover of one version of the single is of the
Toronto Islands , while on another - pictured on this page - it is ofChesil Beach inDorset , England.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 . [UKChartHits|3408] Toyah's version of the song was also reportedly successful inPortugal . 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 by
Gabriella Cilmi is used as the theme tune for the Britishsoap opera "Echo Beach", first broadcast onITV1 on 10 January 2008. It can be found as abonus track on the UK edition of her debut album "Lessons To Be Learned".References
External links
* [http://www.marthaandthemuffins.com/ss/s_eb.htm Official Website]
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