Laura Branigan – Gloria

“Gloria” – Single by Laura Branigan from the album Branigan
B-side: “I Wish We Could Be Alone”
Released: June 1982
Recorded: 1981
Studio: Rusk Sound (Hollywood, California)
Label: Atlantic
Songwriters: Umberto Tozzi, Giancarlo Bigazzi and Trevor Veitch
Producer: Jack White
Charted No.2 in US and No.6 in UK.

“Gloria” was first released by the Italian pop singer Umberto Tozzi in 1979; his version was a hit in his home country and popular in other non-English-speaking countries in Europe. When Laura Branigan started work on her first album, she was teamed with producer Greg Mathieson, who did the keyboards and arrangements on Tozzi’s “Gloria.” He suggested Branigan cover the song, but she was skeptical. When they worked it up with English lyrics, she came around, and the song became a huge hit, this time in many English-speaking territories.

In the original Italian version, the singer is longing for Gloria. In Branigan’s version, she is addressing Gloria, whose head is scrambled over a guy. Gloria seems to be on the verge of insanity. “Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?” Branigan asks.

Umberto Tozzi wrote this song with the Italian composer Giancarlo Bigazzi. The Canadian songwriter Trevor Veitch, who wrote some of Sheena Easton’s hits, worked on Branigan’s version and is credited as one of the writers.

The single reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 on 27 November 1982, behind Lionel Richie’s “Truly”, and remained there the following two weeks, through 11 December—when Richie had been supplanted by Toni Basil’s “Mickey”.

“Gloria” earned Branigan a nomination for the Best Pop Vocal Performance Female Grammy Award for the year 1982. The song remained in the Top 40 for 22 weeks, and its total Hot 100 residency of 36 weeks established a new record for a single by a solo female act.

Lyrics:
Gloria, you’re always on the run now
Running after somebody
You gotta get him somehow
I think you’ve got to slow down
Before you start to blow it
I think you’re headed for a breakdown
So be careful not to show it

You really don’t remember
Was it something that he said?
Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?

Gloria, don’t you think you’re fallin’?
If everybody wants you
Why isn’t anybody callin’?
You don’t have to answer
Leave them hangin’ on the line
Oh-oh-oh, calling Gloria

Gloria (Gloria), I think they got your number
(Gloria) I think they got the alias
(Gloria) That you’ve been living under
(Gloria) But you really don’t remember
Was it something that they said?
Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?

A-ha-ha, a-ha-ha
Gloria, how’s it gonna go down?
Will you meet him on the main line
Or will you catch him on the rebound?
Will you marry for the money
Take a lover in the afternoon?
Feel your innocence slipping away
Don’t believe it’s comin’ back soon

And you really don’t remember
Was it something that he said?
Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?

Gloria (Gloria), I think they got your number
(Gloria) I think they got the alias
(Gloria) That you’ve been living under
(Gloria) But you really don’t remember
Was it something that they said?
Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?

(Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria)
(Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria, Gloria)…

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