WORTH A LOOK?: *****
The film of musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie drops on Amazon Prime on Friday (17 September) and swaps out 1 of our favourite songs for this new 1.
- Read on for reasons including how this features in film Everybody’s Talking About Jamie out Friday
Richard E Grant stars as former drag queen Hugo Battersby and it was his back story – The Legend Of Loco Chanel – that we picked out as a highlight when we travelled up to Sheffield in 2017 to see the debut production of this original musical.
It survived the triumphant transfer to London’s West End later that year but the film has chosen instead to have this pivotal moment articulated by Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Holly Johnson with help from E Grant and substitute it for new Dan Gillespie Sells’ number This Was Me that reflects instead on 80s Britain, Margaret Thatcher and Queen’s Freddie Mercury.
The lyrics are brilliant and we’re particularly enjoying: ‘Every Friday we’d emerge reborn/Keep on dancing ’til we saw the dawn/Making history and breaking laws, oh god how good that feels/We were heroes in our heels.’
Or the unusual E Grant spoken word: ‘We were peacocks in exotic herds/Wouldn’t listen to the warning words/That’s the problem with such pretty birds/They always fly away, even Freddie couldn’t stay.’
Whereas Loco Chanel was very much 1 drag queen’s story, This Was Me is far more universal and roots the song’s timeframe in a period that will ring true for many older viewers.
It’s the new single by Gillespie Sells’ band The Feeling (watch below and out now) and while we’re enjoying that it’s the coupling of E Grant and Johnson together with an electric production that’s really setting our pulses racing (listen above).
monstagigz 
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