A House Classic
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One of my favorite songs is “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)” by Modjo. It’s a wonderfully catchy, simple dance song.
The song has an interesting history. The irresistible guitar sample is from an old Chic song, “Soup for One,” which was made for a movie by the same name in 1982. The song was fairly popular, but didn’t become the anthem that “Lady” would almost twenty years later.
“Lady” is built around a sample from “Soup for One”, but it has a totally different feeling. “Soup for One”, as its title suggests, is kind of a downer. While “Lady” has more of an uplifting feel, though it is tinged with melancholy.
“Lady” was created by a couple of French twenty somethings in 2001. They were students at a music school in Paris at the time. It quickly became a huge global hit, reaching the top ten in charts in Europe, North America, and Australia. The song has since been sampled itself several times in the last few years.
It’s an interesting, unlikely story. From New York in 1982 to Paris in 2001, from the soundtrack of an obscure movie to a global anthem.
