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 group Martha and the Muffins in 1980. It was released as a single from their album "Metro Music" in 1980 and won the Juno 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 the UK singles chart. [UKChartHits|3268]

In 2005, "Echo Beach" was named the 35^th 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 of Chesil Beach in Dorset, 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 in Portugal. 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 British soap opera "Echo Beach", first broadcast on ITV1 on 10 January 2008. It can be found as a bonus 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]