"Josephine" is a song by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released on 22 June 1985 as the second single from the album "Shamrock Diaries". The song performed strongly, reaching the top 10 in France and the Netherlands, and a remix enjoyed popularity on the Balearic beat scene. It was written for his daughter of the same name. Rea would later name a song after his youngest daughter, Julia, on the album "Espresso Logic" (1993).
Composition.
Rea considered "Josephine" to be a blues song, saying that the "rhythm track... is supposed to be the Yellowjackets, Weather Report, and it grooves like hell, to me". However, the record company asked for changes leading to different versions of the song. Rea says that, "When I'm on stage, I kind of shut my eyes when I'm singing and I'm always where I wrote the song. With "Josephine"... I'm always on the third floor of the Intercontinental Hotel in Düsseldorf in Germany and it's raining. That's where I am when I sing that song, every time." After an encounter with a record executive in Paris, who liked the disco chords of the song, Rea recorded a demo club version which found its way to DJ Paul Oakenfold, who helped establish it on the acid house scene, ultimately prompting Magnet to issue it as a single, titled "Josephine (La Version Française)".
Different versions.
Rea has re-recorded the track many times, and it exists in 7 distinct versions:
Most of the above versions were eventually collected across the two-disc reissues of Rea's albums "Shamrock Diaries", "Dancing with Strangers", "The Road to Hell" and "Auberge" that were released in 2019; only the 2008 re-recording and the edited version of "La Version Française" were omitted. The 2019 deluxe version of "Shamrock Diaries" restored the original 4:26 album version to the first disc, and includes the original 3:35 single version on the bonus disc.
Charts.
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Sampling.
The song was sampled by French house group Superfunk on their 2000 single "Lucky Star" (from the album "Hold Up").
References.
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