B*WITCHED – "To You I Belong"

On the subject of Eurovision, it’s interesting that just during the era that the Celtic ballad fell out of favour in the contest – replaced by hi-NRG Europop from the likes of Dana International and Charlotte Nilsson – they fell back into favour with the mainstream record buying public. It started with Celine and Titanic, and while B*Witched were playing to a slightly younger market there’s no doubt they were influenced by it.

This does sound very Eurovision indeed, which is no insult coming from me. Classic Irish signifiers are a very easy way to shorthand warmth in a record, and it’s a sound that became wearyingly over-familiar as the likes of Westlife and The Corrs emerged as major chart forces. I think To You I Belong pulls it off though – it’s a fairly slight piece, but it’s constructed and delivered with just enough conviction to avoid the whiff of cynicism.

A big step up from the underwhelming ‘Rollercoaster’ and their best number one up to this point. But even at their best B*witched were no Spice Girls and To You I Belong is no Viva Forever, so I’ll give it a solid 8.

@mapman132. No play of the official TYIB video down under either. Weird (and almost certainly injurious to B*witched’s ability to play, for example, summer nostalgia/winery tours here – what are they thinking?).

TYIB strikes me as entirely unmemorable (I’ve already forgotten it). Makes (the in my view poor) Viva Forever seem like a masterpiece:
3 (but I accept that I’m drifting further and further out of synch with Popular appreciation)

We are now nearly done with 1998, and the video for “To You I Belong” clearly indicates a play for the Christmas number one, which they would have managed had it not been for a familiar group of last-minute seasonal entrants. The introductory Celtic fiddle and tin whistle ruminations briefly put one in doubt about the wisdom of this ballad, and the title must initially have looked disappointing to an audience who might have preferred something along the lines of “To Us You Belong.”

But, as we have come to expect with the group, there is rather more to the song than meets the casual ear. Its slow motion suggests an attempt at their own “2 Become 1” but the underlying lyrical sentiment, as exemplified by “I cried for you when I hurt my hand…/I called for you, you were there,” reveals “To You I Belong” as their “Mama.” A parental tribute whose multiple water breaking metaphors were far from lost with the young female fans who loved the group – “When the waves broke/I drew a heart for you in the sand/In fields where dreams/Turn to rivers/I ran to you, you were there” – it traces a extremely subtle line charting the typically messy progress of growing up, adolescence, puberty and finally adulthood, and always the most important figure in her life is there for her, whichever storms break. It doesn’t achieve the spacious otherness of “2 Become 1” but its final half-turn into a maternal shoulder of a majestic chord change on the titular line of the chorus is a moment of assured punctum. It offers a direction home. 6 (in honour of Junction 6, the A40 turnoff which, depending on which direction you approach it, leads back to Oxford and leads back to London)

I think this is rather lovely, and by far their best number one to date (these final two words contributing my joining in with the bunny-baiting). Yes, it’s potentially a bit wallpaperish, and it doesn’t quite get out of second gear (should it? not sure…) but there is a depth and sensitivity and warmth there that is really appealing. 7

This was my fave B*Witched song back in the day, I just thought it was so lovely. My older and more musically-trained ears now pick up the massive Celticness of the song which my 10 year-old self didn’t at the time.

And it’s funny you bring up Eurovision because I was going to comment that this would’ve been an ideal late-90s Irish Eurovision entry (and is better than any of the entries that Ireland DID send in the late 90s in my opinion, when RTE went into full blown My Lovely Horse-mode to avoid winning for the billionth time that decade, and to be honest, are still in My Lovely Horse-mode).

#1: It certainly helped that 1997-onwards brought in public televoting to decide the outcome of the contest, that caused the shift in musical direction of the winners from then on. Which was likely brought on due to Gina G’s song having massive commercial success but the stuffy Eurovision juries in 1996 were having none of it, and let some pretentious snoozefest that the public couldn’t give two monkeys about win instead.

The Irish touches – most notably the flattened seventh chord at the end of the chorus – aren’t too bad, but the whole thing sounds rather strained, the musical equivalent of trying to do dance moves to a ballad. It doesn’t really develop into anything, and the backing is over busy, and it’s all quite pretty, but not very distinguished. SIX.

I’d forgotten quite how successful we’d been – by the time of the 1998 Eurovision, we’d won 4 of the last six, and come 2nd on one of the others. In fact, we’d come in the top three in half of the contests we’d appeared in since 1977.

I wouldn’t say this is _better_ than Irlande Douze Pointe, but they’re playing a different game.

That sucker in me that fell hook, line, sinker, rod and copy of Angling Times for the Spice Girls’ better ballads completely went for this, too. The Oirish lilts are just wistful enough to be effective, it’s sweet, it’s slight in the best possible way (B*Witched doing a power ballad would have failed miserably), and in keeping with a recurring theme I’ve noticed over the last few entries, it’s the last single I ever bought. Technically that’s cheating – I bought it a few weeks after the fact, and I picked up another one before then that I sold when I got its parent album for Christmas (and yes, the bunny is watching), but this is definitely the last one I still own.

And I wish it had been Christmas Number One, but ultimately I think they were savvy enough to know that the Spice Girls could have released a turd on a stick and they’d have got there instead.

9.

This marks a crumbling of venerable chart records. For a long time the only acts whose first three singles got to number one were Gerry and the Pacemakers and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

Then Robson and Jerome did it – but they could easily be considered a one-off that didn’t conform to the usual rules.

Then the Spice Girls did it – but they were a legitimate phenomenon.

Then B*witched did it and I had to concede that the old records, and number one hits in general, weren’t going to mean as much from now on.

The song itself is probably OK but I much preferred their chirpy ones. No matter how well executed, no one needs a B*witched ballad.

Gerry & the Pacemakers, I’d argue, have no more pop cultural heft than Aqua or B*witched.˚ I own records by all three. None of them are the Beatles, but you can’t take the three number ones stat away from them. This is effectively B*witched’s You’ll Never Walk Alone – now there’s a thought.

I’m happy to agree with the consensus on this – underplayed rather than slight. I admire the way B*witched – and the team behind them – both knew their limitations and played up to their endearing gaucheness. So, they are more than capable of delivering a ballad, but not with the castanets and extra ornamentation of Viva Forever, or the “put it on” bluntness of 2 Become 1. To You I Belong is perfectly weighted, and sweet without ever being cloying. Even the Spice Girls occasionally suffered on that front.

˚Kop appropriation aside, though that’s more down to Rodgers & Hammerstein than Marsden, Marsden, Chadwick & Maguire.

Oh yeah, Jive Bunny as well.

Oh yeah, Aqua as well.

Not sure why it was B*Witched doing it that I found particularly annoying. Probably because I was 16.

Not a bad effort considering the letdown that was Rollercoaster.

Inevitable that they would go down the ballad route and although more upbeat stuff would be more suited to them they dont do a bad job of this.

One listen is pleasant enough. Agree with Toms score.

Sorry folks, a boring dirge to my ears. 2/10.

One of my favourite girl band songs, sutle and not overdone. The Celtic sound is just right here and the lyrics provide strong visuals. Their best.