Losing My Mind
Encyclopedia
"Losing My Mind" is a song written by Stephen Sondheim
for the 1971 musical Follies
for the character of a former showgirl
Sally Durant Plummer.
in the role of "Sally Durant Plummer" in the original Broadway
production of Follies. Other performers who have sung the song in later productions of Follies include Barbara Cook
(1985), Julia McKenzie
(1987), Donna McKechnie
(1998), Judith Ivey
(2001), Victoria Clark
(2007),and Bernadette Peters
(2011).
The song has been covered by many artists including Shirley Bassey
and Michael Ball
.
The song was written as a torch song for the character of Sally to sing in the "Loveland" portion of the musical. The song "expresses her preoccupation with Ben, her idealized lover...With infinite attention to detail, Sondheim leads Sally from sunrise to sleepless night, revealing that every second of her existence is defined by her longing...the number ...explores the extent to which she has lost herself in this make-believe world of undying desire." As originally staged, Sally comes onstage in a "clinging, beaded silver" dress, holding a microphone. The "cute" Sally from Phoenix "has become a languid torch singer." She repeats her lines, reflecting "the paralysis about which she sings...the phrase 'It's like I'm losing my mind' occurs no less than six times."
, reaching number six. It was the lead single from her 1989 album, Results
, produced by Pet Shop Boys
and Julian Mendelsohn. The 12" release peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Maxi-singles sales chart. It also peaked at number twenty-six on the American dance chart.
Pet Shop Boys' demo version of "Losing My Mind" (which has Neil Tennant singing the vocal) was later remixed and released as a B-side on the Pet Shop Boys' single, "Jealousy". This demo version contains a scream that Minnelli opted not to include on her release.
12" Epic / ZEE T1 (UK)
12" Epic / 49-68858 (US)
Stephen Sondheim
Stephen Joshua Sondheim is an American composer and lyricist for stage and film. He is the winner of an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards including the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, multiple Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize and the Laurence Olivier Award...
for the 1971 musical Follies
Follies
Follies is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman. The story concerns a reunion in a crumbling Broadway theatre, scheduled for demolition, of the past performers of the "Weismann's Follies," a musical revue , that played in that theatre between the World Wars...
for the character of a former showgirl
Showgirl
A showgirl is a dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show. Showgirl is also often used as a term for a promotional model in trade fairs and car shows, etc...
Sally Durant Plummer.
Follies
"Losing My Mind" was first performed by Dorothy CollinsDorothy Collins
Dorothy Collins was a Canadian/American singer, actress, and recording artist. She was born Marjorie Chandler in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and adopted her stage name in her mid-teens.-Radio and TV:...
in the role of "Sally Durant Plummer" in the original Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production of Follies. Other performers who have sung the song in later productions of Follies include Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook is an American singer and actress who first came to prominence in the 1950s after starring in the original Broadway musicals Candide and The Music Man among others, winning a Tony Award for the latter...
(1985), Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie
Julia McKenzie is an English actress, singer, and theatre director. She is best-known for her performance in Fresh Fields, but to current television audiences, she is best known for her role as Miss Marple in Agatha Christie's Marple...
(1987), Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie
Donna McKechnie is an American musical theater dancer, singer, actress, and choreographer. She is known for her professional and personal relationship with choreographer Michael Bennett, with whom she collaborated on her most noted role, "Cassie" from the musical A Chorus Line, for which she...
(1998), Judith Ivey
Judith Ivey
Judith Lee Ivey is an American actress and director.-Personal life:Ivey was born in El Paso, Texas, the daughter of Dorothy Lee , a teacher, and Nathan Aldean Ivey, a college instructor and dean. She spent 1965-1968 in Dowagiac, Michigan, where she attended Union High School through tenth grade...
(2001), Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark
Victoria Clark is an American musical theatre singer and actress. Clark has performed in many Broadway musicals and in other theatre, film and television work, and her soprano voice can be heard on numerous cast albums and several animated films...
(2007),and Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters
Bernadette Peters is an American actress, singer and children's book author from Ozone Park, Queens, New York. Over the course of a career that has spanned five decades, she has starred in musical theatre, films and television, as well as performing in solo concerts and recordings...
(2011).
The song has been covered by many artists including Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
and Michael Ball
Michael Ball (singer)
Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
.
The song was written as a torch song for the character of Sally to sing in the "Loveland" portion of the musical. The song "expresses her preoccupation with Ben, her idealized lover...With infinite attention to detail, Sondheim leads Sally from sunrise to sleepless night, revealing that every second of her existence is defined by her longing...the number ...explores the extent to which she has lost herself in this make-believe world of undying desire." As originally staged, Sally comes onstage in a "clinging, beaded silver" dress, holding a microphone. The "cute" Sally from Phoenix "has become a languid torch singer." She repeats her lines, reflecting "the paralysis about which she sings...the phrase 'It's like I'm losing my mind' occurs no less than six times."
Liza Minnelli/Pet Shop Boys version
In the UK Singles Chart, the most successful version has been by Liza MinnelliLiza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
, reaching number six. It was the lead single from her 1989 album, Results
Results (album)
Results is the 1989 Liza Minnelli album produced by Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn. The album was a huge success in the UK, where it reached #6 on the UK Albums Chart . The album was less successful in the US, peaking only at #128 on the Billboard Top 200 albums...
, produced by Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards....
and Julian Mendelsohn. The 12" release peaked at number eleven on the Billboard Maxi-singles sales chart. It also peaked at number twenty-six on the American dance chart.
Pet Shop Boys' demo version of "Losing My Mind" (which has Neil Tennant singing the vocal) was later remixed and released as a B-side on the Pet Shop Boys' single, "Jealousy". This demo version contains a scream that Minnelli opted not to include on her release.
Track listings
7" Epic / ZEE 1 (UK)- "Losing My Mind" (7" Mix) - 4:09
- "Tonight Is Forever" - 5:03
- also released on MC (ZEE M1)
12" Epic / ZEE T1 (UK)
- "Losing My Mind" (Extended Mix) - 7:01
- "Losing My Mind" (7" Mix) - 4:09
- "Tonight Is Forever" - 5:03
- also available on CD (ZEE C1)
12" Epic / 49-68858 (US)
- "Losing My Mind" (extended remix) - 7:01
- "Losing My Mind" (7" Mix) - 4:09
- "Losing My Mind" (ultimix) - 7:32
- "Losing My Mind" (ultimix dub) - 5:07
Chart
| Chart (1989) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
6 |
Other versions
- Michael BallMichael Ball (singer)Michael Ashley Ball, born 27 June 1962) is a British actor, singer, and radio and TV presenter who is best known for the song "Love Changes Everything" and musical theatre roles such as Marius in Les Misérables, Alex in Aspects of Love, Caractacus Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Edna Turnblad...
- Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
- Heather NovaHeather NovaHeather Nova, is a Bermudian singer-songwriter and poet. She has released eight full-length albums and has found lasting success in Germany where two of her albums South and Storm have made their way into the Top-5 of German official album chart.-Biography:Heather Nova was born in Bermuda...
- Elaine PaigeElaine PaigeElaine Paige OBE is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, North London, Paige attended the Aida Foster stage school, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16...
on her 1983 album StagesStages (Elaine Paige album)Stages is an album by Elaine Paige, released in 1983 on the Warner Music and has been re-issued on CD. The album charted in the UK album charts at #2 in 1983.... - Cleo LaineCleo LaineDame Cleo Laine, Lady Dankworth, DBE is a jazz singer and an actress, noted for her scat singing and vocal range...
in 1988 - Marti WebbMarti WebbMarti Webb is a musical actress from England, who appeared on stage in Evita, before starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's one woman show Tell Me on a Sunday in 1980...
on her 1989 album Performance - Dorothy LoudonDorothy LoudonDorothy Loudon was an American comedy actress and singer. She won the 1977 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Miss Hannigan in Annie.-Early life and career:Loudon was born in...
at the "Sondheim: A Celebration at Carnegie Hall" 1992 concert - Holly Cole Trio with Wayne ShorterWayne ShorterWayne Shorter is an American jazz saxophonist and composer.He is generally acknowledged to be jazz's greatest living composer, and many of his compositions have become standards...
on Colour & Light: Jazz Sketches on Sondheim released in 1995 - Holly ColeHolly ColeHolly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer, particularly popular in Canada and Japan for both her versatile and distinctive voice, along with her adventurous repertoire, which spans such divergent genres as show tunes, rock, and country music.-Holly Cole Trio:In 1983, Cole travelled to Toronto to seek a...
on her 1996 live album It Happened One Night. - Tim CurryTim CurryTimothy James "Tim" Curry is a British actor, singer, composer and voice actor, known for his work in a diverse range of theatre, film and television productions. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California....
sang this song onstage at the "Sondheim: A Celebration AIDS Charity Benefit" in 1997, and it was later included on the soundtrack album. - Donna MurphyDonna MurphyDonna Murphy is an American stage, film, television actress and singer.Murphy has won two Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Musical for her roles in Passion as Fosca and in The King and I as Anna Leonowens...
at the "Wall to Wall Sondheim" concert, March 19, 2005, and later featured on the Highlights CD - Laura Michelle KellyLaura Michelle KellyLaura Michelle Kelly is an English actress and singer who achieved critical acclaim in the role of Mary Poppins in the musical of the same name.-Musical theatre:...
on her 2005 album The Storm Inside - Marin MazzieMarin MazzieMarin Joy Mazzie is an American actress and singer known for her work in musical theater. She was nominated for the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Olivier Award for her role as Lilli/Katharine in Kiss Me, Kate, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award...
at the "Sondheim! The Birthday Concert", 2010