"The Sphinx" - a song by French singer Amanda Lear

Amanda Lear

Amanda Lear is a French singer, lyricist, composer, painter, TV presenter, actress and novelist....

 released in 1978 by Ariola Records

Ariola Records

Ariola Records is a German record label. As of the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG which in turn has since become a part of the international media conglomerate Sony Music Entertainment...

.

Song information

The song's lyrics were written by Amanda Lear and music composed by Anthony Monn

Anthony Monn

Anthony Monn a.k.a. Tony Monn is a German singer, composer, and record producer.Monn started his career as a singer in the German schlager genre in the early 1970s...

, who in addition produced the track. German musician Ralf Nowy is credited for arrangement of the song. It was the first ballad in Lear's repertoire and one of the least disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

-oriented songs from the disco period of her career. "The Sphinx" was released as the first single from the singer's third studio album Never Trust a Pretty Face

Never Trust a Pretty Face

Never Trust a Pretty Face is the third studio album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in January, 1979 by West German label Ariola-Eurodisc...

, at the end of 1978. The single B-side was "Hollywood Flashback", the closing track on Amanda's previous album Sweet Revenge

Sweet Revenge (Amanda Lear album)

Sweet Revenge is the second studio album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in February, 1978 by West German label Ariola-Eurodisc. The album contained European hit singles "Follow Me", "Enigma ", "Gold" and "Run Baby Run"...

. The song met with considerable success, becoming a modest hit in Europe.

Amanda recorded a remake of "The Sphinx" in 1998 for the album Back in Your Arms

Back in Your Arms

Back In Your Arms is the third compilation album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in May 1998 by Dig It Int'l. The release follows her two previous greatest hits albums, Ieri, Oggi released in Italy, and Poet Amanda Lear released in the former U.S.S.R....

, which saw her revisiting some of her disco-era hits. In 2006 Spanish singer Pedro Marín

Pedro Marín

Pedro Marín is a Spanish pop singer, actor and TV performer.-Biography:Marín débuted on the popular music scene in Spain as a teen idol in the early 1980s with hits such as "Que no" and "Aire." He was the first Spanish artist to work with synthesisers and electronic instruments being a reference...

 covered the song on his record Diamonds, a tribute album

Tribute album

A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...

 including interpretations of chosen Amanda Lear's tracks.

Track listing

• 7" Single

A. "The Sphinx" - 4:25

B. "Hollywood Flashback" - 4:31

• 12" Single

A. "The Sphinx" - 5:13

B. "Hollywood Flashback" - 4:31

Chart performance

Chart	Peak position
Germany Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	19
France Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	6