Songoftheday 4/16/21 - I thought I saw a man brought to life, he was warm he came around like he was dignified...

 

 

"Torn" - Natalie Imbruglia

from the album Left Of The Middle (1997)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42 (see below)

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #1 (eleven weeks)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 43

 

Today's song of the day comes from singer and actress Natalie Imbruglia, who got started as a child actor in commercials in her native Australia before landing a role on the highly successful soap opera Neighbours. Yes, it's the same show that spawned the career of that country's jewel Kylie Minogue, who had reached the top ten in America in the fall of 1988 with her cover of "The Loco-Motion".  Imbruglia played Beth Brennan for three years from 1992 to 1994, about the same amount of time Kylie did in the late 1980s. Leaving the show to move to England, Natalie released her debut album Left Of The Middle in 1997 on the RCA label. The lead single was "Torn", a cover of an obscure alternative rock song recorded by the British band Ednaswap in 1995 after giving it to a Danish singer a couple years before. Written by that band's Anne Preven and Scott Cutley along with longtime music troubadour Phil Thornalley, who was maybe best known for temporarily being a member of the Cure. Thornalley produced Imbruglia's version of "Torn", which brings back jangle-pop by way of Sheryl Crow-ness as she pleads about how her originally optimistic romantic relationship is falling apart, not from as much as an increasing ennui between them that leaves her unsure, hence "torn". Natalie's voice is young and wistful yet pained in the track, which leads to that slide guitar solo...

Since "Torn" wasn't released as a commercially available "single" in the U.S., it was initially unable to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart. However, the track got such massive radio love here that it spent eleven weeks at #1 on the airplay component of that tally starting in May of 1998. It was probably one of the big reasons why the trade bible finally changed its rules by the end of the year, allowing any track to appear on the list, whether released as a single or not. And in fact, since "Torn" had been such a huge and long-lasting radio hit, that by the time that change went in effect in November of 1998, "Torn" was able to place on the list for two weeks, with a "high" of #42. The song was also a smash on "easy listening" radio, taking fourteen weeks at #1 on Billboard's Adult Top-40 radio chart, and getting to #4 on the Adult Contemporary format list. It even crossed over to their Alternative Rock radio monitor at #12. Internationally, the single topped the charts in Canada, Sweden, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, and Iceland, and made the top ten in the UK (#2), Australia (#2), Switzerland (#2), Italy (#3), the Netherlands (#3), Austria (#3), France (#4), Germany (#4), Ireland (#4), Greece (#4), New Zealand (#5), Norway (#6), Hungary (#6), and Finland (#8). The Left Of The Middle album, released in November of 1997, climbed to #10 on the Billboard 200 sales chart, going on to sell over two million copies here. At the Grammy Awards in 1999, Natalie was nominated in three categories; "Torn" was up for Best Pop Vocal Performance, which Celine Dion won for "My Heart Will Go On", the Left Of The Middle record was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Album, which Madonna took home for Ray Of Light, and Natalie herself was in the running for Best New Artist, which went to Lauryn Hill. 

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The first released version of the song was from Danish singer Lis Sorenson in 1993 with translated lyrics to that language as "Braendt" ("Burned")...

Two years later in 1995 Ednaswap, which included songwriters Preven and Cutler, released the song on their self-titled debut album, which is much more grunge-inflected...

 

Now back to Imbruglia making her promo appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman...

 

Next up live at the Prince's Trust Party In The Park in 1998...

In 2005, comedian David Armand had one of the first big "viral videos" with a clip from his standup show doing an "interpretive dance" to "Torn". A year later, he recreated it with Natalie herself singing (and eventually dancing) with him...

And lastly, Natalie in concert in 2015...

Up tomorrow: Soul singer doesn't have a schedule.