The points of discussion:
1) Do you love it or hate it?
2) Does it bring back memories?
3) Any relevant experiences involving the song?
4) What do you think the song is about?
Hard Day:
"Hard Day" is our first SOTW that is unreleased. From the 9 times platinum "Faith" album, "Hard Day" was released as a B-side and so were the other two tracks (Look At Your Hands, Hand To Mouth) As they said, "Faith" is the album where every track is a single in its own way. "Hard Day" was remixed by Madonna producer Shep Pettibone. This remixed version, along with "A Last Request" were added to CD versions of the album. What remains a mystery is the fact that this was not released as an A-side. I'd like to hear your comments. Mine will be added on the first digest along with the ones I get soon!
Hard Day on the Charts:
UK: --
US: --
(name) Melanie
(email) [email protected]
>>"Hard Day" is our first SOTW that is unreleased.
Actually, "Hard Day" was released as a 12-inch single in 1987, right after the release of "I Want Your Sex" and before "Faith." (It was released in the U.S. I don't know whether it was released elsewhere.) It included the The Shep Pettibone Mix and the Radio Edit on the A-side and the three-part Monogamy Mix on the B-side. I don't know if it charted, but I have the 12-inch single so I can guarantee that it was released.
As for the song itself, "Hard Day" is one of my favorite George dance songs. ("Fantasy" is my favorite dance track of all time.) It is such an incredible song to listen to with the earphones on!
Melanie (Yours Only George website)
(name) Mark
(email) [email protected]
Hard Day is one of my favourite dance songs by any artist. I have groups of songs that I listen to for different moods and if I'm getting into the frame of mind for going clubbing on a Saturday night, this is one song I still go back to every so often. Even though it's a good few years old now (10 years ago since Faith was first released - shit!), it still sounds modern when played loud on a good stereo whereas dance songs have a tendency to date a lot more easily than ballads. It just sounds so solid and clean!
It said in the newsletter that it is a mystery as to why it was never released as a single. I think the reason for that had something to do with an interview I remember reading when I Want Your Sex/Hard Day was released as a single and George said that he wanted to release a record that was the sort of thing he was listening to in clubs himself. The Faith album itself was still a few months off so Hard Day wasn't just an album track, it was specifically recorded to be part of a dance record. At least, that's the impression I got at the time of reading the interview.
As each album has had such a strong quota of the more tender songs, I sometimes prefer to sustain a certain mood whether mellow or upbeat so I did a tape which includes Hard Day, Battlestations and Fantasy which are my three favourite 'tougher' songs plus the other more dance-oriented tracks, Too Funky, Do You Really Want To Know, Happy, Everything She Wants, I Want Your Man '96. Pop that on in the car on my way to work and I'm all fired up to tackle anything that day!
Hard Day seems to follow a similar theme to a couple of other songs George has done, basically being about a couple who are not getting on so well any more. Off the top of my head Hard Day, Battlestations, Tonight (the Elton John 'Two Rooms' track), Everything She Wants, Spinning That Wheel and I Can't Make You Love Me are all about the same topic but lyrically they still all work for me despite, or more probably because of, the familiar ground.
Anyway, I'll leave at that for now. I only felt obliged to contribute coz Rick pricked my conscience about posting something regularly - bet he won't do that again in a hurry!
Mark
Henley-on-Thames
UK
(name) Brian
(email) [email protected]
While it's one of my favorite tracks of all-time from George, I think it was never released as a single for some pretty obvious resons. First of all, it's too "edgy," meaning that it's a fairly hard-core funk song -- not something you would hear on Mix stations today, much less in 1988.
Also, You'll find many more commerical songs on the album, and with a limited "shelf life," (so to speak) CBS released the songs that they thought had a greater chance of getting near the top. They did fairly well.
What is notable about "Hard Day" is its heavy use of syncopation. FAITH was a complete turnaround from the days of Wham!, and "Hard Day" is its most pronounced departure. To this day, George has yet to release a track that is as experimentally funky as this. With some minor changes, this could have easily been included on Prince's much-heralded "Black Album"...
Today, the influences are still felt in tracks like "Too Funky," (ha!) and "Fastlove," but with a softer edge.
(name) Bryan
(email) [email protected]
I've wanted to comment on "Hard Day" for a while. It is one of my favorite GM songs of all time and that's why I chose it as the Song of The Week.
First of all, I don't believe it was released as a single that was supposed to do something on pop radio. I've heard about the 12" of "Hard Day". Lots of these "A-Side" singles are out there, but in reality, they're just B-Sides. It makes no sense, you must be thinking. But these singles have another single accompanying them. I say "A-Side" here as the single that is getting plays on radio. If it isn't, it's a B-Side. So in this case, "I Want Your Sex" was the radio hit while "Hard Day" was more like a throwaway accompanying single, like a B-side even though it was supposedly physically an A-side on the 12" "Hard Day" single. If I'm not mistaken, it is also on the single of "I Want Your Sex" as a B-side. If I'm right, then that proves my point.
Anyways, on the song itself. The thing I love most is the "Shep Pettibone Remix". Shep Pettibone is my favorite remixer. As we know, he has worked with Madonna and I love anything they do together and his mixes rock. They've got great beats and he gives the songs a new sound and a new attitude. In "Hard Day", he did a great job, as usual.
The original is great itself. The track shines out in "Faith" and it's one of the tracks I play most in that album. It's got attitude and as some people commented earlier, it's funky. I could even go as far as to say it's my favorite track since I always end up singing it. It stays in your head forever. (This also happens with "Everything She Wants") To me, it is extremely shocking this was not later released after "Monkey". "Kissing A Fool" seemed such a poor single to release, even at the time. I think that it didn't profile the album as it should've been: an album with catchy upbeat tunes. Releasing "One More Try" was enough. A single like "Hard Day" or "Look At Your Hands" would have been better but on a "so they did something right" note, I do applaud Fony's smart choice of releasing "Father Figure". For me, it wouldn't have been a conventionally good song to release, but it did well anyways. However, had "Hard Day" been released and promoted, I'm sure "Faith" would have surely sold more since it's a very catchy song.
On a more personal note... What is most appalling is when people take out and compare Gary Barlow's album to George's "Faith". To me, that is an outright insult. (Okay don't flame me any Gary fans). I say this since when you take this track or "Monkey" or "Look At Your Hands", there is attitude and great vibes, not all mushy ballads about broken hearts, in Gary's case. Personally, I don't see much similarity between the two except they came out of cheesy pop groups, but even them Wham! was a lot more classier than Take That. Just my opinion.
"Don't Bring Me Down"
Bryan