Then you look at me
(Theme song in "The Bicentiennal Man")
Then you look at me Read More »
Tracklist All the way… A decade of song
Live
(For the one I love) It is an adaptation in English of the French song Vivre, first perfomed by Noa and then by Hélène Séguara in the musical Notre-Dame De Paris.
"When Céline came and watched 'Notre-Dame de Paris' last year at the Palais des Congrès (Paris, December 1998), Luc Plamondon tells, she asked me to sit by her side...
- Frankly, Céline adds, I was so touched by 'Notre-Dame de Paris'. I cried a lot that night... I was looking for tissues, it was very thrilling and when I heard Vivre, in my ear, Luc whispered "We thought about you when we wrote it", there, I was looking for tissues twice as much... and it hadn't been hard for Luc to convince me to do it in English version..."
If you asked me to
Pattie Labelle originally recorded it for James Bond's movie Licence to kill.
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Think twice
In 1995, British fans took extremely well to Think Twice, a ballad on The Colour Of My Love. For five consecutive weeks, the song and the album stood on top of the respective British charts, an achievement not replicated since 1965 and the heyday of The Beatles. Think Twice remained at number one for two more weeks, surpassing the magic million mark to become only the fourth million-selling single ever in the UK by a female artist.
Falling into you
"I was not satisfied with the first recording we made with the song Falling into you, Celine admits. This is a song with many nuances, with half-tones. I found the arrangements were too violent, my voice didn't flow enough. Everybody, however, the technicians, the authors, even David and Rene, seemed satisfied. I said nothing. But Rene felt that I wasn't happy... He asked me what was wrong. I explained it to him. He seemed surprised. Then I hummed him Falling into you describing after every time the arrangements which I was imagining. He quickly agreed with me. He seemed amazed, as if he just discovered something...
I called the director and the engineer to explain how I was feeling my song, what kind of changes. They all agreed and were happy, they said it to me... This song marked a step of my emancipation as an artist... I was becoming a mature, grown-up, autonomous artist...
So we came back in studio and we recorded Falling into you again. It never became a big song for the stage; it is too sweet, too subtle to move a crowd. But it is, in my opinion, one of the thrillest song on the album Falling Into You. And I love the lyrics."
Marie Claire D'Ubaldo originally recorded it.
All by myself
For the recording of the album Falling Into You, David Foster asked to Celine to do a remake of "All by myself".
"David informed me that he changed the orchestrations of the last part of the song, Celine tells. I had to sing a little higher, until a F# that almost reached the limit of my voice. The worst was that he wanted me to hold this note during several seconds... I knew that I couldn't do it more than two recordings without risking to break my voice.
The day of the recording, Rene and I quarrelled, for a mere trifle... He decided not to acompany me to the studio. I left all by myself, to the Record Plant (in Los Angeles), where I found a rather cold, condescending, almost contemptuous David Foster... While the technicians were finishing to put the orchestra tracks, I was going around in circles. I think that David was delaying everything on purpose... At one point, innocently, he told me: "If you don't manage... I could ask it to Whitney". Whitney Houston was recording on this day in the nearby studio...
I did not say a word... I sang "All by myself" with all my strength, with all my soul. When I came to the time to climb towards the F#, I put my voice at maximum, until it was hurting, and I held the note a very long time, without weakening. When I finished, the musicians on the other side of the glass were standing to applause.
I left without greeting David Foster...I was thinking of Rene. I was looking for the reason of our fight. And suddenly, I understood... He put once again the difficulty harder to give me new challenges, to force me to surpass myself."
Now, Celine speaks about the impact of this song when she sings it on stage:
"Before, people did not expect this note, she says, and when I was doing it, they were surprised, amazed or not, but they did not expect this note... And now they expect this note, and there is a silence which moves me, and which paralyses me, it's incredible! And then, I say to myself, "well, I can't leave them now", so, there is a hand inside me, this performer who loves singing, who's saying to me "go girl, do your note, make them happy, do it right!"
Eric Carmen originally recorded it.
Immortality
(Featuring "The BeeGees") The Bee Gees, kings of Disco in 70s, gave to Celine the song Immortality. When they heard the recording of their ballad where they acompany their "muse" in the choirs, they were so happy and thrilled that they cried :
"In the evening when we came in studio, it was the first time when we heard her sing the song and it completely amazed everybody. When you are a composer and when that arrives at you with an extraordinary voice, as Céline, it is indescribable, exciting! It is an evening that we are not ready to forget." - The Beegees
The lyrics speak about an eternal love, an only love which will never fade and always remain deep inside the heart.
