Swing When You're Winning

Swing When You're Winning is a swing cover album by English singer-songwriter Robbie Williams, and his fourth studio album overall. It was released in the United Kingdom on 19 November 2001 and peaked at number one on the UK Albums Chart.

Not to be confused with Sing When You're Winning.

Swing When You're Winning
Studio album of cover songs by Robbie Williams
Released	19 November 2001
Recorded	2001
Studio	Capitol Studios, Los Angeles; Sony Music Studios, London; AIR Studios, London; Avatar Studios, New York City; Electric Lady Studios, New York City; Mayfair Studios, London; Angel Recording Studios, London; Battery Studios, London[1]
Genre	Swing[2]
Length	73:59
Label	Chrysalis
Producer	Guy Chambers Steve Power
Robbie Williams chronology
Sing When You're Winning (2000) Swing When You're Winning (2001) Escapology (2002)
Singles from Swing When You're Winning
"Somethin' Stupid" Released: 14 December 2001 "Mr. Bojangles / I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen" Released: 11 March 2002

The album's title is a play on Williams' previous album Sing When You're Winning. In 2013, Williams returned to swing for his tenth studio album Swings Both Ways. Unlike Swing When You're Winning, however, the sequel is nearly evenly divided between covers and original songs penned by Williams and Guy Chambers.

Background

After the success of his third studio album, Sing When You're Winning, Williams wanted to take another musical direction. He took two weeks off his tour to record what would be his fourth studio album, an album he described as the "big band album he had always dreamed of making."[3] The album was released in November 2001. Consisting mainly of swing covers common to the Great American Songbook, the album counts as Williams' fourth studio album. Aside from the title, the album is not directly associated with Williams' previous album, Sing When You're Winning. Born from his lifelong love for Frank Sinatra, combined with the success of the track "Have You Met Miss Jones?" that he recorded for the film Bridget Jones's Diary in early 2001, the album was recorded at the Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, and was symbolically released under the Capitol label.

The album features duets with actors Rupert Everett, Nicole Kidman, Jon Lovitz and Jane Horrocks, as well as a special guest performance from Williams' friend and former flatmate Jonathan Wilkes. Surprisingly the album features a duet with Frank Sinatra who died in 1998, on the song "It Was a Very Good Year", in which the instrumental backing track is sampled from the original Sinatra recording, the first two verses are sung by Williams, and, for the third and fourth verses, Sinatra's original vocal track is used. Williams explains this came about after one of his session musicians played his vocals to Sinatra's family. This musician was purportedly a good friend of the family, and played with Sinatra on the original release of "It Was a Very Good Year". Another surprising guest musician is pianist Bill Miller, who accompanies Williams on "One for My Baby". Miller played on many of Sinatra's tours and recordings, among them, the original 1954 soundtrack recording of "One for My Baby" and the 1958 Capitol studio recording. Additionally, backing musicians for portions of the album include the London Session Orchestra. The album's lead song, "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen", is the only original song on the album. Additionally, Williams' recording of "Beyond the Sea" was featured in the 2003 animated motion picture Finding Nemo.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[4]
NME	[5]
Slant Magazine	[2]

In a retrospective review John Bush of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars, saying the album is "a surprisingly natural fit with its intended target: '50s trad-pop patriarchs like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. And just like those two loveable rogues, Williams has brawled and boozed in the past, but isn't afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve; in fact, he's one of the few modern pop stars to fully embrace affecting balladry and nuanced singing."[6] American publication Slant Magazine also rated the album four out of five stars, saying the album is "doused with cheeky humor" and that "Britain's bad boy proves that not only can he artfully capture our attention, he's actually worthy of it."[2] NME were more mixed in their opinion, rating the album 5/10 and saying the album "mistakes celebrity for entertainment, cabaret for class."[7]

Commercial performance

When the album was released in late 2001, it became an instant No. 1 hit in the United Kingdom, spending six consecutive weeks at No. 1. In Ireland, New Zealand, Austria, Germany and Switzerland, it reached the top 10, going on to sell over two million copies by the end of 2001 in the United Kingdom and over seven million copies worldwide. The album spent 57 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, certified 7× Platinum, and became the 49th best-selling album of all-time in the UK.[8] In Germany, the album has become Williams' best-selling album there, selling more than 1,500,000 copies being certified 5× Platinum. The album debuted at No. 1 and stayed there for nine non-consecutive weeks. It managed to stay 83 weeks on the German Albums Chart, nineteen weeks of those in the top 10. Thanks to its success, it became the fourth best-selling album of the decade in Germany.[9]

Legacy

Entertainment.ie credits the album for starting a "craze" for big band tribute-style albums.[10] Pop Idol: The Big Band Album (2002), an album of big band songs sung by the contestants of series 1 of Pop Idol, was one such similar album inspired by Swing When You're Winning.[11] Zoe Birkett, one of the contestants who performs on the album, said "we've all listened to [Swing When You're Winning] and it's really brilliant music."[11]

Singles

"Somethin' Stupid", a duet with Nicole Kidman, was released as the album's first single. A cover of Frank and Nancy Sinatra, the song became Williams' fifth number 1 in the United Kingdom, selling almost 100,000 copies in the week of release,[12] as well as hitting the top spot in Argentina, New Zealand, Latvia and scoring top ten placings all over Europe. It became one of the biggest hits of 2001, selling over 200,000 copies in the UK alone after spending three weeks at the top of the charts, being certified Silver in January 2002.[13]

A double A-side of "Mr. Bojangles" and "I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen" was released as the album's second and final single; however, it was only released in Central and Eastern Europe.

Live performances

Main article: Live at the Albert

A live performance of the album from The Royal Albert Hall was released on DVD in December 2001. It has become one of the best selling music DVDs of all time in Europe, being certified 6× Platinum in the United Kingdom alone[14] and 2× Platinum in Germany.[15] The performance includes renditions of nearly all of the songs from the album, with guest appearances from Jonathan Wilkes, Jon Lovitz, and Jane Horrocks, as well as a live version of Robbie's 'duet' with Frank Sinatra. Rupert Everett emceed, and Nicole Kidman attended the show, but neither performed their duets featured on the album. Thus, "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and "Somethin' Stupid" were the only songs from the album which were not performed live. Additionally, there were three songs performed live which did not appear on the album: "The Lady Is a Tramp", which featured as a B-side to "Mr. Bojangles", and "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and "My Way", which features as B-sides to "Somethin' Stupid".

On the occasion of the European premiere of the Disney movie Finding Nemo in November 2003 in Berlin, Williams, accompanied by a youth orchestra, gave a live performance of several songs of the album in the subway station "Bundestag" (which at that time was only structurally completed) in front of a few hundred invited premiere guests.

Williams gave a rare performance of "Mack the Knife" at Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Concert in June 2012, and he performed four songs from this album on his first Swing tour in 2014, in promotion of his second swing album Swings Both Ways.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Guy Chambers; except "Somethin' Stupid" and "Things" produced by Chambers and Steve Power.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"I Will Talk and Hollywood Will Listen"	Guy Chambers, Robbie Williams	3:17
2.	"Mack the Knife"	Marc Blitzstein, Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill	3:18
3.	"Somethin' Stupid" (with Nicole Kidman)	Carson Parks	2:50
4.	"Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me"	Duke Ellington, Bob Russell	2:58
5.	"It Was a Very Good Year" (with Frank Sinatra)	Ervin Drake	4:28
6.	"Straighten Up and Fly Right"	Nat King Cole, Irving Mills	2:36
7.	"Well, Did You Evah" (with Jon Lovitz)	Cole Porter	3:50
8.	"Mr. Bojangles"	Jerry Jeff Walker	3:17
9.	"One for My Baby"	Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer	4:17
10.	"Things" (with Jane Horrocks)	Bobby Darin	3:22
11.	"Ain't That a Kick in the Head"	Sammy Cahn, Jimmy Van Heusen	2:27
12.	"They Can't Take That Away from Me" (with Rupert Everett)	George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin	3:07
13.	"Have You Met Miss Jones?" (from Bridget Jones's Diary)	Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers	2:34
14.	"Me and My Shadow" (with Jonathan Wilkes)	Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson, Billy Rose	3:16
15.	"Beyond the Sea"	Jack Lawrence, Charles Trenet	4:32
16.	"Outtakes" (hidden track)		2:51

Japanese bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
17.	"The Lady Is a Tramp"	Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers	3:00
18.	"That's Life"	Kelly Gordon, Dean Kay	3:06

Special edition bonus DVD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Live at the Royal Albert Hall"	1:43:05

Asian special edition bonus VCD

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Angels" (music video)
2.	"She's the One" (music video)
3.	"Rock DJ" (music video)
4.	"Better Man" (music video)
5.	"Supreme" (music video)
6.	"Eternity" (music video)

Notes

• "It Was a Very Good Year": Original recording produced by Sonny Burke.
• "They Can't Take That Away from Me": Rupert Everett's vocals produced by Nicky Holland.

Personnel

• Robbie Williams – vocals
• Chuck Berghofer – bass guitar
• Bruce Otto – trombone
• Wayne Bergeron – trumpet
• Ralph Salmins – drums
• Jim Cox – piano
• Craig Ware – trombone
• Gary Foster – alto saxophone
• Harold Jones – drums
• Andy Macintosh – alto saxophone
• Alex Illes – trombone
• Beverley Dahlke-Smith – baritone saxophone
• Chuck Findley – trumpet
• George Doering – guitar
• Phil Todd – baritone saxophone
• Sam Burgess – double bass
• Sal Lozano – tenor saxophone
• Bill Miller – piano
• Frank Ricotti – percussion
• Dave Stewart – trombone
• Stuart Brooks – trumpet
• Eric Marienthal – alto saxophone
• Gordon Campbell – trombone
• John Barclay – trumpet
• Dan Higgins – alto saxophone
• Dave Bishop – tenor saxophone
• Greg Huckins – baritone saxophone
• Andy Martin – trombone
• Brian Kilgore – percussion
• Phil Teele – trombone
• Dave Catlin-Birch – bass guitar
• Chris White – tenor saxophone
• Jamie Talbot – saxophone
• Jeff Bunnell – trumpet
• Bill Liston – alto saxophone
• Mitch Dalton – electric guitar
• Paul Spong – trumpet
• Anthony Kerr – vibraphone
• Steve Sidwell – trumpet
• Brian Kilgore – percussion
• Steven Holtman – trombone
• Dave Arch – piano
• Dennis Farias – trumpet

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (2001–02) Peak position Argentinian Albums (CAPIF) 9 Australian Albums (ARIA)[16] 3 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[17] 1 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[18] 2 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[19] 5 Canada (Nielsen SoundScan) 50 Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[20] 3 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[21] 2 European Top 100 Albums 1 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[22] 16 French Albums (SNEP)[23] 21 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[24] 1 Greek Albums (IFPI) 3 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[25] 2 Icelandic Albums (Tonlist)[26] 1 Irish Albums (IRMA)[27] 1 Italian Albums (FIMI)[28] 5 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[29] 1 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[30] 1 Polish Albums (ZPAV)[31] 2 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[32] 22 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[33] 4 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[34] 1 UK Albums (OCC)[35] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2001) Position German Albums Chart[36] 17 Chart (2002) Position German Albums Chart[37] 5 Decade-end charts Chart (2000–2009) Position Australia Album (ARIA) [38] 58 German Albums Chart 4 UK Albums Chart 17

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Argentina (CAPIF)	Platinum[39]	40,000
Australia (ARIA)[40]	4× Platinum	280,000^^
Austria (IFPI)	4× Platinum[41]	120,000
Belgium (BEA)	Gold[42]	25,000
Canada (Music Canada)	Gold[43]	50,000
France (SNEP)	Gold[44]	210,000
Germany (BVMI)	5× Platinum[45]	1,500,000[46]
Greece (IFPI)	Gold[47]	15,000
Hungary (Mahasz)	Gold[48]	5,000
Netherlands (NVPI)	Platinum[49]	80,000
New Zealand (RMNZ)	5× Platinum[50]	75,000
Poland (ZPAV)	Gold[51]	20,000
Sweden (GLF)	Platinum[52]	60,000
Switzerland (IFPI)	3× Platinum[53]	120,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[54]	8× Platinum	2,385,673[55]
Summaries
Europe (IFPI)	6× Platinum[56]	6,000,000
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also

• List of best-selling albums in Germany

References

1. https://www.discogs.com/Robbie-Williams-Swing-When-Youre-Winning/release/513904
2. Sal Cinquemani (21 January 2002). "Robbie Williams Swing When You're Winning – Album Review – Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine.
3. "RobbieWilliams.com". RobbieWilliams.com.
4. AllMusic review
5. "NME Reviews – Robbie Williams : Swing When You're Winning – NME.COM". NME.com. 12 September 2005. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
6. John Bush. "Swing When You're Winning". AllMusic.
7. NME.COM. "NME Reviews – Robbie Williams : Swing When You're Winning – NME.COM". NME.COM.
8. BPI Certification for "Swing When You're Winning"
9. "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
10. "Pop Idol – The Big Band Album". Entertainment.ie. 1 May 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
11. "Pop Idol Hayley gets into Potter on tour". BBC. 8 April 2002. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
12. ""Something Stupid" first week sales in the United Kingdom". theofficialcharts.com.
13. BPI Certification for "Something Stupid" Archived 6 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
14. BPI Certification for "Live at the Albert Hall"
15. "IFPI Certification for "Live at the Albert Hall"". ifpi.de. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 19 March 2007.
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32. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
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39. CAPIF Archived 27 September 2007 at Archive.today
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46. "Bundesverband Musikindustrie: Gold/Platin". Musikindustrie.de. 25 September 1999. Archived from the original on 28 March 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
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49. "Goud / Platina". Archived from the original on 30 July 2007. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
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53. "IFPI Switzerland".
54. "British album certifications – Robbie Williams – Swing When You're Winning". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Swing When You're Winning in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
55. Sutherland, Mark (9 May 2016). "By the numbers: inside Robbie Williams' albums career". Music Week. Intent Media. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
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