Alfie (Lily Allen song)
Encyclopedia
"Alfie" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...

 from her debut studio album, Alright, Still
Alright, Still
Alright, Still is the debut album by British pop singer-songwriter Lily Allen, released on 14 July 2006 by Regal Recordings . Recording the album began with sessions between Allen and production duo Future Cut, and Allen's work garnered publicity on the Internet as she posted demos to her MySpace...

. Written by Allen and Greg Kurstin
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...

, the song was released as the fourth and final single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 from the album, on 5 March 2007, by Regal Recordings
Regal Recordings
Regal Recordings is a British record label functioning as an imprint of Parlophone.-Background:Regal Records was a British record label founded in 1914 as a subsidiary of the UK branch of Columbia Records known as Columbia Graphophone Company...

. In the United Kingdom, it was marketed as a double A-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...

 single, along with "Shame for You
Shame for You
"Shame for You" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen and Blair MacKichan, while sampling Jackie Mittoo's "Loving You" melody, the song was released as the A-Side to her fourth single, "Alfie", exclusively in the United...

". While the melody incorporates a sample of Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...

's "Puppet on a String
Puppet on a String
"Puppet on a String" is the name of the Eurovision Song Contest-winning song in 1967 by British singer Sandie Shaw. It was her thirteenth UK single release....

", the lyrics directly describe Allen's real life younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Evan Allen is an English actor. Allen recently changed his name to incorporate Owen. All of his acting roles are credited as Alfie Allen.-Personal life:...

, criticizing him for his lazy behaviour.

Contemporary critics gave the song mixed reviews, some complimenting the production, while others considered it fell flat as the album's last song. The single peaked inside the top twenty of the charts in New Zealand and on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, where it became her third single to do so. The accompanying music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 portrayed Allen's brother as a puppet while the storyline follows the lyrical meaning of the song. The song was performed live by Allen during her 2007 concert tour, as part of the encore.

Background

Musically, the song is set in common time
Common Time
"Common Time" is a science fiction short story written by James Blish. It first appeared in the August 1953 issue of Science Fiction Quarterly and has been reprinted several times: in the 1959 short-story collection Galactic Cluster; in The Testament of Andros ; in The Penguin Science Fiction...

 and has a metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...

 of 120 beats per minute. While it is played in the key of C major
C major
C major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....

 and has backing piano and guitar sounds, "Alfie" also uses a sample from Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...

's 1967 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1967
The Eurovision Song Contest 1967 was the twelfth Eurovision Song Contest. The presenter became confused whilst the voting was taking place, and declared the United Kingdom's entry to be the winner before the last country, Ireland, had announced its votes...

 winning song "Puppet on a String
Puppet on a String
"Puppet on a String" is the name of the Eurovision Song Contest-winning song in 1967 by British singer Sandie Shaw. It was her thirteenth UK single release....

". In an interview with Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...

, Allen stated that the song's lyrics describe her younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Owen-Allen
Alfie Evan Allen is an English actor. Allen recently changed his name to incorporate Owen. All of his acting roles are credited as Alfie Allen.-Personal life:...

. She further explained:
When I wrote "Alfie", nobody really knew who I was. At first he was really upset about it, because he thought that I was just pointing out all of his bad points and attacking him. I thought it was really flattering [Laughs]. I thought he'd be really, really happy because it proved to him how much I loved him, that I care about him, and I want him to do something with his life. I suppose his paranoia — induced by smoking so much weed — made him think, "Why are you trying to be mean?"

In the song, she tries to persuade him to emerge from his room and stop wasting his life away, while complaining that he is spending too much time stuck in his room smoking weed
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

, watching television and playing computer games. Owen-Allen treated the song with good humour, but declared that Allen was also lazy when she was pregnant: "She's at home in bed and everyone is running around after her. Mind you, you have to look after Lily even if she isn't pregnant."

The cover of the single released in the United Kingdom is different from the EP one used in Japan, as it also shows "Shame for You" written on it. "Alfie" was performed live, as part of the setlist of Allen's 2007 concert tour.

Critical and commercial reception

Rosie Swash from The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

described the song's sound as "fairground pomp". She then suggested that Allen has fused together a "uniquely acidic brand of pop", with the icing on the cake being "that brutally barbed tongue". Rob Webb from Drowned in Sound
Drowned in Sound
DrownedinSound.com or DiS is a UK based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway . The site is an editorially independent music website.-History:...

 considered that "Alfie" rescued the lack of wit and imagination of some previous tracks on the album, while Blender
Blender (magazine)
Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....

reporter Jon Dolan thought that the "silly waltz-rap" of the song is an example at how Allen "casually and wittily blurs the line between fan and friend".
Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

 praised the production of "Alfie", as well as "Shame for You", with "plenty of catchy melodies and clever samples", but claimed that Allen lacks charisma. Heather Phares of Allmusic gave a negative review for the song, claiming it "falls especially flat as the album's final song", with the album losing stream at the end, and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

's Priya Elan considered that if "the pop dreams get slightly tarnished by the graffiti put-downs of 'Not Big' and 'Alfie', then that's not too worrying, as with a personality this size, this isn’t the last time you’ll be hearing from [Allen]". It was considered by reviewer Ronan Hunt-Murphy from Two Way Monologues that the song could be used for a children's TV show, if the swearing and drug references were cut.

The single failed to achieve commercial success. It debuted at forty-four and peaked inside the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, at number fifteen for only one week, where it charted as the double A-sided single, "Alfie"/"Shame for You". Other moderate chart peaks include Ireland, at thirty-one, and New Zealand at fifteen. In Japan, "Alfie" was only released as an extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, made exclusively for that country, which was ineligible to chart on the Singles Chart, so it peaked on the Albums Chart
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

 at 226. In Europe, it reached position fifty-five on the Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
The European Hot 100 Singles has been compiled by Billboard and Music & Media magazine since March, 1984. The chart is based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,...

 compiled by Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

.

Music video

The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 was directed by Sarah Chatfield, who wanted do to a Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry
Tom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...

-like video, where the human character is cut off at the waist. Hence Allen was not going to be part of it originally. However, she did appear on the video. The singer declared on her official blog that,
I did a video shoot for the next single, which is Alfie, and that was quite a lot of fun, Alfie was played by a puppet and the whole thing looks like an episode of a mixture Tom and Jerry and Roger Rabbit, you'll understand when you see it. The whole day was a pleasurable experience [...]
The video starts off with an opening title parodying Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

 and shows Allen in the kitchen preparing a cup of tea, while Alfie, impersonated by a puppet
Puppet
A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....

, smokes in his miniature bedroom, watching television. The singer enters the room and takes away his hookah
Hookah
A hookah A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) A hookah(Gujarati હૂકાહ) (Hindustani: हुक़्क़ा (Devanagari, (Nastaleeq) huqqah) also known as a waterpipe or narghile, is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) instrument for smoking in which the smoke is cooled by water. The tobacco smoked is referred to...

, as he unsuccessfully tries to get it back. Next, Allen irons his tuxedo and marks a job announcement called "The Puppet Show" in the newspaper, as the lyric "You need to get a job because the bills need to get paid" is sung. Meanwhile, Alfie is in his bed, staring at a magazine in which there are undressed dolls, titled "Roxy & Babs get it on!" and proceeds for masturbation
Masturbation
Masturbation refers to sexual stimulation of a person's own genitals, usually to the point of orgasm. The stimulation can be performed manually, by use of objects or tools, or by some combination of these methods. Masturbation is a common form of autoeroticism...

. Allen walks in on him with the newspaper and suit as he does so, but immediately exits out of shame. With the start of the bridge, puppet birds sing outside the home, while Alfie sneaks out of his room and tries to get beer out of the refrigerator, but is ultimately caught by Allen. She then takes off his "stupid fitted cap", as he scrawls a picture of her, which is also the cover of "Littlest Things
Littlest Things
"Littlest Things" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen, Mark Ronson and Santi White, the song was released as the third single of the album on 11 December, 2006 by Regal Recordings...

". The final scene happens at night, in the kitchen, where Allen is lying on the floor, watching her brother dance. After the last lyrics, "Please don't despair, my mon frere" is sung, he punches her and the video ends.
There is also an alternate version, where the words "weed" and "THC
THC
THC commonly refers to tetrahydrocannabinol, the main active chemical compound in Cannabis.THC may also refer to:* Tan Holdings Corporation...

" are blanked, the hookah is replaced by a joystick
Joystick
A joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...

, Alfie does not smoke, and, when Allen walks in on him masturbating, there is a big "censored" sign. The video won "Best Pop Video" and "Best New Director" at the CADs Music Vision Awards in June 2007, and nominated at the 2007 Q Awards
Q Awards
The Q Awards are the UK's annual music awards run by the music magazine Q. Since they began in 1990, the Q Awards have become one of Britain's biggest and best publicised music awards, helped in no small part by the often boisterous behavior of the celebrities who attend the event...

 for "Best Video", but lost to "Ruby
Ruby (song)
"Ruby" is a song by English rock band Kaiser Chiefs and is the lead track on their second album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob. It was released as the lead single from that album in the United Kingdom as a download on February 5, 2007 and as a limited edition 7 in and CD single on February 19 that year...

" by Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs
Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who formed in 1996. They were named after the South African football club Kaizer Chiefs....

.

Track listing and formats

  • CD Single
  1. "Shame for You
    Shame for You
    "Shame for You" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen and Blair MacKichan, while sampling Jackie Mittoo's "Loving You" melody, the song was released as the A-Side to her fourth single, "Alfie", exclusively in the United...

    "
  2. "Alfie" (explicit)

  • 7" Vinyl
  1. "Shame for You"
  2. "Alfie" (explicit)

  • Digital download
  1. "Shame for You"
  2. "Shame for You" (live at Bush Hall)
  3. "Alfie" (explicit)
  4. "Alfie" (CSS remix)
  5. "Alfie" (live at Bush Hall)

  • Japanese EP
  1. "Alfie"
  2. "Smile
    Smile (Lily Allen song)
    "Smile" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. It was written by Allen, Iyiola Babalola and Darren Lewis in 2004, while sampling The Soul Brothers' "Free Soul". The song was released as the lead mainstream single of the album in March 2006...

    "
  3. "Everybody's Changing
    Everybody's Changing
    "Everybody's Changing" is a song performed and composed by English rock band Keane, from their debut album Hopes and Fears, on which it appears as the fourth track. After a single release on Fierce Panda in May 2003, which peaked at #122 in the UK Singles Chart, it was re-released on Island on 3...

    "
  4. "Nan You're A Window Shopper"
  5. "Alfie" (CSS remix)
  6. "Smile" (Version Revisited) (Mark Ronson
    Mark Ronson
    Mark Daniel Ronson is an English DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. He currently works with his band under the music alias of Mark Ronson & The Business Intl....

     remix)
  7. "Alfie" (banned version) (CD extra music video)
  8. "LDN
    LDN (song)
    "LDN" is a single by Lily Allen which was released in the UK on 25 September 2006. It was co-written by Future Cut, and features a Colombian porro from the country's Caribbean coast...

    " (TYO version) (CD extra music video)
  9. "Littlest Things
    Littlest Things
    "Littlest Things" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen, Mark Ronson and Santi White, the song was released as the third single of the album on 11 December, 2006 by Regal Recordings...

    " (CD extra music video)


Credits and personnel

  • Lead vocals — Lily Allen
  • Written by — Lily Allen and Greg Kurstin
    Greg Kurstin
    Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...

  • Produced by — Greg Kurstin
  • Mastered
    Master recording
    A multitrack recording master tape, disk or computer files on which productions are developed for later mixing, is known as the multi-track master, while the tape, disk or computer files holding a mix is called a mixed master.It is standard practice to make a copy of a master recording, known as...

     by — Tim Burrell, Tim Debney
  • Audio mixing
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

     — Greg Kurstin

Charts

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
The European Hot 100 Singles has been compiled by Billboard and Music & Media magazine since March, 1984. The chart is based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,...

55
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

31
Japan Albums Chart
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...

[A]
226
New Zealand Singles Chart 15
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

[B]
15


Notes:

^ Charted as the "Alfie" extended play
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

.
  • B^ Charted as the double A-sided single "Alfie"/"Shame for You
    Shame for You
    "Shame for You" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her debut studio album, Alright, Still. Written by Allen and Blair MacKichan, while sampling Jackie Mittoo's "Loving You" melody, the song was released as the A-Side to her fourth single, "Alfie", exclusively in the United...

    ".


External links

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