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Ordinary Girl (Alison Moyet song)

Field	Value
name	Ordinary Girl
cover	Alison-Moyet-Ordinary-Girl-Single-1987.jpg
type	single
artist	Alison Moyet
album	Raindancing
B-side	Palm of Your Hand (Cloak and Dagger)
released	May 1987
genre	Pop rock, indie pop
length	3:26
label	CBS Records
writer	Alison Moyet, Jess Bailey, Rick Driscoll
producer	Jimmy Iovine, Dan Hartman
prev_title	Weak in the Presence of Beauty
prev_year	1987
next_title	Sleep Like Breathing
next_year	1987

| B-side = Palm of Your Hand (Cloak and Dagger) "Ordinary Girl" is a song by English singer Alison Moyet, which was released in 1987 as the third single from her second studio album Raindancing. It was written by Moyet, Jess Bailey and Rick Driscoll, and produced by Jimmy Iovine.

Despite the Top 10 success of the first two singles from Raindancing, "Ordinary Girl" failed to enter the UK Top 40, reaching No. 43. It remained within the Top 100 for four weeks.

A music video was filmed to promote the single. Moyet performed the song on ITV's short lived music show The Roxy, as well as the French & Saunders Show. She also performed the song on "Pop Goes New Year 1987" aboard HMS Royal. She performed two other songs on the ship, "Is This Love?" and "Blow Wind Blow", both from the same album.

The single's B-side is "Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak and Dagger)", which was exclusive to the single. It was written and produced by Dan Hartman.

Critical reception

On its release, Ian Cranna of Smash Hits described "Ordinary Girl" as an "excellent and unusual song" and praised its lyrics, but added, "Pity the pushy synthetic music doesn't really match up to the idea or the typically wonderful singing." Jane Solanas of New Musical Express noted the "interesting subject matter" of "platonic love between women", but felt the song was a "pretty basic pop single" and one that "lesbians will buy in their thousands". Vincent O'Keeffe of The Kerryman described it as "an unusual song about the singer's best friend who suddenly leaves home" and added that "the idea and music work and blend in perfectly together."

In a review of Raindancing, Chris Heath of Smash Hits highlighted the song as one of the two best songs on the album, alongside "Stay". He also described "Ordinary Girl" as "sprightly". In a retrospective review of the album, Darren Howard of Gay Times felt that the song, along with "Is This Love?", "show Alison at her best".

Formats

;7" Single

"Ordinary Girl" - 3:26
"Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak And Dagger)" - 3:53

;12" Single

"Ordinary Girl (Remix)" - 5:34
"Ordinary Girl (Single Version)" - 3:26
"Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak And Dagger)" - 3:53

;12" Single (Special Dance Mix)

"Ordinary Girl (Dance Mix)" - 6:28
"Ordinary Girl (Single Version)" - 3:26
"Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak And Dagger)" - 3:53

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1987)	Peak
position
Dutch Singles Chart	49
Irish Singles Chart	22
Italy Airplay (Music & Media)	20
UK Singles Chart	43

Personnel

Producer on "Ordinary Girl" – Jimmy Iovine
Mixer on "Ordinary Girl (Remix)" - Steve Brown
Writers of "Ordinary Girl" – Alison Moyet, Jess Bailey, Rick Driscoll
Mixer on "Ordinary Girl (Single Version)" - Mike Shipley
Producer and writer of "Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak And Dagger)" – Dan Hartman
Remixer on "Ordinary Girl (Dance Mix)" - Pete Hammond
Associate Producer on "Ordinary Girl (Dance Mix)" and "Ordinary Girl (Single Version)" - Mike Shipley

References

"ALISON MOYET | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". officialcharts.com.
"Alison Moyet - Ordinary Girl / Palm Of Your Hand (Cloak And Dagger) - CBS - UK - MOYET 3". 45cat.
Solanas, Jane. (30 May 1987). "45".
O'Keeffe, Vincent. (29 May 1987). "Record review". [[The Kerryman]].
Smash Hits - 25 March-7 April issue - Album reviews - page 67
(2016-11-15). "Review: Alison Moyet Special Editions". Gay Times.
Steffen Hung. "Alison Moyet - Ordinary Girl". charts.nz.
Jaclyn Ward. "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie.
(20 June 1987). "European Playlist Reports: RAI - Italy".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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