Shirley Bassey - This Is My Life

1985 (A powerfully dramatic performance by Shirley Bassey - Commonwealth Charity Performance, Scotland)

In 1985 Dame Shirley Bassey gave a performance to help raise money for the 1986 Commonwealth games that were held in Edinburgh in Scotland. Dame Shirley sang four songs: Nobody does it like me, Arthur's theme, You ain't heard nothing yet and This is my life.

ABOUT this song:
This Is My Life (La vita) is a 1968 album by Shirley Bassey that was released in Italy on the United Artists label (UA 9035).

Bassey had started living as a tax exile in 1968, and was not permitted to work in Britain for two years. In 1968 Bassey performed at the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy singing the song "La vita." This song was originally written by Bruno Canfora, with (Italian) lyrics by Antonio Amurri. For the song Bassey sang at the festival, the lyrics were partially rewritten in English by Norman Newell.

Side one of the album included only Italian songs with the exception of "La vita" which is the version with a mix of Italian and English lyrics. Side two is an edited version of the This Is My Life album that was released in Britain and the USA, with the addition of "To Give" which was only included in this album and on a single. Of the six songs recorded in Italian on this album only "La vita" has had a CD release. It appeared on the 1994 boxset Bassey - The EMI/UA Years 1959 - 1979. While in exile Bassey recorded several songs that were exclusively released in Italy and also performed frequently on Italian television.

In the next step in the evolution of "La vita," Newell wrote English lyrics for the remaining Italian parts and the result was "This Is My Life." This English-only version became one of Bassey's signature songs, often the final encore that she performs in concert.

LYRICS:
Funny how a lonely day, can make a person say:
What good is my life
Funny how a breaking heart, can make me start to say:
What good is my life
Funny how I often seem,
to think I'll find never another dream In my life
Till I look around and see,
this great big world is part of me
And my life
This is my life
Today, tomorrow, love will come and find me
But that's the way that I was born to be
This is me
This is me

This is my life
And I don't give a damn for lost emotions
I've such a lot of love I've got to give
Let me live
Let me live

Sometime when I feel afraid,
I think of what a mess I've made Of my life
Crying over my mistakes,
forgetting all the breaks I've had
In my life
I was put on earth to be,
a part of this great world is me
And my life
Guess I'll just add up the score,
and count the things I'm grateful for
In my life
This Is my life
Today, tomorrow, love will come and find me
But that's the way that I was born to be
This is me
This is me

This is my life
And I don't give a damn for lost emotions
I've such a lot of love I've got to give
Let me live
Let me live

This is my life
This is my life
This is my life

ABOUT the LP, This Is My Life:
This Is My Life is a 1968 album by Shirley Bassey. The mid to late sixties was a period of declining popularity for traditional pop. How much the changing tastes in popular music directly affected Bassey's record sales is difficult to quantify; but her record sales had been faltering since the latter part of the mid 60s, and the album failed to chart. (She did have some success in Italy during this period, where she recorded several songs in Italian, with two making the Top 40 there.)

The version of "This Is My Life" appearing on side two is the English-only version, with lyrics by Norman Newell, and would become one of Bassey's signature songs.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Shirley Bassey
• Bruno Canfora
• Antonio Amurri
• Norman Newell