"Moviestar" Харпо: История одной песни

1975 single by Harpo
other songs with similar titles

"Moviestar" (also released as "Movie Star") is a song written and recorded by Swedish singer songwriter Harpo. Following two hit singles on Tio i Topp, Harpo wrote the song while sitting in his window, dedicating it to a friend of his that had aspirations of becoming an actor. "Moviestar" tells the story of an individual who believes they are an A list actor in the league of Steve McQueen and James Dean, when instead it is revealed that they have only acted in a television advertisement. It makes multiple references to popular culture, including movie producer Ingmar Bergman. When presented with the song, producer Bengt Palmers rejected it as he felt he could not properly produce the record. After Sveriges Television started shooting a documentary about Harpo, the song was resurrected and recorded in front of television cameras in February 1975. Anni Frid Lyngstad from ABBA sings backing vocals on the song due to previous connections to Harpo. The song was first released as a single on 18 July 1975 in the United Kingdom, backed by "Teddy Love". It initially became a hit in continental Europe, charting in the Netherlands during August of that year. It made its way across Europe to Germany, and eventually Scandinavia, reaching number one in all territories before also landing on the UK Singles Chart the following year. The single was well received upon release, with many critics praising the production of Palmers. It has sold over one million copies worldwide and has become Harpo's signature song.

Harpo had a background in theatre before music; during his late teens and early 20s, he taught at the Calle Flygare Teaterskola in Norrmalm, Stockholm for several years. They encouraged Harpo to secure a deal with a record label which he did by "picking up a phone book and calling recording studios", which would eventually attract the attention of Stig "Stikkan" Andersson at Polar Music in 1972. Harpo started composing an album together with their keyboardist Benny Andersson, but due to personal clashes the duo abandoned the project after which Harpo was released from his contract with Polar. Instead, he signed with EMI Records and started a creative partnership with Bengt Palmers, who was behind several successful recordings in Sweden during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The following year, his single "Sayonara" managed to reach number one for five weeks on Tio i Topp. he saw virtually no success abroad. This friend had ambitions of becoming an actor which Harpo found amusing. According to an interview with Sveriges Radio in 2017, Harpo claimed that he wrote "Moviestar" while hitchhiking across Europe at the age of 17, while being fascinated over the film industry. He stated that he felt most actors were better off screen than on screen which Harpo would state influenced the lyrics.]] Lyrically, the song follows an aspiring actor who has dreams of becoming a respectable and famous actor. The lyrics, written from a third person perspective, reveals that this actor has only been featured in television commercials that do not match his aspirations. Musically, the song is rather upbeat with a significant influence from both disco and Schlager music. It has a standard time signature of 4/4 and the majority of the composition is set in the key of A major but features significant modulations, that come in after each choruses. In total, three modulations can be heard throughout the song. Having no other material, Harpo once again presented Palmers with the track, who this time accepted. The recording session for the song was held on 27 February 1975 at the EMI Studio in Skärmarbrink, a suburb of Stockholm. The backing vocals on the song were supplied by Anni Frid Lyngstad of ABBA, who had several ties and connections to Palmers and Polar Music. Rumours alleged that EMI "refused to host Swedish artists" in order not to create competition with ABBA, who were big in the UK. The UK release was issued as the grammatically correct "Movie Star", while most other releases retain the title "Moviestar". In the rest of continental Europe, "Moviestar" was backed by "I Don't Know Why", a song taken from his debut album Leo the Leopard the previous year. '[[File:Harpo Moviestar Gold Record. jpg|left|thumb|A press party for "Moviestar" after it sold gold. Harpo at the bottom holding the dog Nipper. The following week it would enter the other Dutch chart, Single Top 100. The single would reach number two and three respectively on those charts; "Sailing" by Rod Stewart kept it from the top on the former. "Moviestar" had significant appeal in the German speaking world, reaching number one in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Switzerland it sat at number one for five consecutive weeks while it was at number one for four weeks in Germany. The appeal for the single there is largely attributed to ABBA, who created an appeal for Swedish artists; To broaden his commercial appeal in Sweden, the Swedish language version of "Moviestar" was issued as a single and eventually also reached number on Svensktoppen in 1976. Seeing the commercial success it had in continental Europe, the UK branch of EMI attempted to re release the single on their label. In the Netherlands and Belgium, it was released as I Wrote a Love Song. In Sweden, the album reached number two, held off the top spot by Nya Perspektiv by Ola Magnell and I Love to Love by Tina Charles. "Moviestar" has since appeared on numerous compilation albums including EMI Europe Presents: Our Message Is Music in 1977.'

thumb|Harpo in 2012. Upon release in Sweden, the single was reviewed by Expressen, who wrote that "Moviestar is a pretty song" that has several layers of depth to it, with "marvellous production" by Bengt Palmers. They note Harpo's vocal performance, which they claim is carried by the backing accompaniment and give praise to the bass guitarist especially. They praise the modulations found in the sound but compares the song to that of ABBA. They praise the production, noting that Palmers "adds a personal touch to all songs and records he work on." Harpo himself has held varying opinions about the song. In an interview with Sveriges Radio, he stated "I like the song, there is something organic with the sound, the melody and the title actually. It's the completeness which makes the song." Ironically, however, Harpo has stated that he was not the biggest fan of Schlager music. Harpo has sold 20 million records, most of which are sales from "Moviestar". In Norway, the song is the 30th best selling single in history, while it is the 73rd most successful single in Sweden. It is therefore cited as one of the biggest European hits of the 1970s. or Liar, and subject matter to a tale of romantic betrayal