Disco Clone | |
Cover: | Cristina - Disco Clone cover.jpg |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Cristina |
Recorded: | May–June 1978 |
Studio: | Blank Tape Studios |
Genre: | Disco |
Length: | 4:07 |
Label: | ZE |
Producer: | John Cale |
Next Title: | Is That All There Is? |
Next Year: | 1980 |
"Disco Clone" is a song by American singer Cristina and written by Ronald Melrose. It was released as a single on ZE Records in 1978.
"Disco Clone" was written by Ronald Melrose, a classmate of Cristina's from Harvard University.[1]
Tony de Portago, a friend of Cristina's, was the first to record the male vocals for "Disco Clone", but his were thrown out as sounding "too foreign" and "insufficiently jaded". Anthony Haden-Guest recorded the part in both English and French, which appear on song's first release. Kevin Kline, a little known actor at the time, appears on the re-release.[3] [4] Tom Moulton was approached to mix the track, but he did not want to be involved with something that mocked disco. Island Records founder Chris Blackwell mixed it instead.[5]
The song's writer, Ronald Melrose, later became an arranger and musical director on Broadway shows, including Jersey Boys.[6] [7]
"Disco Clone" uses a common disco rhythm, with a four-on-the-floor bass drum pattern and prominent hi-hat. It features a large string section, with 24 violinists double tracked. The song's lyrics poke fun at the idea of men wanting to hook up with attractive women who look alike.[8]
The original version of "Disco Clone" had a limited release of 1,500 twelve-inch singles, the first release by Zilkha's fledgling label ZE Records.[9] It received a re-release shortly after. The re-release includes a remix that was later retitled "The Ballad of Immoral Manufacture", in reference to "The Ballad of Immoral Earnings" from Brecht's The Threepenny Opera.[10] The single was not commercially successful.[11]
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