| The Sphinx | |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Amanda Lear |
| Album: | Never Trust a Pretty Face |
| B-Side: | Hollywood Flashback |
| Released: | 1978 |
| Recorded: | 1978 |
| Genre: | Disco |
| Length: | 4:25 |
| Label: | Ariola |
| Producer: | Anthony Monn |
| Prev Title: | Lili Marleen |
| Prev Year: | 1978 |
| Next Title: | Fashion Pack |
| Next Year: | 1979 |
"The Sphinx" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1978 by Ariola Records as the single from her third album Never Trust a Pretty Face.
The song was composed and produced by Anthony Monn, and marked a change in Lear's repertoire as her first downtempo disco ballad. The melancholic Lear-penned lyrics, in which the singer compares herself to the mythical Sphinx, tell about "the desire to remain a mystery".[1] The singer has reflected that "The Sphinx" is the best song she wrote.[2] [3]
"The Sphinx" was released as the advance single from the singer's third studio album Never Trust a Pretty Face in late 1978. The single B-side was "Hollywood Flashback", the closing track on her previous album, Sweet Revenge. The song was a moderate chart success, reaching the top 20 across Europe, and remains one of Lear's biggest hits of the disco era.
Lear re-recorded the song for the 1998 album Back in Your Arms, and included the new version on her greatest hits compilation Forever Glam! in 2005.
A. "The Sphinx" – 4:25
B. "Hollywood Flashback" – 4:31
A. "The Sphinx" – 5:13
B. "Hollywood Flashback" – 4:31
| Chart (1978–79) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium[6] | 18 |
| France[7] | 48 |
| Germany[8] | 19 |