New cardboard sleeve format with lyric booklet.
Also available from other download/streaming services.
Track Listing (for lyrics, click on the song title)
Album Notes
Written, recorded and performed with Mary's son, Morgan Visconti. Lyrics and melodies by Mary, instrumentals and arrangements by Morgan. Additional vocals by Morgan and Jessica. Christian is the guest on 'Dog Eat Dog'.
First released in 2010. Re-pressed in 2021.
The video for 'The Earth Turns' was remastered for 2021 and you can see it here.
Album Review
You Look Familiar: Mary Hopkin shakes off the shreds of nostalgia with a fascinating new album
...Now, she has released a fascinating new album ... written and produced in partnership with her son Morgan Visconti - and it's a treat from start to finish, not least because those pristine vocals are utterly undiminished by the years. But it is also a work of real, thought-provoking depth that references Hopkin's folk roots ('Chime' is the most overtly folk-accented track) and influences as she relates a sequence of rounded, modern stories, from the opening track ('America') with its tale of the young stowaway heading East to the uneasy warnings of 'Eve's Revenge' and the easy, resigned chug of 'Dog Eat Dog' - a catchy pub song.
Intriguingly, many of the arrangements are cradled in infectious, synth-style riffs, beats and echoing overlaid harmonies (some courtesy of daughter Jessica Lee Morgan, a singer in her own right) that often create a retro sense of lush 1980s electronic pop.
But don't be seduced simply by the sound. Piercing barbs lurk in the lyrics, reminders that Hopkin now has the lifetime of experience that she was only able to hint at as the 18-year old singer of 'Those Were the Days'. There is darkness and stinging cynicism, too. I don't know who she had in mind, writing 'Heaven Knows'. But even if her target was personal, the stinging words could equally apply to higher, more public figures and I can think of one or two politicians who would be usefully caught in their firing line.
I love 'People Say', a wise and touching account of an unexpected encounter that could lead to something more, the motherly advice of 'Walk Like Me' and the epic, hypnotic forebodings of 'Pretenders'. With You Look Familiar, Hopkin has emphatically shaken off the shreds of nostalgia and reminded us of a voice and pedigree that have much to offer in 2011. Don't leave it so long next time, Mary. We'd like some more - and soon.
Lyrics
Lyrics must not be reproduced whole or in part, for any purpose whatsoever, without the written permission of Mary Hopkin Music.
AmericaThese Northern city streets are cold at night
It's morning and his eyes hurt from the white daylight
This young man has fallen by the wayside
Young man who's still looking on the bright side
Though he feels he's living in the wrong time
That he don't belong here
No sense of being part of any place
There's no one here to beg the boy to stay
So he heads down to the docks and he stows himself away
Now he's heading for a better life in America
Yeah he's bound to find a better life in America
Don't let him down
Poor boy from a dead end town
Don't let him down
Poor boy from a dead end town
And somewhere in this land of new beginnings
He's sure to make good
But he can't shake off the feeling
That he's living in the wrong time
And he don't belong
No sense of being part of any place
Now he's heading for a better life in America
Yeah he's bound to find a better life somewhere
Don't let him down
Poor boy from a dead end town
Don't let him down
Poor boy from a dead end town
Now he's heading for a better life in America
Yeah he's bound to find a better life in America
Now he's heading for a better life in America
Yeah he's bound to find a better life somewhere
To the top
Pretenders
Watch out for smooth talking saviours
The devil sends to tempt you
With sweet coated favours
So easy to be kind
Whoa
When you're feeling no pain
Better to be blind
Seeing nothing
Frightened and faint hearted travellers
On the final journey
Too bad that so many are lost along the way
But you and I together
Will find out those self fashioned heroes
Who pay for their pain
And give themselves away
So easy to be kind
When you're feeling no pain
Baby better to be blind
So we may never see the light
See the light
See the light
So easy to be kind
When you're feeling no pain
Baby better to be blind
So we may never see the light
But he with gentle hands
Will wipe the scales from your eyes
Now I see the change in you
Feel the change inside me
So easy to be kind
When you're feeling no pain
Baby better to be blind
So we may never see the light
To the top
Dog Eat Dog
A man goes into a bar
He's lost his job and his company car
Twenty years service and he's out on his ass
Now he's looking for solace in the bottom of a glass
The landlady gives him a smile
She says, 'Hey there Joe ain't seen you in a while
It's a working day so what you doing round here?'
She pretends not to notice as he wipes away a tear
The bar is full in the middle of the day
Plenty of others in the same sad way
A few beers later he can't feel a thing
And he lifts his glass and he starts to sing
It's a doggy dog world, it's a doggy dog world
It's a doggy doggy doggy doggy doggy dog world
It's a doggy dog world, it's a doggy dog world
It's a doggy doggy doggy doggy doggy dog world
Boo hoo hoo...
It's a doggy dog world...
He's falling apart at the seams
He's come to the end of all of his dreams
Life's just great when you're running with the pack
And your own best friends, they stab you in the back
It's dark outside and he's still drinking
No more pain, no more thinking
No one hears the last bell ring
As they lift their glasses, everybody sings
One two three
It's a doggy dog world...
To the top
Chime
When I wander off the track
Lose my head and lose my way
There's a voice that calls me back
Guides me through the darkest day
Chime...
I close my eyes to see
Cover my ears to hear
I close my mouth to speak
And find the light I seek
Chime...
And whenever pain and fear
Bar the way that seems so clear
Blind and groping for the light
Look for peace give up the fight
When forever looking down
Leaves you stranded on the ground
Now I close my eyes to see
Watch until I learn to be
When I wander off the track
There's a voice that calls me back
Guides me through the darkest day
I close my eyes to see
Cover my ears to hear
I close my mouth to speak
And find the light I seek
Love and respect we send
To you dearest friend
Love and respect we send
To you dearest friend
Chime...
To the top
