This Bitter Earth
"This Bitter Earth" is a 1960 song made famous by rhythm and blues singer Dinah Washington.[1] Written and produced by Clyde Otis,[2][3] it peaked to #1 on the U.S. R&B charts for the week of July 25, 1960, and also reached #24 on the U.S. pop charts.[4]
| "This Bitter Earth" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Dinah Washington | ||||
| from the album Unforgettable | ||||
| A-side | "I Understand" | |||
| Released | 1960 | |||
| Recorded | 1959 | |||
| Genre | jazz, soul | |||
| Length | 2:30 | |||
| Label | Mercury Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Clyde Otis | |||
| Producer(s) | Clyde Otis | |||
| Dinah Washington singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Charts
| Chart (1960) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top Pop Songs | 24 |
| US Billboard Hot R&B Songs | 1 |
Other recordings
- In 1964, Aretha Franklin released a cover on her album Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington for Columbia Records.
- In May 1970, The Satisfactions released a version, reaching #36 on the U.S. R&B charts.[4]
- In 1992, R&B/soul singer Miki Howard recorded a version that appears on her 1992 album, Femme Fatale.
- In 2004, break-core musician Venetian Snares used vocals from this song in his own composition with the same title on his mini-album Moonglow / This Bitter Earth.[5]
- In 2006, Gladys Knight released her début album for the Verve Records label, Before Me, including this song as the sixth track.
- In 2007, R&B/Dance singer Deborah Cox made a remake of this song on her album Destination Moon.
- On June 10, 2010, this was danced to on So You Think You Can Dance, in a routine choreographed by Mia Michaels.
- In February 2010, this song was featured on the soundtrack for the Martin Scorsese film Shutter Island, in the form of a mash-up with Max Richter's "On the Nature of Daylight".[6]
- In 2012 the Max Richter mashup was featured as the accompanying track to the launch trailer of The Secret World, an MMORPG from developer Funcom, published by Electronic Arts.
- Also in 2012, the Richter mashup was used in the Christopher Wheeldon's dance Five Movements, Three Repeats.[7] The pas de deux set to the mashup was added to New York City Ballet's repertory the later that year.[8]
- In July 2016, Erykah Badu and Nas released 'This Bitter Land' featured on the soundtrack of Steven Caple Jr.'s The Land (2016)
- In 2019 Veronica Swift recorded her adaptation of the Max Richter arrangement of This Bitter Earth to be released in the Spring of 2021 and her first single of This Bitter Earth was released November 2020 available on all streaming platforms with a vinyl album available in the spring of 2021
Popular Culture
- The song is a key piece in the 1978 film Killer of Sheep by director Charles Burnett.[9]
Notes and references
- The Essential Dinah Washington - The Great Songs Archived 2013-01-29 at Archive.today
- Clyde Otis Music Group Beginnings Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
- BMI entry from This Bitter Earth
- The Marvels Archived 2008-07-19 at the Wayback Machine By Marv Goldberg, Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks, 2007
- Venetian Snares "This Bitter Earth".bandcamp
- Bambarger, Bradley (March 12, 2010). "Shutter Island soundtrack casts eerie spell". New Jersey On-Line.
- Macaulay, Alastair (September 28, 2012). "Old Favorite Returns, Freshness Still In Its Step". New York Times.
- Macaulay, Alastair (September 21, 2012). "All This in the Name of Fashion". New York Times.
- Killer of Sheep by Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times, April 6, 2007.
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