"Fairground" | ||||||||||
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Single by Simply Red | ||||||||||
from the album Life | ||||||||||
B-side | Remix, live version of other songs | |||||||||
Released | 18 September 1995 | |||||||||
Format | CD single, CD maxi, 12" single | |||||||||
Genre | Dance-pop | |||||||||
Length | 4:23 (single version) 5:34 (album version) |
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Label | EastWest | |||||||||
Writer(s) | Mick Hucknall | |||||||||
Producer(s) | Mick Hucknall, Stewart Levine | |||||||||
Simply Red singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Fairground" is a 1995 single released by Simply Red from the album Life. The song makes extensive use of a sample of The Goodmen's "Give It Up".
The video (which uses the shorter single version) shows Mick Hucknall driving to and singing at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in Blackpool, Lancashire, that had been closed for the day and had been invaded by a group of his friends and opened up again. The majority of the video was shot on the Pepsi Max Big One and around the park, and some scenes are shot on the Promenade showing the Illuminations in 1994. Filming credits go to the single cameraman, Steven Young.
It was the first and only single by the group to reach No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. It spent four weeks at the top, and fourteen weeks in the Top 40. The track also reached No. 1 in Ireland and made the Top 10 in Italy, Austria and The Netherlands. A remix by Soulshock and Karlin was included on the US single release and received moderate success on R&B Radio, but failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100.