Shirley Bassey - This Is My Life (U.S. DISCO Version - 1979 Recording)

1979 (Veteran vocalist/entertainer Shirley Bassey recorded one of her hits, 'This Is My Life' with an upbeat Disco arrangement in 1979. The disco arrangement was included both as a United Artist Single, and it was included on Shirley's 1979 LP title, 'The Magic Is You'. However, this clip includes a different Disco mix than what was released in
1979. Shirley's upbeat rendition of this song was mixed with several different Disco arrangements; this version you are listening to is called the 'US Disco Mix'. Please thank Rick Gianatos for working these upbeat disco versions of one of Shirley's signature songs. The version of this song on this clip was not released until it was included on the re-release of 'The Magic Is You' CD in
2011. The two CD combo re-release is titled, 'Thoughts Of Love / The Magic Is You. In addition to the US Disco Mix, the European Disco Mix is also included on this 2 CD combo.
Shirley Bassey is not known as a Disco artist as so many singers whom were classified as such in the 1970's, but all the disco songs she has recorded during this decade are excellent pieces of work. Slow or fast, all the versions of this song Bassey has recorded are great!
ABOUT the LP, 'The Magic Is You'
The Magic Is You is the twenty fourth studio album from Shirley Bassey , released in 1978. The album peaked at No. 40 on the UK Albums Charts, and remained on the charts for quite some time.
The album contains a song taken from the musical 'Evita' written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Time Rice called, Don't Cry for Me Argentina, which was ranked No. 1 in the UK Singles Charts in 1977, How Insensitive, a jazz standard of Antonio Carlos Jobim and The Greatest Love of All, a hit for George Benson ranked No. 2 on Hot R & B / Hip- Hop Songs in 1977. Although the Album does not succumb to the disco wave , it does include several songs with more pronounced rhythmic beats accompanied by back-up singers such as You Never Done It Like That or Anyone Who Had a Heart, which was a hit for Dionne Warwick in 1963. In addition, Shirley included a re-release of her 1968 hit, This Is My Life, but with a Disco arrangement.
This disco version of This Is My Life was a UA single A-Side, with the song, The Magic Is You as B-side. This is My Life was recorded with multiple disco mix versions, but several of the disco mixes were not released until much later. The Magic Is You Album was originally released as a long playing vinyl record and also via stereo audio cassette. It was then reissued by EMI on compact disc in 1987. In 2011, a combo of this LP and and Thoughts of Love was released, and included were the different Disco mixes of This Is My Life.
This album ended Bassey's 14 year collaboration with United Artists Records.
LYRICS:
Funny how a lonely day, can make a person say:
What good is my life
Funny how a breaking heart, can make me start to say:
What good is my life
Funny how I often seem,
to think I'll find never another dream In my life
Till I look around and see,
this great big world is part of me
And my life
This is my life
Today, tomorrow, love will come and find me
But that's the way that I was born to be
This is me
This is me
This is my life
And I don't give a damn for lost emotions
I've such a lot of love I've got to give
Let me live
Let me live
Sometime when I feel afraid,
I think of what a mess I've made Of my life
Crying over my mistakes,
forgetting all the breaks I've had
In my life
I was put on earth to be,
a part of this great world is me
And my life
Guess I'll just add up the score,
and count the things I'm grateful for
In my life
This Is my life
Today, tomorrow, love will come and find me
But that's the way that I was born to be
This is me
This is me
This is my life
And I don't give a damn for lost emotions
I've such a lot of love I've got to give
Let me live
Let me live
This is my life
This is my life
This is my life
Special Thanks to Pieter, Astrid and others from the Shirley Bassey blog, Tal from the Diamond Bassey website, and all those who have contributed wonderful pictures of Shirley!