I Should Be So Lucky

"I Should Be So Lucky"
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Kylie
Released	December 29, 1987
Format	CD single, Vinyl single, Cassette single
Recorded	1987
Genre	Dance, Eurobeat, Hi-NRG, Freestyle
Length	3:24
Label	PWL, Mushroom
Writer(s)	Stock Aitken Waterman
Producer	Stock Aitken Waterman
Certification	Platinum (ARIA) Platinum (UK)
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Locomotion" (1987) "I Should Be So Lucky" (1987) "Got to Be Certain" (1988) Kylie Minogue American singles chronology - "I Should Be So Lucky" (1987) "Got to Be Certain" (1988) Alternate Cover Australian cover of "I Should Be So Lucky". Music video "I Should Be So Lucky" at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)

"I Should Be So Lucky" is a pop–dance song performed by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. The song was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman for Minogue's debut album Kylie (1988).

The song was released as the album's second single in December 1987. It was a commercial success, reaching the top ten on the majority of the charts it entered, and number one in the United Kingdom and Australia. The song became the highest selling single in Australia in 1988 and was named "Record of the Year" by the Japanese Phonographic Record Association.^[1]

Background and recording

After the success of her debut single "Locomotion" in Australia, Minogue traveled to London to work with Stock, Aitken and Waterman, a successful British writing and production team. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" in forty minutes while she waited outside the recording studio.^[2] Mike Stock wrote the lyrics for the song in response to what he had learned about Minogue prior to her arrival. He believed that although she was a successful soap star in Australia and very talented, there must be something wrong with her and figured that she must be unlucky in love.^[2] Minogue recorded the song in less than an hour, which Stock attributes to her good ear for music and her quick memorization skills. After Minogue finished the recording session she returned home to Australia to continue work on the soap opera, Neighbours.^[2]

"I Should Be So Lucky" is a dance-pop song with instrumentation from keyboards and guitars.^[3] It is set in common time, and moves at a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute.^[4] The song is written in the key of C major, an usual choice for a pop song. Minogue's vocal range spans from D₄ to C₅,^[4]

Music video

Minogue in front of a colourful chalkboard background.

The music video for "I Should Be So Lucky" was directed by Chris Langman and filmed in November 1987 at Channel 7 Studios in Melbourne, Australia.^[5] The video features Minogue walking through her home, with scenes of her dancing in front of a colourful chalkboard background intercut throughout. It presented a cute, wholesome, young "girl-next-door" image of Minogue to the public, with scenes of her giggling and making funny faces to the camera.

Another version of the video was made for live television promotion. This version of the video shows Kylie riding in a car with several friends through Sydney with passerbys waving to her as she rides by them.

The video premiered in the UK in January 1988.^[6] The complete version of "I Should Be So Lucky" featured in the music video has been released commercially through multiple VHS and DVD collections. Its most recent inclusion is on the companion DVD to her second greatest hits album Ultimate Kylie in 2004.

As satire

The British satirical programme Spitting Image made a send-up of I Should Be So Lucky in which Minogue is depicted as being brought to life in a way similar to Frankenstein's monster in an old 1930s movie. The action shifts between the laboratory to an apartment similar to that of the original video. The implication is that she is a "creation" of the producers.

The song also pokes fun at her performance in the Australian soap opera Neighbours, in which as Charlene Mitchell, later Robinson she was best known at the time, and implies that she was lucky to have been chosen over other soap stars, namely Paul Henry who was Benny Hawkins in the British drama Crossroads.

It begins with Minogue being brought to life by a mad scientist and singing:

I'm the girl from Neighbours,
I'm a bit part in the soap.
But now I'm really famous
So if you're useless don't lose hope.
...
My voice is just as subtle
As my playing of Charlene.
But there's no disadvantage
'Cause it's all done by machine.

Stock, Aitken and Waterman are combined together as a large tape player providing creature-Minogue's voice which at one point is distorted to sound like Rick Astley^[7]

Chart performance

"I Should Be So Lucky" entered the UK Singles Chart on 9 January 1988 at number ninety, before rising to number one. It maintained the number one position for five weeks. It became the third biggest selling single of the year with sales of 672,568.^[8] In Australia, the song reached number one on the singles chart and became the country's highest selling single of 1988.^[1] The song also reached number one in Finland, Germany, Israel and Japan.^[9] In 1989, the track was awarded "Record of the Year" by the Japanese Phonographic Record Association.^[1]

"I Should Be So Lucky" performed moderately well in North America. In the United States, the song peaked at number twenty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Minogue's first US top forty release.^[10] The track reached number ten on the Hot Dance Club Play chart and number thirty-two on the Hot Dance Singles Sales chart.^[11] In Canada, "I Should Be So Lucky" reached number twenty-five on the singles chart.^[9] In Sweden,the single sold 20,781 copies.

Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "I Should Be So Lucky".

7" Vinyl Single

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" – 3:24
2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Instrumental) – 3:24

12" Vinyl Single

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Extended mix) – 6:08
2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Instrumental) – 3:24

12" Remix

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Bicentennial remix) – 6:12
2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Instrumental) – 3:24

North American 12" Vinyl Single

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Extended mix) – 6:08
2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Bicentennial remix) – 6:12
3. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Instrumental) – 3:24

iTunes Digital EP - Remixes

(Not available at time of original release. Released for the first time as part of iTunes PWL archive release in 2009.)

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Extended Version)
2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (The Bicentennial Remix)
3. "I Should Be So Lucky" (7' Instrumental)
4. "I Should Be So Lucky" (7' Backing Track)
5. "I Should Be So Lucky" (12' Remix)
6. "I Should Be So Lucky" (12' Remix Instrumental)
7. "I Should Be So Lucky" (12' Remix Backing Track)

Other official versions

1. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Fever2002 Tour Studio Version)

Live Performances

Kylie performed the song on the following concert tours:

• Disco in Dream/The Hitman Roadshow
• Enjoy Yourself Tour (Extended Mix performed)
• Rhythm of Love Tour
• Let's Get to It Tour
• Intimate and Live Tour (Torch Version)
• On A Night Like This Tour (Torch Version)
• KylieFever2002 (as a medley with "Dreams")
• Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour
• Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour
• KylieX2008 (added as an encore from the 17 May performance in Bucharest)
• For You, For Me Tour (as an encore in Hollywood and New York only)

The song was also performed on:

• An Audience with Kylie 2001 TV Special

Credits and personnel

The following people contributed to "I Should Be So Lucky":^[3]

• Kylie Minogue - lead vocals
• Dee Lewis, Mae McKenna - backing vocals
• Mike Stock - backing vocals, keyboards
• Matt Aitken - guitars, keyboards
• Mark McGuire - engineering
• Pete Hammond - mixing

Charts

Cover versions

The popular sketch comedy television show French & Saunders made a parody of "I Should Be So Lucky". In 1992, the Egyptian pop singer Simon recorded a cover of the song with new lyrics in Arabic titled "Bahibak Aawy". French guitarist Noel Akchote's 2007 album "So Lucky" includes an instrumental cover. In September 2007, a cover version of "I Should Be So Lucky" appeared on the album Dolce Vita by Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas.^[22] Also that year, Japanese duo mihimaru GT released a hip hop cover version of the song. It was released as a double A-side single, along with the song "Ai Kotoba", in Japan in November 2007.^[23] More recent in 2008, Northern Kings recorded a rock version of this song included on their second album Rethroned.

In Popular Culture

• The Kylie Minogue recording features in the film "Cookie" (1989).

References

External links

• Kylie.com — official website.