She Cries Your Name

"She Cries Your Name" is a song by Beth Orton. It was released as her third single and found on her 1993 debut album Superpinkymandy and again, as a slightly different version, on her 1996 release Trailer Park. It was also re-released in 1997, with a different set of B-sides.

"She Cries Your Name"
Single by Beth Orton
from the album Superpinkymandy and Trailer Park
Released	26 September 1996 & 2 June 1997
Genre	Folk rock[1] ambient[1] trip hop[2] soul[2]
Length	4:47
Label	Heavenly Records
Songwriter(s)	Beth Orton, William Orbit
Producer(s)	Victor Van Vugt, Andrew Weatherall
Beth Orton singles chronology
"Don't Wanna Know About Evil" (1993) "She Cries Your Name" (1996) "Touch Me with Your Love" (1996)

Background

The earliest version of "She Cries Your Name" appeared on Orton's 1993 debut album Superpinkymandy. Another early version of "She Cries Your Name" appeared on the 1995 William Orbit album Strange Cargo Hinterland. The Strange Cargo Hinterland version removed Orton's verses from the Superpinkymandy version, but retains her chorus vocals and the original instrumentation. The third and best-known version of the track appeared on Orton's second album, Trailer Park. This version includes all of the lyrics from the Superpinkymandy version, but with different production.^[3]

"She Cries Your Name" was the lead single for Trailer Park, released in September 1996.^[4] The single was re-released in June 1997 with a different set of B-sides. The initial release peaked at #76, and the re-release at #40 in the UK official singles chart.

Video

The video for "She Cries Your Name" was shot in a trailer park in the Mojave Desert, which inspired the title of Orton's Trailer Park LP.^[5] MTV placed the video into active rotation on September 16, 1997.^[6]

Reception

Critics praised Orton's blend of genres on "She Cried Your Name," one reviewer for Option calling the blend of trip-hop, folk music, and soul music "smooth."^[2] BBC London presenter Gary Crowley, speaking to Billboard, called "She Cried Your Name" "a fantastic piece of mood music, like a singer/songwriter with a club feel."^[4] Spin critic Sarah Vowell called the single the standout track from Trailer Park: "a bittersweet ballad that tastes like tea brewed from tears."^[7]

A 2009 retrospective in Pitchfork praised the single's longevity, in particular Orton's "cozy, impressionistic Americana sketches" of the lyrics and the production by Victor Van Vugt.

Track listing

CD: Heavenly / HVN 60CD United Kingdom

1. "She Cries Your Name" - 4:48
2. "Tangent" - 7:29
3. "Safety" - 2:11
4. "It's Not the Spotlight" (Barry Goldberg, Gerry Goffin) (Rod Stewart cover) - 4:18

• 1996 release

CD: Heavenly / HVN 68CD United Kingdom

1. "She Cries Your Name" - 4:48
2. "Bullet" - 4:38
3. "Best Bit" - 3:05
4. "It's Not the Spotlight" - 4:18

• 1997 re-release

References

1. Bradley, Larry (4 November 2014). "The 1990s: Beth Orton- "She Cries Your Name". The Alternative Jukebox. Cassell. p. 207. ISBN 978-1-84403-789-6.
2. "Beth Orton - She Cries Your Name". No. 72–76. Sonic Options Network. 1997. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
3. "Beth Orton and the Beat". New Directions in Music. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
4. Sexton, Paul (14 December 1996). "Britain's Beth Orton Makes Heavenly Debut". Billboard.
5. Belcher, David (31 October 1996). "Scottish sound of Beth's folk roots". The Herald. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
6. Reece, Doug (27 September 1997). "Popular Uprisings: Billboard's Weekly Coverage of Hot Prospects for the Heatseekers Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 24 February 2023.
7. Vowell, Sarah (January 1998). "Unheard Music: Our critics stump for their overlooked and ignored favorites from the margins of '97". Spin. Retrieved 24 February 2023.