Don’t Cry for Me Argentina

“Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” is a song recorded by Julie Covington for the 1976 concept album Evita, later included in the 1978 musical of the same name. The song was written and composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were researching the life of Argentine leader Eva Perón. It appears at the opening of the first and second acts, as well as near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, during Eva’s speech from the balcony of the Casa Rosada, and during her final broadcast. The Evita album had taken 3–4 months to record, since Rice was not satisfied with the intensity of the initial recordings. The song had a number of different titles before “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” was chosen as the final one. The song shares its melody with “Oh What a Circus” from the same show and lyrically consists of platitudes where Eva tries to win the favour of the people of Argentina. It was released in the United Kingdom on 12 November 1976 as the first single from the album, accompanied by national and trade advertising, full-colour posters, display sleeves as well as radio interviews. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and earned a gold certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), with over a million copies sold. It also reached the top of the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand and the Netherlands. “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” was critically appreciated, with Rice and Lloyd Webber winning the 1977 Ivor Novello award in the category of Best Song Musically and Lyrically. When Evita moved to a London theatre, Covington—who had become disenchanted with the whole project—refused to reprise the part of Eva, and the role went to Elaine Paige. “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” has been covered by multiple artists, including The Carpenters, Olivia Newton-John, and Sinéad O’Connor as well as actors Lea Michele and Chris Colfer from the TV series Glee‍. In 1996, American singer Madonna played the title role in the film adaptation of the musical and recorded her rendition of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. Released as the second single from the film soundtrack on 16 December 1996, her version received positive reviews from music critics who praised her vocal performance. A separate version called the “Miami Mix”, which included re-recorded vocals in English and Spanish and an Argentinian bandoneon, was promoted to radio. Madonna’s version reached number one on the European Hot 100 Singles chart and the national charts of the Czech Republic, France, Hungary, and Spain. It also became a top-ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 and many other charts worldwide, while attaining gold or platinum in six countries. A man wearing a grey suit sitting with his hands closed An old man outside Co-writers of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice while they were developing Evita in 1976. Both were extremely intrigued by the stories surrounding the life of Eva Perón while researching her during the mid-1970s. Evita was initially produced as an album, before being adapted for the stage, following a formula that Lloyd Webber and Rice had employed during the production of Jesus Christ Superstar, their previous musical. The duo had written the songs for a female singer with good vocals. Rice and Lloyd Webber’s research showed that Eva had not in reality delivered any major oration on the day of her husband Juan Perón’s inauguration ceremony, but not long after becoming Argentina’s new First Lady she started making highly emotional speeches, the intensity of which they wanted to capture with “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”. The song was composed to appear at the opening and near the end of the show, initially as the spirit of the dead Eva exhorting the people of Argentina not to mourn her, and finally during Eva’s speech from the balcony of Casa Rosada.[3] Its melody is similar to the opening song of the musical, “Oh What a Circus”, which puts emphasis on Eva’s funeral. As “Oh What a Circus” ended with the character Che’s sarcastic questioning of the mourning behind Eva’s death, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina” started with only few lines being sung, while the rest of the song was reserved for the finale. After the song was composed, Lloyd Webber and Rice were struggling to find a suitable musical actress for the songs and the titular role, since the only one they knew, Yvonne Elliman, had moved to the United States. One day they were watching the British musical television show, Rock Follies, where they noticed actress and singer Julie Covington, who played an aspiring rock musician. Covington had played in London musicals like Godspell, and her acting abilities in Rock Follies convinced Rice and Lloyd Webber to sign her for Evita. Covington was extremely intrigued by their proposal, considering Eva Perón to be a non-commercial idea for a musical. Nevertheless, she thought that the songs were great compositions and signed on for recording them. Lloyd Webber and Rice immediately started recording, and the first demos were those of “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, “I’d Be Surprisingly Good for You” and “Buenos Aires”, with just piano as an accompaniment. They moved on to sign a deal with MCA Records, to release an album based on the songs, however with extremely poor royalty rates since the record company executives did not expect the album to be a success. In the meantime, singers for all the other roles of the musical were also signed, and the cast moved to Olympic Studios in 1975 to start recording]