View source for Biology:Love Song for a Vampire

{{Short description|1993 single by Annie Lennox}}
{{Infobox song
| name       = Love Song for a Vampire
| cover      = Annie Lennox - Little Bird+Love Song for a Vampire.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = Annie Lennox
| album      = Bram Stoker's Dracula: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
| A-side     = Little Bird
| released   = {{start date|1993|2|1|df=y}}<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1993/Music-Week-1993-01-30.pdf|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=23|date=30 January 1993|access-date=20 June 2021}}</ref>
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| genre      = Pop
| length     = 4:17
| label      =
* RCA
* BMG
| writer     = Annie Lennox
| producer   = Stephen Lipson
| prev_title = Cold
| prev_year  = 1992
| title      = Little Bird
| title2     = Love Song for a Vampire
| next_title = No More 'I Love You's
| next_year  = 1995
| misc       = {{External music video|{{YouTube|vhG8zC4npsE|"Love Song for a Vampire"}}}}
}}

"'''Love Song for a Vampire'''" is a song composed and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox. It was recorded for Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film, ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' based on the 1897 gothic horror novel, where it plays during the end credits. Released in February 1993 as a double A-side with "Little Bird" in Ireland, the United Kingdom and several other countries in Europe, the single was a hit, peaking at number three on the UK and Irish Singles Charts. "Love Song for a Vampire" by itself reached number four in Spain and number 10 in France.

==Background and recording==

When Lennox was approached to contribute vocals for the ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'' soundtrack, she had claimed she had "little interest in Bram Stoker’s book". Instead, Lennox had claimed that she had developed a fondness of a new series of novels including ''The Vampire Chronicles'', by [[Biography:Anne Rice|Anne Rice]]. Rice published the first installment, ''Interview With The Vampire'', in 1978, then created a sequel with George RR Martin-like speed in 1985, ''The Vampire Lestat''.<ref>{{cite web |title=1993 |url=https://www.thisweekinthe90s.com/p/love-song-for-a-vampire-february |website=Thisweekinthe90s.com |publisher=This Week in the 90s |access-date=27 October 2023}}</ref> Lennox and Rice were also united in tragedy, with Rice’s daughter Michele passing away with leukemia at age six, before she began writing ''Interview With The Vampire''. In 1988, Lennox’s son Daniel was stillborn, a trauma that later drove Annie to become a campaigner for women’s healthcare, and ultimately united Lennox and Rice together leading to Lennox to contribute vocals to "Love Songs for a Vampire".<ref>{{cite web |title=1993 |url=https://www.thisweekinthe90s.com/p/love-song-for-a-vampire-february |website=Thisweekinthe90s.com |publisher=This Week in the 90s |access-date=27 October 2023}}</ref>

It is claimed that the trauma and emotion faced by Rice and Lennox contributes to the tender heart of “Love Song for a Vampire”. The song is described as "a vulnerable song about loss, and the feeling of a grief that might go on forever".<ref>{{cite web |title=1993 |url=https://www.thisweekinthe90s.com/p/love-song-for-a-vampire-february |website=Thisweekinthe90s.com |publisher=This Week in the 90s |access-date=27 October 2023}}</ref>

==Critical reception==
In their review of the soundtrack for ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'', ''Billboard'' wrote, "The highlight and probable single is the only vocal entry on the album, Annie Lennox's haunting, romantic 'Love Song for a Vampire'."<ref>{{cite magazine|title= Album Reviews |magazine= Billboard |date= 5 December 1992 |page= 53 |access-date= 24 October 2020 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Billboard/90s/1992/Billboard-1992-12-05.pdf}}</ref> Mike Ragogna from ''HuffPost'' noted that in the song, "Lennox sings the poem, ''Once I had the rarest rose that ever deigned to bloom, cruel winter chilled the bud and stole my flower too soon'', slyly transporting us from [[Biography:Bram Stoker|Bram Stoker]]'s world to that of [[Biography:Anne Rice|Anne Rice]]'s without our realizing."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/huffpost-reviews-emthe-an_b_169374?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAH0eCt99L8AMYXDcWtwSY-mhGaU9ISafWEIdnE0g1QrjRaG94HwQooQNber7gxBxwa-udBvfv4la82Y8LYgoiVaYOmwraWMqnmBH9K0n2qMLj__H-yHsoBKuPAEUtpJaj4rc7kSpNRe3CQfRQGCj8-4sfkCORzOm5YjjLPZ3G0cn|first=Mike|last=Regogna|title=HuffPost Reviews : The Annie Lennox Collection|website=HuffPost|date=27 March 2009|access-date=28 February 2020}}</ref> In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton declared it as a "gorgeous contribution" to the movie.<ref>{{cite web|last=Masterton|first=James|title=Week Ending February 13th 1993|url=https://chart-watch.uk/archives/1993/week-ending-february-13th-1993|website=Chart Watch UK|date=7 February 1993|accessdate=10 September 2021|author-link=James Masterton}}</ref> Alan Jones from ''Music Week'' named it Pick of the Week, describing it as "a simple, mournful, relentless and (appropriately?) haunting song."<ref>{{cite magazine|first= Alan |last= Jones |title= Market Preview: Mainstream – Singles – Pick of the Week |magazine= Music Week |date= 30 January 1993 |page= 10 |accessdate= 24 March 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1993/Music-Week-1993-01-30.pdf}}</ref>

==Music video==
The accompanying music video for "Love Song for a Vampire" was directed by British director Sophie Muller.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7056794/|title=Annie Lennox: Love Song for a Vampire|publisher=[[Social:IMDb|IMDb]]|access-date=7 October 2021}}</ref> It features Annie Lennox, seen in a dark garden very similar to Lucy Westenra's in the film, and wearing a similar white dress. As she sings, several excerpts from the film are shown, and the video ends as what appears to be holy light shines upon her, very similar to what happens during Dracula's death at the film's end. David Sinclair from ''Rolling Stone'' complimented it as an "extraordinary video", and "a striking display of sinister melancholia by Lennox intercut with a tour de force of special culled from the movie."<ref>Sinclair, David (4 March 1993). "The turning point: Annie Lennox finds life after Eurythmics". ''Rolling Stone''.</ref>

==Release==
In the UK, the song was the bigger hit of the double-A sided single with Lennox's track "Little Bird" from her album ''Diva''. It reached number three on the UK Singles Chart in early 1993, while in the US, it reached number 24 on the ''Billboard'' Modern Rock Tracks chart.

It reappeared in 1995 on the UK CD single "A Whiter Shade of Pale", alongside Lennox's covers of the Psychedelic Furs' "Heaven" and Blondie's "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear".

==Track listings==
All tracks were written by Annie Lennox unless otherwise noted.

'''CD: Arista / 07822 12522 2 (US)'''
{{Track listing
|title1 = Little Bird
|note1 = Edit
|length1 = 4:32
|title2 = Love Song for a Vampire
|note2 = from ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''
|length2 = 4:16
|title3 = Why
|length3 = 5:04*
|title4 = The Gift
|writer4 = Lennox/Buchanan, Bell, Moore
|length4 = 4:36*
|title5 = You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart
|writer5 = Lennox/Stewart
|length5 = 4:06*
}}

* The final three tracks were recorded live for MTV Unplugged at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, {{wipe|Switzerland}}, 3 July 1992.

'''CD: BMG / 74321 13383 2 (UK)'''
{{Track listing
|title1 = Little Bird
|length1 = 4:39
|title2 = Love Song for a Vampire
|note2 = from ''Bram Stoker's Dracula''
|length2 = 4:17
|title3 = Little Bird
|note3 = Utah Saints Version
|length3 = 6:35
|title4 = Little Bird
|note4 = N'Joi Version
|length4 = 4:46
}}

==Charts==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

===Weekly charts===
{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!scope="col"|Chart (1993)
!scope="col"|Peak<br>position
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1993/BB-1993-03-20.pdf|title=Hits of the World|magazine=Billboard|volume=105|issue=12|page=55|date=20 March 1993|access-date=2 November 2016}}</ref>
| 5
|-
|-
|-
!scope="row"|Italy (''Musica e dischi'')<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1993/MM-1993-05-08.pdf|title=Top 10 Sales in Europe|magazine=Music & Media|volume=10|issue=19|page=24|date=8 May 1993|access-date=24 November 2019}}</ref>
| 8
|-
!scope="row"|Portugal (AFP)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1993/MM-1993-03-13.pdf|title=Top 10 Sales in Europe|magazine=Music & Media|volume=10|issue=11|page=24|date=13 March 1993|access-date=30 October 2020}}</ref>
| 6
|-
!scope="row"|Spain (AFYVE)<ref>{{cite book|author=Fernando Salaverri|title=Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002|edition=1st|date=September 2005|publisher=Fundación Autor-SGAE|location=Spain|isbn=84-8048-639-2}}</ref>
| 4
|-
|-
|-
|}
{{col-2}}

===Year-end charts===
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!scope="col"|Chart (1993)
!scope="col"|Position
|-
!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/90s/1993/MM-1993-12-18.pdf|title=1993 Year-End Sales Charts: Eurochart Hot 100 Singles|magazine=Music & Media|volume=10|issue=51/52|page=15|date=18 December 1993|access-date=27 November 2019}}</ref> 
| 39
|-
!scope="row"|UK Singles (OCC)<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Top 100 Singles 1993|magazine=Music Week|page=24|date=15 January 1994}}</ref>
| 26
|}
{{col-end}}

==Certifications==
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}


[[Category:Dracula]]

{{Sourceattribution|Love Song for a Vampire}}