Single:
Echo Beach entered the Australian singles chart* on 7 July 1980 and peaked at #6. It was #56 on the Top 100 of 1980.
Album:
The song is on Metro Music which entered the Australian albums chart* on 11 August 1980 and peaked at #46.
Songwriter:
Mark Gane
Producer:
Mike Howlett
Record label of Australian release:
Dindisc
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
30th anniversary version from 2010. They call it their “grown-up” version:
Wikipedia – Martha and the Muffins:
Martha and the Muffins are a Canadian rock band, active from 1977 to the present. Although they only had one major international hit single Echo Beach under their original band name, they had a number of hits in their native Canada, and the core members of the band also charted in Canada and internationally as M + M.
The group’s initial line-up came together in Toronto in 1977, when David Millar asked his fellow Ontario College of Art student Mark Gane to help him start a band. Millar recruited Martha Johnson to play keyboards; Johnson brought in a friend from high school, Carl Finkle, to play bass; and Gane’s brother Tim signed on as the drummer. Saxophone player Andy Haas began performing with the band in early 1978.
When founding member Millar left the band in 1978 he was replaced by Martha Ladly, who became the group’s second keyboardist/vocalist named Martha, although Martha Johnson remained the group’s primary lead singer.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martha_and_the_Muffins
Wikipedia – Echo Beach:
Echo Beach in the song is not a real place. It is a metaphor for a pleasant location that someone thinks of when they have an unsatisfactory job. There is now an Echo Beach in Toronto, but it was named after the song.
In 2003, Q magazine listed Echo Beach among the 1001 best songs ever. In 2005, it was named the 35th greatest Canadian song of all time on the CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks.
Read more: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_Beach
Lyrics:
I know it’s out of fashion
And a trifle uncool
But I can’t help it
I’m a romantic fool
It’s a habit of mine
To watch the sun go down
On Echo Beach, I watch the sun go down
Click for full lyrics
Find more songs to enjoy: Bang a Gong song finder
New to Bang a Gong? Click here to learn more about us