After the success of my Bardeux post, I think it’s time for another round of bargain bin adventures!
Last Saturday, I found myself rummaging at a Goodwill in Somerville, MA after an amazing brunch with amazing friends at a tiny restaurant in the area that I will not tell you about for fear that many people may discover it and then it will grow popular and then I won’t be able to find a table for brunch ever again and then EVERYTHING WILL BE RUINED.
Buried amongst Jewish Hymns and Color Me Barbra (two not entirely dissimilar titles…and why is it that Barbra Streisand‘s entire discography appears in pristine quality within every Goodwill I’ve ever browsed through?), I stumbled upon a dust-ridden vinyl with all the winning traits: Single name status, stylized font, female pop star, bad ass pose.
And while the album cover already sealed the deal, I found a small blurb underneath the tracklisting on the back of the record which was dedicated to “the spirit” of Marilyn Monroe, who’s silent torment we never knew. Um…SCORE!
The find in question? Corina‘s “Give Me Back My Heart.”
Corina was (is?) a Latin freestyle dance-pop singer from New York, best known for her one Top 10 hit (“hit”?), “Temptation,” which charted at #6 in 1991, a song that makes Dannii Minogue‘s “Success” sound like the “Bad Romance” of its time.
Corina is also responsible for the irresponsibly good “Whispers,” which not only features the dance floor diva busting moves as Marie Antoinette in a Versailles-like palace, but also strongly underscores the fact that Corina bears a striking resemblance to John Leguizamo in a wig.
“Give Me Back My Heart,” however, was Queen C’s first single, which went on to permanently dent the US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play Chart at #26 back in 1989.
Much in line with the other reigning dance legends of the time including Shannon and Stacey Q, “Give Me Back My Heart” is a pulsating Freestyle jam. “What do you mean I don’t understand you?” Corlegenda demands before the song kicks into its jamming percussion and jagged synthesizers. As a composition, it’s virtually indistinguishable from any other late ’80’s Freestyle dance floor filler…but that doesn’t mean it’s not SLAMMIN’.
Shockingly, the cut was not included on the singer’s critically unclaimed self-titled 1991 debut album, which was awarded 2 out of 5 stars by AllMusic.
In the end, I didn’t end up spending my hard-earned 49 cents on the vinyl. I mean, I was not about to trudge around in the snow with that shit tucked in between my arm! Now…had it been Stacey Q? That’s a different story altogether.
Bonus fun fact: Corina played Frida Kahlo in 1999’s Cradle Will Rock which was, according to my estimation, an arguably more influential moment than her entire music career.
