I was driving around the other day, flipping through the radio stations. It was an odd hour of the day where they play blasts from the past, so I wasn’t really finding anything particularly alluring. I skipped to a channel that happened to be playing Natalie Imbruglia’s ’90s hit “Torn.” The song is a little bit before my time, but I’ve heard it so I was slightly familiar.
Because I’m me, I decided to do some research behind the song and learn it’s history. Basically, “Torn” has been Imbruglia’s only real hit in America (she was quite big in Australia), and it garnered her three Grammy nominations (Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance). But what I found even more interesting is that the song that made her career was actually a cover. The original English version of the song was recorded by Ednaswap, an alternative rock group. I like Ednaswap’s version, it has a good edge to it – it’s less airy than Imbruglia’s.
But the funny thing is that Ednaswap technically covered the song too! The song was originally recorded in 1993 by Danish singer Lis Sørensen with the title “Brændt,” meaning “Burned.” The song was translated into English and recorded by Ednaswap.
It’s interesting the incarnations the song took, it reminds me of “Angel of the Morning” in that it appears many different people recorded it until it got a large audience appeal.
