One of the writers behind Sandie Shaw’s Puppet On A String has given the thumbs up to former Little Mix star Jade Thirlwall’s use of the song on her debut solo single.
Phil Coulter co-wrote the hit with Bill Martin, eventually scoring the UK its first of five wins at the Eurovision Song Contest back in 1967.
Last week, Jade debuted her new song Angel Of My Dreams, which opens with a distorted version of Puppet On A String, which is then sampled throughout the song.
Reacting to the news, Phil told BBC News NI he was “thrilled” at his song’s inclusion on Jade’s single.
“I would love to tell you that I’m on speed dial with Little Mix and all of those hot producers, but in fact I was completely unaware until one of my kids and grandkids told me,” he joked, revealing his family assured him Jade’s song was getting “[good] reviews left, right and centre” and is “going to be the song of the summer”.
Phil continued: “I made a point of listening to the song. I am delighted and very flattered and flabbergasted and surprised that I am part of this whole operation.”
“It’s very unusual. I have six kids – it didn’t happen too often that they would bask in the glory of their dad having music in the charts, in fact they would have been embarrassed, they would have preferred if I was an accountant,” he admitted.
“At this stage, if this does become the big hit of the summer, I am in grave danger of becoming cool. Secretly they might have been pleased but they didn’t express that too often, so I suppose now at this advanced stage for me to be seen to be trendy and cool, is something that I embrace.”
Puppet On A String was previously sampled by Lily Allen on her hit Alfie.
Jade revealed to Audacy last week: “Originally, the chorus [of Angel Of My Dreams] was me singing [Puppet On A String]. And then we re-wrote a chorus to go on top of it.
“It probably did sound quite different initially, but the kind of chaos of it was always there. We knew that’s what we wanted to do… I wanted it to feel like there was a lot going on.”
She previously claimed she’d been trying to sample Puppet On A String on a track “for years”, and revealed: “In the beginning of our career you do think you are this puppet, but at the same time it isn’t true – we wrote a lot of our songs, and we were behind a lot of what we put out there I resented that as a statement.
“So it felt natural to take that and show that it can be true and untrue at the same time.”
The Official Charts Company revealed on Sunday that Puppet On A String is currently on track to chart at number two in this weeks UK singles chart.
Check out the song for yourself in the video below:
