"Lady Marmalade" is a song written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan that is famous for the French refrain of "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?
In 2021, the Library of Congress selected Labelle's version for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In 1998, girl group All Saints released a cover version that peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
The 2001 version by singers Christina Aguilera, Mýa, Pink and rapper Lil' Kim, recorded for the Moulin Rouge!
A demo of the song was first recorded by The Eleventh Hour, a disco group made up of studio musicians fronted by Nolan on vocals.
[9] Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was produced by Toussaint and Vicki Wickham, with the former also playing an RMI Electra-Piano on the recording.
[11] "Lady Marmalade" is about a man's sexual encounter with the titular prostitute, but Patti LaBelle later claimed that she was completely oblivious to its overall message, saying: "I didn't know what it was about.
"Lady Marmalade" replaced another Crewe/Nolan composition, Frankie Valli's "My Eyes Adored You", as the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single.
The Labelle version also appears in several films, including The Long Kiss Goodnight, Dick, and Jacob's Ladder.
[23] In 2021, the Library of Congress selected the song for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
The "Lady Marmalade" portion of the single was only released in Europe, and the group performed the song at the 1998 Brit Awards.
All Saints' version features different, slightly racier lyrics for its verses, written by the group; the only lyrics retained from the original song are heard in the "gicchi-gicchi-ya-ya da-da" and "mocha-choca-latte ya-ya" (of the pre-chorus) and the French "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soi" ("do you want to sleep with me tonight") of the chorus.
[citation needed] The music video for the song shows the band members and other people having a dance party on one of the floors of a skyscraper in New York City at night.
In 2001, "Lady Marmalade" appeared as part of a medley in the Baz Luhrmann film Moulin Rouge!
Aguilera said she embraced the idea of collaborating with Elliott, Pink, Mýa and Lil' Kim on the track as soon as it was pitched to her.
AllMusic's Brand Kohlenstein praised the song, saying that "the ladies teamed up for a surefire hit with their naughtier version of Patti Labelle's 'Lady Marmalade.
'"[75] Slant Magazine praised the collaboration as well, describing it as "an accolade to the performers' various distinctive styles, with Lil' Kim trashing it up and Aguilera caterwauling her way through the second half of the song".
[78] In a retrospective review, journalist Bianca Gracie noted that the song "highlighted each artist’s signature style: Lil Kim’s raunchy raps, Pink’s soulful tone, Mya’s sultry coos, and Aguilera’s theatrical vocal runs".
[87][88] The single peaked at number one in an additional thirteen countries, including Australia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain and Sweden.
"We wanted to showcase each of the ‘four badass chicks from the Moulin Rouge’ bringing together their different skills and personas into a true celebration of diversity, talent, and female unity."
The music video, directed by Paul Hunter, shows all four performers in lingerie in a cabaret-style video (with rapper Missy Elliott giving an introduction) and was filmed on sets built to resemble the actual Moulin Rouge nightclub around the turn of the 20th century.
"[74] The video's art direction anachronistically merged hip-hop sensibility with the film's French cabaret setting, thanks to some props and costumes actually used in the movie, according to Hunter's office.
In March 2021, Glenn Garner of the People magazine noted that "Lady Marmalade" "remains one of the most iconic music videos of our time".
[97] "Lady Marmalade" was also featured in an episode of the thirteenth season (2021) of RuPaul's Drag Race, where contestants Tina Burner, Elliott with 2 Ts and Kahmora Hall had to perform a lip sync of the song.
[99] Moulin Rouge!, the musical, opened on Broadway at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 25, 2019, featuring "Lady Marmalade" sung by The Lady M's: Nini 'Legs-in-the-Air' (Robyn Hurder), Arabia (Holly James), Baby Doll (Jeigh Madjus) and La Chocolat (Jacqueline B. Arnold).