# Laura Branigan's "Gloria" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840 "2018-04-05T01:01:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/41 "2018-04-11T03:03:01Z")
One thing that’s always bugged me about Self Control is the “I live among the creatures of the night” line. It just doesn’t fit her. Laura Branigan seemed like she would be more at home in a sunshiney meadow cavorting with fluffy bunnies or something. But yeah, great voice, great songs. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/42 "2018-04-11T14:34:26Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > One thing that’s always bugged me about Self Control is the “I live among the creatures of the night” line. It just doesn’t fit her. Laura Branigan seemed like she would be more at home in a sunshiney meadow cavorting with fluffy bunnies or something. > > But yeah, great voice, great songs. Hey, good point! I wonder if she wrote her own songs… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/43 "2018-04-11T19:42:13Z")
One of my random, persistent memories is of Branigan performing “Gloria” on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/44 "2018-04-11T21:04:50Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > One thing that’s always bugged me about Self Control is the “I live among the creatures of the night” line. It just doesn’t fit her. Laura Branigan seemed like she would be more at home in a sunshiney meadow cavorting with fluffy bunnies or something. In the video (to the extent it makes any sense at all), she seems to be enticed, and even victimized, by the world she finds herself in. If Branigan is the fluffy bunny type, it gives the song a sort of stranger-in-a-strange-land, can’t-help-herself vibe. It’s quite different than if Diamanda Galás had done it, but no less valid. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2018, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/45 "2018-04-11T22:45:09Z")
> [@gytalf2000](#): > > Hey, good point! > > I wonder if she wrote her own songs… “Gloria” and “Self Control” and some of her other best songs were actually written (and first performed) by Italian men, including Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi. The original lyrics and original feel of the songs were sometimes quite different. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/46 "2018-04-12T09:01:28Z")
I didn’t know that _Self Control_ had been performed by someone else, but in the case of _Gloria_, it’s actually the opposite : **Tozzi** ’s original version is the one I’m familiar with. And, while I don’t speak Italian, the little that I understand is enough to realize that the lyrics are very different indeed. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840/47 "2018-04-12T13:54:08Z")
> [@DavidwithanR](#): > > “Gloria” and “Self Control” and some of her other best songs were actually written (and first performed) by Italian men, including Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi. The original lyrics and original feel of the songs were sometimes quite different. Which explains why one of Laura Branigan’s songs had the Italian title “Ti Amo,” despite the lyrics otherwise being in English. This is another case where the English lyrics are very different from the original Italian. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laura-branigans-gloria/811840.md?page=2)