32 Flavors
"32 Flavors" is a song written and performed by Ani DiFranco. The song was later covered by Alana Davis as her 1998 debut single.[1] More recently, the song was covered (as "32 Flavours," the British spelling) by acid-jazz band D'Influence and guest singer Louise Rose on the 2002 album D'Influence Presents D-Vas. Most recently, it was covered by Elle Varner on her 2012 mixtape Conversational Lush. In 2014, the song was covered by Dianne Reeves on her album Beautiful Life. The title of the song is a pun on Canton, Massachusetts-based ice cream store Baskin-Robbins and its well-known "31 flavors" slogan.
Ani DiFranco version
| "32 Flavors" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Ani DiFranco from the album Not a Pretty Girl | |
| Released | 1995 |
| Genre | Pop |
| Length | 6:07 |
| Writer | Ani DiFranco |
| Producer | Ani DiFranco |
This song appears on her sixth studio album Not a Pretty Girl, released in 1995. A variation of the song, performed by Ani DiFranco, is featured on the movie soundtrack of the 1999 Canadian romantic comedy Better Than Chocolate.[2]
The song was used in an ad campaign by the National Football League in 1999. The ad featured a number of players who have worn the number "32" on their jerseys.[3]
Alana Davis version
| "32 Flavors" | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||||||||
| Single by Alana Davis | ||||||||||
| from the album Blame It on Me | ||||||||||
| B-side | "Lullaby" | |||||||||
| Released | January 31, 1998 | |||||||||
| Format | CD | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1996 | |||||||||
| Genre | Pop | |||||||||
| Length | 3:45 | |||||||||
| Label | Elektra | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Ani DiFranco | |||||||||
| Producer(s) | Alana Davis | |||||||||
| Alana Davis singles chronology | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
A cover version of "32 Flavors" was released as the first single by Manhattan-based singer Alana Davis. The song appears on her debut album Blame It on Me. The CD single also included Davis' song "Lullaby". It received a 3 out of 5 star rating on Allmusic.
Alana's record label A & R representative, Josh Deutsch, suggested she cover Ani DiFranco's version to be the first single released from her new album. Davis was pleased with the finished result but was, uncomfortable with covering the song as she felt she could not connect with all of the personal emotions that DiFranco wrote into the song.[4]
Davis told MTV News, "Ani DiFranco is very much her own song writer, you know and I think of her songs as being very specific to her ideals and stuff. At first I wasn't sure about taking her ideas and trying to make them my own and reinterpreting them. But I started to play around with it I don't know, I took out the parts that I wasn't comfortable with, you know, and I put in ideas of my own and sent her a copy of it and she said she loved it, so..."[1]
Track listing
- "32 Flavors"
- "Lullaby"
Charts
| Charts | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 37 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Top 40 | 17 |
| U.S. Billboard Top 40 Mainstream | 34 |
References
- 1 2 "Alana Davis Gets Down With Ani DiFranco's "32 Flavors"". MTV.com. 1998-02-13. Retrieved 2012-05-19.
- ↑ Better Than Chocolate (1999) IMDb.com
- ↑ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; The National Football League's latest campaign stacks its legends against today's stars. - New York Times". Nytimes.com. 1999-09-24. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
- ↑ Essex, Andrew. "Alana Davis". Rolling Stone. 784 (1998)
External links
- Lyrics from Ani DiFranco's website
- "32 Flavors" by Alana Davis at Allmusic
- The Progressive video and short piece about Ani.
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics