Time Doesn’t Stand Still for Ellie

Arjan recently reported at his arjanwrites.com about a Madonna related tidbit that surfaced in the last weeks and some of us might have missed.

“Madonna and William Orbit reworked their 2000 song “Time Stood Still” (from The Next Big Thing soundtrack) into the song “Inside Out” for emerging artist Ellie Lawson. The track is included on Lawson’s debut “The Philosophy Tree.”

“The gorgeous Orbit-produced tune sets the tone for the rest of the 12-track disc that positions Lawson as a gifted singer/songwriter in the vein of Alanis Morrisette, Jem and Dido. The release of the album was postponed after she was dropped in the shuffle at Atlantic Records earlier this year. However, her luck quickly changed when not only Madonna but also Ellen DeGeneres embraced the artist. The comedian featured Lawson on her day-time talkshow that gave her the chance to be seen by millions.”

The MadonnaTribe team had the chance to get in touch with Ellie and asked her about the song and this is what she told us about how it was put together:

“My song Inside out is written from Madonna‘s original song “Time Stood Still“. I hadn’t heard “Time Stood Still” when I wrote the lyrics and melody to “Inside Out” in my bedroom. Even though I am a Madonna fan I didn’t know that particular song existed!

My manager was working in the same office as William Orbit‘s manager and was given some of his instrumentals. I loved listening to them and instantly started writing. One of the songs was “Time Stood Still“. I wrote “Inside Out” pretty quickly and gave it back to my manager who played it for William Orbit and his manager who liked it.

It was then that I found out about the existing song Time Stood Still and for a long time we weren’t sure if we could use it but we got it cleared by Madonna and her label as a sample and now it’s happily on my album. It was thrilling hearing the Madonna version and seeing how differently we both interpreted the music.”

To know more about Ellie Lawson and her “Philosophy Tree” and listen to a clip of “Inside Out” please visit her official website EllieLawson.com by clicking the image below.

Thanks to Arjan, to the Madonna Information Report and to the very talented Ellie Lawson