{{Short description|1995 single by Paul Weller}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2023}} {{Infobox song | name = The Changingman | cover = The Changingman cover.jpg | caption = Promotional single cover | alt = | type = single | artist = Paul Weller | album = Stanley Road | released = {{start date|1995|4|24|df=y}} | recorded = | studio = | venue = | genre = * Britpop * psychedelic rock * blues rock | length = {{Duration|m=4|s=2}} | label = Go! Discs | writer = * Brendan Lynch * Paul Weller | producer = * Brendan Lynch * Paul Weller | prev_title = Out of the Sinking | prev_year = 1994 | next_title = You Do Something to Me | next_year = 1995 }}
"'''The Changingman'''" is a song by British singer-songwriter Paul Weller, released in April 1995 by Go! Discs as the lead single from his third solo album, ''Stanley Road'' (1995).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fujiwara|first=Chris|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-2-CQAAQBAJ&dq=The+Cardinal+Preminger+Ring+Lardner&pg=PA301|title=The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger|date=14 July 2015|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=978-1-4668-9423-5}}</ref> The song charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ShieldSquare Block |url=https://validate.perfdrive.com/?ssa=840dba6b-c8a4-47d1-9e55-072c52efcd42&ssb=32127312576&ssc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.songfacts.com%2Ffacts%2Fpaul-weller%2Fthe-changingman&ssi=e3093466-89ae-cee4-25ee-f80f72f3d3bc&ssk=support@shieldsquare.com&ssm=81579001603942834104451213620942&ssn=d4547252d3478cf19f008d0fd7f64eece3e4b710d0fb-ae8e-4fab-a2e456&sso=23833f27-977960d6221f381703caaa85b16e797343ed19e95ea61772&ssp=22246195311672898690167285463145820&ssq=79226565936469043534559364410211246015378&ssr=MjA4LjgwLjE1NC4yOQ==&sst=ZoteroTranslationServer/WMF%20(mailto:noc@wikimedia.org)&ssv=bm91c2VyaWQ=&ssw= |access-date=4 January 2023 |website=validate.perfdrive.com}}</ref>
==Background== "The Changingman" was co-written by Brendan Lynch, and performed, written and produced by Paul Weller, who sings and plays guitar, piano and shakers on the record. Carleen Anderson provides back-up vocals, as does Steve Cradock and Dr. Robert, who also play the guitar and bass guitar respectively. In addition, Steve White plays drums and Lynch played the Cyremin.<ref name="stanleyroad">{{cite AV media notes|title=Stanley Road|others=Paul Weller|publisher=Go! Discs}}</ref><ref name="mecm">{{cite book|title=Paul Weller: My Ever Changing Moods|page=422|first=John|last=Reed|publisher=Omnibus Press|date=5 November 2009}}</ref>
Weller claimed that the song's title came from the name his daughter Leah gave to one of her dolls, although at the time his friend Terry Rawlings managed a band called that.<ref name="mecm" /> The song expresses Weller's mantra of breaking things up if they are getting too comfortable; the previous year, he had divorced his wife, Dee C. Lee, breaking up what appeared to the public to be a happy marriage. In an interview with ''Mojo'' in 2010, he expressed that this was because there were senses "that things were going too well, we were too happy, too comfortable, everything seemed too nice [and] that for me as a writer and an artist I might lose my edge. I had to break the shape up, re-arrange things", noting that said turmoil supplanted the lyrics of the entire parent album and stated that the lyric 'numbed by the effect, aware of the muse, too in touch with myself, I light the fuse' "was about the process of causing chaos around you".<ref name="songfacts">{{cite web|url=http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9227|title=The Changingman by Paul Weller|publisher=Songfacts}}</ref>
The main riff is an interpolation of "10538 Overture" by Electric Light Orchestra.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hewitt |first=Paolo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OkQU2L_iAQ0C&pg=PA284 |title=Paul Weller: The Changing Man |date=2008 |publisher=Corgi |isbn=978-0-552-15609-7 |language=en}}</ref>
==Chart performance== The song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, spending four weeks on the chart and becoming Weller's first solo top-10 hit.<ref name="officialcharts">{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/11609/paul-weller/|title=Paul Weller {{!}} full Official Chart History|publisher=The Official Charts Company}}</ref>
==Critical reception== John Robb from ''Melody Maker'' wrote, "'The Changing Man' is not a godlike record but, in some ways, it's reassuring to hear one of the old fellas from the late Seventies still cut some action."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=John|last=Robb|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53446889061/|title=Singles|magazine=Melody Maker|date=29 April 1995|page=34|access-date=12 January 2024|author-link=John Robb (musician)}}</ref> Another ''Melody Maker'' editor, David Stubbs, remarked "the classic mid-period Who chimes" of the song.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Stubbs|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53459679056/|title=Albums|magazine=Melody Maker|date=13 May 1995|page=36|access-date=13 January 2024|author-link=David Stubbs}}</ref> Ted Kessler from ''NME'' praised it as a "well-crafted" single, describing it as "churning, darkly introspective".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Ted|last=Kessler|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53466044311/|title=Long Play|magazine=NME|date=20 May 1995|page=44|access-date=26 January 2024}}</ref> Boy George reviewed the song for ''Select'' saying, "He's turning into early Eric Clapton in some ways..which is no bad thing. It's just very passionate, and that's something I go for in my heroes."<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Boy|last=George|url=https://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2011/06/boygeorge.jpg|title=New Singles|magazine=Select|date=June 1995|page=|access-date=13 December 2024|author-link=Boy George}}</ref>
==Music video== A music video was produced for the song. It alternates between clips of Weller singing and playing guitar, shots of model Anjela Lauren Smith dancing, and assorted symbols.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v9WhRpQw8E|title=Paul Weller – The Changingman|date=8 October 2009 |publisher=YouTube}}</ref>
==Certifications== {{Certification Table Top}} {{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Paul Weller|title=The Changingman|award=Silver|relyear=1995|certyear=2021|id=17185-614-1|access-date=23 April 2021}} {{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}
==Release history== {|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" !scope="col"|Region !scope="col"|Date !scope="col"|Format(s) !scope="col"|Label(s) !scope="col"|{{abbr|Ref.|Reference}} |- !scope="row"|United Kingdom |24 April 1995 |{{hlist|7-inch vinyl|CD|cassette}} |Go! Discs |<ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=43|date=22 April 1995}}</ref> |- !scope="row"|United States |12 June 1995 |{{hlist|Progressive rock|alternative radio}} |{{hlist|Go! Discs|London}} |<ref>{{cite magazine|title=New Music for June|magazine=Radio & Records|issue=1096|pages=78, 83|date=26 May 1995}}</ref> |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Paul Weller}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Changingman}} Category:1995 singles Category:1995 songs Category:Go! Discs singles Category:London Records singles Category:Song recordings produced by Brendan Lynch (music producer) Category:Songs written by Paul Weller Category:Paul Weller songs