Maid of Orleans (The Waltz Joan of Arc)


"Joan of Arc " is a song by British band Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and was the third single released from their third studio album Architecture & Morality. The track has been described by OMD frontman Andy McCluskey as the group's "Mull of Kintyre".
To prevent confusion with their previous single "Joan of Arc", the song was retitled "Maid of Orleans " for its single release. Both songs are about the French heroine Joan of Arc and both reached the Top 5 of the UK Singles Chart—although this single was more successful internationally, topping the charts in several countries including Germany, where it was the biggest-selling single of 1982. It also reached number 5 in Ireland and number 7 in New Zealand. The single was the last release on the Dindisc label.
"Maid of Orleans" has been recorded by various artists including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Third Bass and DJ Quicksilver. It was used during the climax and closing credits to the final episode of the second series of BBC television program Ashes to Ashes.

Background

Maid of Orleans had originally been written by Andy McCluskey on 30 May 1981, the 550th anniversary of Joan of Arc's death.
The song is in 6/8 time. The main theme is played on the Mellotron. The intro is made of strange noises and was added later:

Reception

Ned Raggett in AllMusic retrospectively described the track as "epic", concluding: "With another bravura McCluskey lead and a mock-bagpipe lead that's easily more entrancing than the real thing, it's a wrenching ballad like no other before it and little since." In 1989, Radio Veronica listeners voted "Maid of Orleans" the 60th greatest song of all time.

The B-sides

The songs on the B-sides are "Navigation" and "Of All the Things We've Made". Both songs can be found as bonus tracks on the remastered versions of Architecture & Morality. "Of All the Things We've Made" was added to their next album Dazzle Ships, released in 1983. "Navigation" was the title track for the 2001 B-sides compilation album . The early 12" single sleeves list the track "Experiments in Vertical Take Off", but this song was never written.

Track listings

7" vinyl single

Side one
  1. "Maid of Orleans " – 4:09
Side two
  1. "Navigation" – 3:26

    12" vinyl single

Side one
  1. "Maid of Orleans " – 4:09
Side two
  1. "Of All the Things We've Made" – 3:31
  2. "Navigation" – 3:26
Two different sleeve designs were issued, firstly a silver coin design, and a stained-glass design with three different variations.

3" Mini CD single

  1. "Maid of Orleans " – 4:13
  2. "Joan of Arc" – 3:51
  3. "Navigation" – 3:30
  4. "Of All the Things We've Made" – 3:27
The sleeve erroneously states that there are 12" versions of "Maid of Orleans" and "Joan of Arc" on the CD single.

Promotional video

For the promotional video, the outdoor shots were made at Brimham Rocks and Fountains Abbey near Aldfield, North Yorkshire in December 1981 during the snowy winter and the indoor shots at The Manor Studio. The video was directed by Steve Barron and featured Julia Tobin, an actress from the Royal Shakespeare Company as Joan of Arc. The promo video is included on the video version of The Best of OMD and on the bonus DVD of the 2007 reissue of Architecture & Morality.
In 1991, MTV Europe named the video as the 37th best ever made.

Chart performance

Sleeves

The cover was designed by Peter Saville, Carol Wilson and Brett Wickens and was inspired by a stained glass design by Anton Wolff.
There are more than one sleeve designs for the 12" version. The original sleeve design featured an embossed coin motif on a silver foil. It was only released for a limited time, because the band didn't like this design. It was replaced with a similar stained glass sleeve as the 7" version in several variations.

Alternative versions

There is only one studio recording of the song, identical for both the album and single releases. A remix entitled Maid of Orleans by Mulu was released on the remix disc which accompanied the French edition of The OMD Singles compilation album in 2003.

Live performances

The song has been performed at live shows on a regular basis since the Architecture & Morality tour in 1981. A live performance from 1981 was filmed for the Live at The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane concert in December 1981, initially released on VHS and laserdisc and later on DVD
Maid of Orleans was chosen as one of the songs to be performed with an orchestra for the Night of the Proms concert tour in December 2006, effectively McCluskey and Humphreys' first live performances together since the pair had split in 1988. The performances of Maid of Orleans and Sailing on the Seven Seas were issued on CD.
Live recordings have been made available on the Walking on the Milky Way CD single, the Architecture & Morality & More album, Dazzle Ships at The Museum of Liverpool CD/DVD and on Architecture & Morality / Dazzle Ships – Live at the Royal Albert Hall. The song was also performed with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2009 as documented by the Electricity DVD release.

Covers

In 1993 Flemish band Leopold 3 scored a top 10 hit in Flanders with "Volle maan", a version of "Maid of Orleans" with Dutch lyrics.
The song was recorded by London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996.
Watergate recorded a cover version as "Maid of Orleans " in 1999.
In 2009, Maid of Orleans was covered by the German DJ and radio presenter DJ Happy Vibes as a house track.