“Lily Was Here!”

LILY WAS HERE (1989) – Soundtrack by David A. Stewart

David A. Stewart invited Candy Dulfer, who had not previously released any of her material, to play the saxophone on this instrumental.

Candy Dulfer was born in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, as the daughter of saxophonist Hans Dulfer. She began playing the drums at the age of five. As a six-year-old she started to play the soprano saxophone. At the age of seven she switched to alto saxophone and later began playing in a local concert band Jeugd Doet Leven (English translation: “Youth Brings Life”) in Zuiderwoude. Dulfer played her first solo on stage with her father’s band De Perikels (“The Perils”).

There is so much more to Candy’s sound and making of this unforgettable song. The soundtrack was used in the film Lily Was Here. The original title was “The Cashier”, a 1989 Dutch drama film directed by Ben Verbong.

Teenager Lily works as a checkout girl at the local supermarket. She becomes pregnant, but before the child is born, the black father is attacked by a gang of thugs and killed. Following his death, she flees to the city, where she soon finds herself under the wings of a pimp, Ted. Escaping Ted, she commences a one-woman spree of thefts, culminating in running from the police and the press. In the end, Lily is forced to choose between freedom and her baby.

One song from the soundtrack, performed by Candy Dulferand Dave Stewart, was later released as a single – “Lily Was Here“. wili

At the age of eleven, she made her first recordings for the album I Didn’t Ask (1981) of De Perikels. In 1982, when she was twelve years old, she played as a member of Rosa King’s Ladies Horn section at the North Sea Jazz Festival. According to Dulfer, King encouraged her to become a band leader herself. In 1984, at the age of fourteen, Dulfer started her own band Funky Stuff.

The single became a major hit and stayed at the number one position for five weeks in the Netherlands. Because of this success, the single was also released in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States where it became a hit as well, reaching number six in the UK and even rising to number 11 in the tough U.S. market. The success of this instrumental encouraged Dulfer to compose music for her own album, which she titled Saxuality.

The instrumental duet “Lily Was Here” were compose of an English musician David A. Stewart and Dutch saxophonist Candy Dulfer. The song was released as a single in November 1989 from the soundtrackof the same name for the Dutch movie De Kassière, also known by the English title Lily Was Here. The song reached number one in the Netherlands and became a top-twenty hit in several other European countries, Australia, and the United States.

According to Candy’s father Hans Dulfer on Dutch radio, the recording was done in just one take, actually a jam session, and at that time not meant to be released. This jam session was done at the end of a day of recording for the movie De Kassière, and Dave Stewart later decided to release this as a single. Wiki