“Falling Slowly” released...for first time

Falling Slowly The Swell Season (Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová)

Writer(s): Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová (see lyrics here) Released: April 21, 2006 First Charted: September 16, 2007 Peak: 61 US, 15 AA, 8 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.99 US Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 17.3 video, 101.35 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Glen Hansard is a folk-rock singer/songwriter and musician born in Dublin, Ireland in 1970. He became the frontman of the rock band the Frames in 1990; they have released six studio albums. In 2001, he met a then-thirteen-year-old Markéta Irglová, a singer and pianist born in Czechoslavokia. Her parents organized a musical festival and booked the Frames. Hansard and Irglová formed a folk-rock duo known as the Swell Season. Hansard took the name from a 1975 novel by Czech-Canadian writer Josef Škvorecký. The pair released a self-titled album in 2006 which featured the song “Falling Slowly.” Hansard also released it that same year on the Frames’ album, The Cost. It also appeared in the 2006 Czech movie Beauty in Trouble. The song, however, was written and composed while the movie Once was in production WK1 and would appear on the movie’s 2007 soundtrack. Hansard and Irglová starred as struggling musicians in the romantic musical drama written and directed by John Carney. He was a bassist with the Frames in the early ‘90s and approached Hansard about writing songs for the movie. SF It was a surprise hit, receiving the Independent Spirt Award for Best Foreign Film. It was developed into a musical in 2011 and won the Tony Award for Best Musical. Carney thought the success was due in part to the chemistry between the actors, who he called his “Bogart and Bacall.” WK1 They did become a couple in real life. Hansard acknowledged, “I had been falling in love with her for a long time, but I kept telling myself she’s just a kid.” WK1 The song “Falling Slowly” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song Written for Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media. During the acceptance speech at the Oscars, Irglová said, that “Falling Slowly” “was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are.” WK2 Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Glen Hansard SF Songfacts WK1 Wikipedia page for Once WK Wikipedia page for “Falling Slowly” First posted 9/22/2022.