Michaela Strachan You Broke My Heart (When I Was 12)

Album: Scouting for Girls (2007)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is an ode to the English television presenter Michaela Strachan, who was a fixture across the range of children's programming in the 1980s and early 1990s. Frontman Roy Stride wrote the song about coming home from school, seeing Michaela on the TV and falling in love. She is now best known for her work on wildlife programs.
  • It seems Strachan was relatively unfazed by the impact she made on the group. "The band was more worried about it than I was," she told The Independent. "All I could think was, did I really mean this much to people?"
  • The song is a hidden track, which begins 3 minutes 47 seconds into the song "James Bond" on the Scouting For Girls album.
  • Michaela Strachan had her own brief music career as "Michaela" with two UK hit singles; a cover of Edwin Starr's "H.A.P.P.Y. Radio," which peaked at #62 and "Take Good Care of My Heart" which reached #66 the following year.
  • Michaela Strachan had a night to remember when she went to a Scouting For Girls concert with a friend. "It was hilarious," she recalled to The Daily Mail's Weekend magazine. "I sat there and the singer said, 'You all know the song. There was a woman that broke my heart when I was 12. Well, she's here tonight!'"

    Suddenly, a spotlight landed on Strachan, illuminating her in front of a packed O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire. "Next thing I know, a thousand people are holding up their phone lights, swaying, and singing to me," she recalled. "It was one of those times when you try to be terribly humble but then I thought, Do you know what? Sod that!"

    Embracing the moment, Strachan leapt to her feet, waving back to the crowd and basking in the adoration. "I'm just a showgirl at heart," she admitted. "It was the most surreal night I've had in ages. I left with the biggest grin on my face."

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