Another Suitcase in Another Hall

Rice and Webber asked her to record the song using a higher than usual pitch, so that she sounded younger like her character. Featuring instrumentation of guitar, marimba, harp and keyboard, "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" finds Dickson singing in a soprano voice. Critically appreciated, the song was released as a single on 7 February 1977, and reached number 18 on the UK Singles Chart. Dickson did not like her recorded version of the track and employed a different arrangement during her future live renditions.


The song has been covered and performed many times by other artists, namely Elaine Paige, Marti Webb, Kimberley Walsh from British girl group Girls Aloud, and actress Samantha Barks. Another notable version was recorded by American singer Madonna, who played the part of Eva for the 1996 film adaptation of the musical. It was released on 3 March 1997, by Warner Bros. as the third and final single from the film's soundtrack. Unlike the musical, in the film the track was sung by Madonna's character instead of the mistress. Upon its release, the song garnered positive response from music critics and reached the top ten of the charts in Italy and the United Kingdom.

Release and reception[edit]

After the first single from the Evita album, "Don't Cry for Me Argentina", achieved commercial success, "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" was released as the second single on 7 February 1977.^[3] A reviewer from Melody Maker complimented the song, saying that without the context of Evita, the song was more acceptable and was "poignant and lovely. How lucky Lloyd Webber and Rice are to have Julie Covington and now Dickson, to add the flesh and bones to songs which might otherwise be wrecks of soppy melodrama. A smash hit."^[7] It was Dickson's second single to chart on the UK Singles Chart, following "Answer Me" in 1976, and entered the chart at number 44 in its first week and peaked at number 18 in its fifth week. It was present for a total of seven weeks on the chart.^[8][9]


Due to the high pitch employed in the recording, Dickson reflected in later years that she "never liked the original [track] for that reason. The song has seasoned over the years with my singing of it."^[3] Dickson believed that she did not sound like herself on the song. While performing it later in her concerts, Dickson sang it in her actual tone, saying that although the track "might have been written for a teenage girl, but the experience of being abandoned by a man is one, women of all ages can relate to. I think you have to be honest with songs and with yourself." The singer's music director Ian Lynn arranged the track differently, which she performs currently.^[10]

Credits adapted from the single's liner notes.^[12]