"No Regrets" is a song by English singer

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...

. It was released on 30 November 1998 as the second single from his second studio album, ''

I've Been Expecting You ''I've Been Expecting You'' is the second studio album by the English singer Robbie Williams. It was released on 26 October 1998 through Chrysalis Records. The album spawned five singles, including lead single "Millennium", which became William ...

'' (1998). The track was written by Williams and

Guy Chambers Guy Antony Chambers (born 12 January 1963) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams. Education Chambers attended Quarry Bank Comprehensive School sixth form in Liverpool. From 18, ...

and features backing vocals from

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo the Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for '' Smash Hits'', and assist ...

Pet Shop Boys Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music h ...

and

Neil Hannon Edward Neil Anthony Hannon (born 7 November 1970) is a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland. He is the founder and frontman of the chamber pop group the Divine Comedy, and is the band's only constant member since its inception in 1989. H ...

the Divine Comedy The ''Divine Comedy'' (, ) is an Italian narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun and completed around 1321, shortly before the author's death. It is widely considered the pre-eminent work in Italian literature and one of the greatest wor ...

. In the United Kingdom, the song was released as a

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

with a cover of

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

' "

Antmusic "Antmusic" is the broad term Adam Ant uses to describe his music, both solo and with Adam and the Ants. It is also the name of the third single from the Adam and the Ants album ''Kings of the Wild Frontier'' and a 1994 compilation album. The " ...

". "No Regrets" / "Antmusic" became another top-five hit for Williams in the United Kingdom. "Antmusic" was also featured on the UK trailer to the

Pixar Pixar (), doing business as Pixar Animation Studios, is an American animation studio based in Emeryville, California, known for its critically and commercially successful computer-animated feature films. Pixar is a subsidiary of Walt Disney ...

animated film ''

A Bug's Life ''A Bug's Life'' (stylized in all lowercase) is a 1998 American animated comedy film directed by John Lasseter from a screenplay written by Andrew Stanton, Donald McEnery, and Bob Shaw, and a story conceived by Lasseter, Stanton, and Joe Ran ...

'' (1998). One of the B-sides, "

Sexed Up Sexed up refers to making something more sexually attractive. Since 2003 it has been used in the sense of making something more attractive than it really is by selective presentation; a modern update to the phrase " hyped up". One variant of "sexe ...

", was later re-recorded for the ''

Escapology Escapology is the practice of escaping from restraints or other traps. Escapologists (also classified as escape artists) escape from handcuffs, straitjackets, cages, coffins, steel boxes, barrels, bags, burning buildings, fish-tanks, and ...

'' album and released as a single in 2003.

Background

Before performing the song on

BBC Electric Proms The BBC Radio 2 Electric Proms (formerly the BBC Electric Proms) was an October pop music festival in London run by the BBC for five years, 2006–2010. On 31 January 2011, the BBC announced that the event would be discontinued with immediate ...

2009, Williams stated that it was about the group he used to be in,

Take That Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer ...

. He also announced they had made up in 2008 and changed the last word in the lyrics to 'alive'. Part of the song featured on Take That's

Progress Live Progress Live was the eighth concert tour by English pop group Take That. The tour, sponsored by Samsung, supported their sixth studio album, ''Progress'' as they visited major cities in the UK and Europe. It was the first tour to feature all f ...

Tour in 2011.

Release and reception

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

released two

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

s and a cassette single of "No Regrets" on 30 November 1998, followed by a

7-inch single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

on 7 December. The song reached number four on the UK Singles Chart and went on to sell over 200,000 copies, being certified silver by the

British Phonographic Industry BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) Limited, trading as British Phonographic Industry (BPI), is the British recorded music industry's trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards; is home to the Mercury Prize; co-owns the Official Charts C ...

(BPI).

Music video

The video has

at first performing in a Vegas-like show. He then realises he cannot fake being happy and leaves the stage. He walks to a petrol station (which is in Hurley opposite the former East Arms Pub), gets some petrol in a

jerry can A jerrycan or jerrican (also styled jerry can or jerri can) is a fuel container made from pressed steel (and more recently, high density polyethylene). It was designed in Germany in the 1930s for military use to hold of fuel or water, and s ...

, and begins walking through crowds and over roads, dribbling petrol in a line the whole way. Finally, a spark is dropped at the petrol station and lights up the whole trail as Williams narrates the last lines.

Track listings

UK CD1 and cassette single # "No Regrets" – 5:10 # "

" – 3:31 # "Deceiving Is Believing" – 4:30 UK CD2 # "No Regrets" – 5:10 # " There She Goes" (live at the Forum) – 2:51 # "

" (demo version) – 3:54 # "There She Goes" (live at the Forum – enhanced video) – 2:51 UK 7-inch single and European CD single # "No Regrets" – 5:10 # "Antmusic" – 3:31 European maxi-CD single # "No Regrets" – 5:10 # "Antmusic" – 3:31 # "Sexed Up" (demo version) – 3:54 # "There She Goes" (live at the Forum) – 2:51 # "There She Goes" (live at the Forum – enhanced video) – 2:58 French CD single # "No Regrets" (radio edit) – 4:00 # "No Regrets" (album version) – 5:10 # "Antmusic" – 3:31

Credits and personnel

Credits are lifted from the ''

'' album booklet. Studio * Mastered at Metropolis Mastering (London, England) Personnel * Robbie Williams – writing, vocals *

– writing, keyboards, piano, orchestral samples, bass synth, production, arrangement * "Planet" Claire Worrall – backing vocals *

– backing vocals *

David Catlin-Birch David Catlin-Birch is a British musician. He was a guitarist for pop music, pop/alternative rock band World Party, and was the original "Paul" for the March 1980 launch of The Beatles Tribute act, tribute band, The Bootleg Beatles. In the 1990s ...

– acoustic guitar *

Gary Nuttall Gary Nuttall is an English musician and vocalist, best known for his long-time affiliation with Robbie Williams, spanning from 1997 to the present day. Solo In 2007, Nuttall released his first solo album, ''Dated Bedroom Ditties.'' Discograph ...

– electric guitar * Fil Eisler – bass guitar *

Chris Sharrock Chris Sharrock (born 30 May 1964) is an English drummer, hailing from Bebington, Cheshire (now Merseyside), England. He has been a member of the Icicle Works, the La's, the Wild Swans, World Party, the Lightning Seeds, Robbie Williams's liv ...

– drums * Andy Duncan – percussion *

Steve Power Steve Power (born in Liverpool) is an English record producer best known for his work with Robbie Williams. He has produced and mixed for a wide variety of artists over the years, including Blur, Busted, Andrea Bocelli, Feeder, Joe Cocker,Pe ...

– production, recording, mixing, programming * Steve McNichol – programming * Tony Cousins – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Robbie Williams songs 1998 singles 1998 songs Chrysalis Records singles Song recordings produced by Guy Chambers Song recordings produced by Steve Power Songs written by Guy Chambers Songs written by Robbie Williams