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"Sanctuary"
Single by Gabriella Cilmi
from the album Lessons to Be Learned
Released	12 December 2007 (2007-12-12)
Genre	Soul, ska
Length	3:28
Label	Island
Songwriter(s)	Gabriella Cilmi, Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, Nick Coler, Tim Powell
Producer(s)	Brian Higgins, Xenomania
Gabriella Cilmi singles chronology
"Sanctuary" (2007) "Sweet About Me" (2008)
Music video
"Gabriella Cilmi - Sanctuary" on YouTube

"Sanctuary" is the debut single by Australian recording artist Gabriella Cilmi from her debut album, Lessons to Be Learned (2008). The song was first released digitally in the United Kingdom on 12 December 2007 as the album's lead single, and subsequently released in Germany and the Netherlands in December 2008 as its fifth single, reaching number sixty-seven on the German Singles Chart and number seventy-two on the physical sales-based Dutch Single Top 100 chart.

"Sanctuary" utilises the introductory riff of Maxine Brown's 1964 version of "Oh No Not My Baby". Regarding the song's meaning, Cilmi explained, "I met someone who I felt really comfortable with and all those feelings that come with feeling comfortable with someone. The song is kind of about that, although I'm not even friends with that person any more."

Music video

Directed by Michael Baldwin and produced by Charlotte Woodhead, the music video opens with Cilmi in a house where she turns on a reel-to-reel tape player. She then leans on a table followed by her in a garden, then in her bed, then it shows clips of the different places she is, then it shows her in a street twirling her umbrella, then it shows clips of her in these different places, while she is in the house she decides to chuck her scarf on the floor, it shows her in the different places again when several things start to float, in the house her scarf starts to float, upstairs in her bedroom her pen floats so she can write in a book, she sits down on a chair in the house, the telephone starts floating, then she kicks a bunch of leaves, then it shows more clips, then in the house when Cilmi points at something it turns off. It finishes with her closing the door.

Track listings

• UK iTunes single

1. "Sanctuary" – 3:28
2. "Sanctuary" (acoustic version) – 3:30

• German CD single

1. "Sanctuary" (radio edit) – 3:00
2. "Sanctuary" (Pocketknife's Full Length Re-Edit) – 5:32

• German CD maxi single

1. "Sanctuary" (radio edit) – 3:00
2. "Sanctuary" (Pocketknife's Full Length Re-Edit) – 5:32
3. "Sanctuary" (Solitaire Club Mix) – 5:30
4. "Sanctuary" (video) – 3:02

• UK promo remix CD single

1. "Sanctuary" (Mac Project Club Mix) – 8:00
2. "Sanctuary" (Solitaire Club Remix) – 5:28
3. "Sanctuary" (Alex B Club Mix) – 7:57
4. "Sanctuary" (Alex B Dub Mix) – 8:02
5. "Sanctuary" (Alex B Radio Edit) – 3:43
6. "Sanctuary" (Solitaire Radio Edit) – 3:22
7. "Sanctuary" (Mac Project Radio Edit) – 3:33

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Lessons to Be Learned.

• Gabriella Cilmi – vocals
• Nick Coler – bass, guitar, keyboards, programming
• Richard Edgeler – mixing assistant
• Brian Higgins – keyboards, production, programming
• Tim Powell – keyboards, programming
• Jeremy Wheatley – mixing
• Xenomania – production

Charts

Release history

References

1. "GABRIELA CILMI – Lessons To Be Learned". Sydney Unleashed. 2008. Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
2. ^ "Sanctuary – Single by Gabriella Cilmi". iTunes Store (GB). January 2007. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
3. ^ "Sanctuary (2-Track): Gabriella Cilmi" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
4. ^ "Sanctuary: Gabriella Cilmi" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
5. "Gabriella Cilmi – Sanctuary Remixes". Discogs. Retrieved 24 October 2011.
6. Lessons to Be Learned (CD liner notes). Gabriella Cilmi. Island Records. 2008. 179 130 6.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
7. "Gabriella Cilmi – Sanctuary" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
8. "Gabriella Cilmi – Sanctuary" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
9. "Gabriella Cilmi – Sanctuary" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 18 April 2009.

External links

• "Gabriella Cilmi - Sanctuary (Ronnie Scott's Live Session)" on YouTube
• "Sanctuary" on YouTube

• 2007 songs
• 2007 debut singles
• 2000s ballads
• Gabriella Cilmi songs
• Island Records singles
• Song recordings produced by Xenomania
• Songs written by Brian Higgins (producer)
• Songs written by Miranda Cooper
• Songs written by Nick Coler
• Songs written by Tim Powell (producer)
• Songs written by Gabriella Cilmi