Friday, November 15, 1985

Double “The Captain of Her Heart” released

The Captain of Her Heart

Double

Writer(s): Kurt Maloo, Felix Haug (see lyrics here)


Released: November 15, 1985


Peak: 16 US, 20 CB, 18 RR, 4 AC, 8 UK, 17 CN, 64 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.9 video, 20.19 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Singer and guitarist Kurt Maloo formed the pop-rock duo Double (pronounced doo-BLAY) with keyboardist and drummer Felix Haug in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1983. They only released two albums, 1985’s Blue and 1987’s Dou3le. The former gave them their only real chart success with the single “The Captain of Her Heart,” which went top-10 in the UK and several other European countries.

The song hit #16 in the United States, making Double the first Swiss act to crack the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. It was their only chart entry in America. Stewart Mason of All Music Guide called it “one of the great lost one-hit wonders of the mid-1980s,” AMG citing the song for its “casual sophistication and melodic grace.” AMG

The song came about when Haug recorded a demo on his synthesizer. He said he got the notes from a blackbird singing outside his window. SF Maloo wrote lyrics to it in the studio “about a woman who’s tired of waiting for the man she loves to return.” SF He said, “They were just there out of the blue. It was almost spooky. I never thought the lyrics would touch so many hearts around the world and I’m still overwhelmed from the positive feedback I get.” WK

Mason said, “Maloo’s detached, diffident vocals…manage to out cool Bryan Ferry at his own game” AMG while the “waterpiano riff that drives the song…[sounds] like a cross between Floyd Cramer and early Elton John.” AMG It is also features “one of the best alto sax solos this side of Gerry Rafferty’s ‘Baker Street.’” AMG


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First posted 10/8/2022.

Tuesday, November 12, 1985

Bruce Springsteen “My Hometown” released

My Hometown

Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen (see lyrics here)


Released: November 21, 1985


First Charted: December 6, 1985


Peak: 6 US, 7 CB, 6 GR, 7 RR, 11 AC, 6 AR, 9 UK, 16 CN, 47 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 1.0 US


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 68.3 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” was the seventh single released from his 1984 Born in the U.S.A. album. More importantly, it was the seventh top-10 hit from the album, matching the record established by Michael Jackson’s Thriller. The song was also the seventh from the album to reach the top 10 on the album rock chart. It is also the only Springsteen song to date to top the adult contemporary chart.

Billboard called it a “contemplative, insightful single.” WK The lyrics focus on the protaganist’s memories of the pride his father instilled in him regarding the family’s hometown. By song’s end, the narrator is planning to move, but takes his son driving to experience the same community pride his father had demonstrated.

“My Hometown” starts out feeling like it will be a nostalgic look at childhood, but delves into the racial violence and economic depression which the narrator saw in his adolescence and young adulthood. WK Springsteen drew on the racial strife and economic tension he saw in his own hometown of Freehold, New Jersey, offering what Cash Box called a “tender and somber look at the real American hometown.” WK

The song’s bleak portrait of the life of the working class extended his audience with the common man, especially during the Reagan era as many small towns were falling apart. SF In a case of life mirroring art, the 3M company closed its factory in Freehold, echoing the line in the song about “they’re closing down the textile mill.” SF


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First posted 8/7/2022; last updated 2/21/2023.

Thursday, November 7, 1985

1962-1981: A Bob Dylan Retrospective

First posted 11/18/2020.

A Retrospective: 1962-1981

Bob Dylan

A Brief History: Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, especially influencing the development of the folk-rock genre. His songs have been widely covered, with some arguably becoming better known than the original, such as the Byrds’ version of Mr. Tambourine Man and Jimi Hendrix’s cover of All Along the Watchtower.

This page covers the first 20 years of Dylan’s career, which encompasses the studio albums listed below. This page highlights three compilations (listed after the studio albums) with the songs featured on each listed chronologically by the studio albums on which they appear.


The Studio Albums:


Compilations:

Songs appearing on each of the above compilations are noted by the raised letter codes indicated above. Appearing after song titles are the songwriters in italicized parentheses, running times in brackets, and when relevant, the date the song was released as a single and its peaks on various charts. Click for codes to singles charts.


Bob Dylan (1962):

  • Baby, Let Me Follow You Down BG


The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963):

  • Blowin’ in the Wind (8/13/63, 1 CL) G1, BG
  • Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (5 CL) G2
  • Masters of War (9 CL) BG
  • A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (11 CL) G2


The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964):

  • The Times They Are A-Changin’ (3/27/65, 2 CL, 9 UK) G1, BG
  • The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll BG


Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964):

  • It Ain’t Me, Babe (13 CL) G1, BG
  • My Back Pages (20 CL) G2
  • All I Really Want to Do G2
  • To Ramona BG
  • I Don’t Believe You (live version from Biograph, recorded 5/6/66) BG


Bringing It All Back Home (1965):

  • Subterranean Homesick Blues (4/3/65, 39 US, 52 CB, 53 HR, 6 AC, 2 CL, 9 UK) G1, BG
  • Maggie’s Farm (6/19/65, 12 CL, 22 UK) G2
  • Mr. Tambourine Man (12/65, 4 CL) G1, BG
  • It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (16 CL) G2 (live version, recorded 5/17/66) BG
  • She Belongs to Me G2
  • Tombstone Blues BG


Highway 61 Revisited (1965):

  • Like a Rolling Stone (7/20/65, 2 US, 1 CB, 2 HR, 1 CL, 4 UK, 2 CN, 7 AU) G1, BG
  • Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues G2


Blonde on Blonde (1966):

  • Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (4/16/66, 2 US, 2 CB, 2 HR, 2 CL, 7 UK) G1
  • I Want You (7/2/66, 20 US, 25 CB, 22 HR, 9 CL, 16 UK) G1, BG
  • Just Like a Woman (9/10/66, 33 US, 28 CB, 26 HR, 3 CL, 43 UK) G1, BG
  • Visions of Johanna (5 CL) (live version from Biograph recorded 5/26/66) BG
  • Most Likely You Go Your Way and I’ll Go Mine (live: 7/27/74, 66 US, 47 CB, 79 HR, 20 CL) BG
  • Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (16 CL) G2

Greatest Hits

Bob Dylan


Released: March 27, 1967


Recorded: 1962-1966


Peak: 10 US, 6 UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 11.7 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: folk rock


Tracks: (1) Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (2) Blowin’ in the Wind (3) The Times They Are A-Changin’ (4) It Ain’t Me Babe (5) Like a Rolling Stone (6) Mr. Tambourine Man (7) Subterranean Homesick Blues (8) I Want You (9) Positively 4th Street (10) Just Like a Woman


Total Running Time: 40:44

Rating:

4.533 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)


Awards:

About Greatest Hits:

Dylan released seven albums from 1962 to 1966 and, frankly, would have achieved legendary status if he never recorded again. Amongst the iconic songs recorded during this period and featured on this collection are Blowin’ in the Wind, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, and, of course, Like a Rolling Stone, one of the most legendary songs in the history of rock and roll.


Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

  • Positively 4th Street (9/25/65, 7 US, 9 CB, 9 HR, 3 CL, 8 UK, 1 CN) G1, BG


The Basement Tapes (recorded with the Band, 1967; released 1975):

  • The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) BG
  • Million Dollar Bash BG


John Wesley Harding (1967):

  • All Along the Watchtower (5 CL G2, BG
  • I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (34 CL) G2, BG
  • Dear Landlord BG


Nashville Skyline (1969):

  • Lay Lady Lay (7/12/69, 7 US, 8 CB, 7 HR, 19 AC, 5 CL, 5 UK) G2, BG
  • Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You G2


Self Portrait (1970):

  • The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) (47 CL) G2, (version recorded 7/67) BG


New Morning (1970):

  • If Not for You (47 CL) G2, BG
  • Time Passes Slowly BG

Greatest Hits Vol. 2

Bob Dylan


Released: November 17, 1971


Recorded: 1962-1971


Peak: 14 US, 12 UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 6.0 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: folk rock


Tracks: (1) Watching the River Flow (2) Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right (3) Lay Lady Lay (4) Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again (5) I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (6) All I Really Want to Do (7) My Back Pages (8) Maggie’s Farm (9) Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You (10) She Belongs to Me (11) All Along the Watchtower (12) The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo) (13) Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues (14) A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall (15) If Not for You (16) It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (17) Tomorrow Is a Long Time (18) When I Paint My Masterpiece (19) I Shall Be Released (20) You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (21) Down in the Flood


Total Running Time: 77:31

Rating:

4.099 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)


Awards:

About Greatest Hits Vol. II:

This compilation only featured six songs representing the four studio albums released since Dylan’s first greatest hits. However, this set also added five new songs, a live cut from 1963, and another nine songs from Dylan’s earlier albums. It made for more of a mish-mash than the first compilation. Ideally, the two collections should be re-released as one set with the cuts compiled in chronological order.


Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

  • Tomorrow Is a Long Time (live, 4/12/63) G2
  • Watching the River Flow (6/26/71, 41 US, 31 CB, 37 HR, 15 CL, 24 UK) G2
  • I Shall Be Released (47 CL) G2, BG
  • You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere (47 CL) G2
  • When I Paint My Masterpiece (49 CL) G2
  • Down in the Flood G2


Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (soundtrack, 1973):

  • Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (9/1/73, 12 US, 10 CB, 11 HR, 10 RR, 5 AC, 2 CL, 14 UK) BG


Planet Waves (with the Band, 1974):

  • Forever Young (12 CL; demo from Biograph, recorded 6/73) BG
  • On a Night Like This (2/16/74, 44 US, 30 CB, 43 HR, 19 CL) BG
  • You Angel You (25 CL) BG


Blood on the Tracks (1975):

  • Tangled Up in Blue (3/8/75, 31 US, 43 CB, 62 HR, 2 CL) BG
  • You’re a Big Girl Now (Biograph version recorded 9/25/74) BG


Desire (1976):

  • Isis (15 CL; Biograph version recorded live, 12/4/75) BG
  • Romance in Durango (Biograph version recorded live, 12/4/75) BG


Street Legal (1978):

  • Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) (49 CL) BG


Slow Train Coming (1979):

  • Gotta Serve Somebody (9/8/79, 24 US, 37 CB, 42 HR, 13 CL) BG
  • I Believe in You (47 CL) BG


Saved (1980):

  • Solid Rock (50 CL) BG


Shot of Love (1981):

  • Every Grain of Sand (34 CL) BG
  • The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar (49 CL) BG
  • Heart of Mine (50 CL; Biograph version: live, 8/81) BG

Biograph

Bob Dylan


Released: November 7, 1985


Recorded: 1962-1981


Peak: 33 US, -- UK, -- CN, -- AU


Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, 1.0 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: folk rock


Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Lay Lady Lay (2) Baby, Let Me Follow You Down (3) If Not for You (4) I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight (5) I’ll Keep It with Mine (6) The Times They Are A-Changin’ (7) Blowin’ in the Wind (8) Masters of War (9) The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll (10) Percy’s Song (11) Mixed-Up Confusion (12) Tombstone Blues (13) The Groom’s Still Waiting at the Altar (14) Most Likely You Go Your Way (15) Like a Rolling Stone (16) Lay Down Your Weary Tune (17) Subterranean Homesick Blues (18) I Don’t Believe You

Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Visions of Johanna (2) Every Grain of Sand (3) Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn) (4) Mr. Tambourine Man (5) Dear Landlord (6) It Ain’t Me, Babe (7) You Angel You (8) Million Dollar Bash (9) To Ramona (10) You’re a Big Girl Now (11) Abandoned Love (12) Tangled Up in Blue (13) It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue (14) Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (15) Positively 4th Street (16) Isis (17) Jet Pilot

Tracks, Disc 3: (1) Caribbean Wind (2) Up to Me (3) Baby, I’m in the Mood for You (4) I Wanna Be Your Lover (5) I Want You (6) Heart of Mine (7) On a Night Like This (8) Just Like a Woman (9) Romance in Durango (10) Señor (Tales of Yankee Power) (11) Gotta Serve Somebody (12) I Believe in You (13) Time Passes Slowly (14) I Shall Be Released (15) Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (16) All Along the Watchtower (17) Solid Rock (18) Forever Young


Total Running Time: 214:50

Rating:

4.605 out of 5.00 (average of 16 ratings)


Awards:

About Biograph:

This box set captured 20 years of Bob Dylan’s career, pulling tracks from studio albums from 1962’s Bob Dylan through 1981’s Shot of Love. 18 of the 53 cuts from the box were previously unreleased. While many of Dylan’s best-known songs are featured, there are notable exceptions such as “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and “Hurricane.”


Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums:

  • Baby, I’m in the Mood for You (recorded 7/9/62) BG
  • Mixed-Up Confusion (recorded 11/14/62) BG
  • Percy’s Song (recorded 10/23/63) BG
  • Lay Down Your Weary Tune (recorded 10/24/63) BG
  • I’ll Keep It with Mine (recorded 1/14/65) BG
  • I Wanna Be Your Lover (recorded 10/65) BG
  • Jet Pilot (recorded 10/65) BG
  • Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window? (1/1/66, 58 US, 58 CB, 55 HR, 18 CL, 17 UK) BG
  • Up to Me (recorded 9/25/74) BG
  • Abandoned Love (recorded 7/75) BG
  • Caribbean Wind (recorded 4/30/81) BG


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Monday, November 4, 1985

Mike + the Mechanics “Silent Running” released

Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground)

Mike + the Mechanics

Writer(s): Mike Rutherford, B.A. Robertson (see lyrics here)


Released: November 4, 1985


First Charted: November 9, 1985


Peak: 6 US, 5 CB, 5 GR, 5 RR, 7 AC, 15 AR, 21 UK, 8 CN, 23 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): --


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 10.9 video, 13.81 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford was a founding member of the British rock band Genesis in 1967. He stayed with the band throughout their history, watching them move from their artsier, progressive side with Peter Gabriel on vocals to their more commercial style with Phil Collins at the helm. In the early 1980s, Rutherford released two solo albums. The most successful song from either effort was “Maxine,” a #39 album rock hit in 1982.

At the same time, Genesis was reaching its commercial peak. Their self-titled 1983 release was the group’s third straight of five consecutive chart-toppers in the UK and second of four consecutive top-10 albums in the U.S. “That’s All,” from 1983, became the group’s first top-10 hit in the United States, preceding five top-5 hits from their 1986 Invisible Touch album.

In between the two Genesis albums, Rutherford formed a side project, Mike + the Mechanics. The group featured Paul Carrack and Paul Young on vocals, Adrian Lee on keyboards, and Peter Van Hooke on drums. Their 1985 self-titled debut produced two top-10 hits, “Silent Running” and “All I Need Is a Miracle.” Carrack, who’d previously taken the mike for hits like Ace’s “How Long,” Squeeze’s “Tempted,” and his own “I Need You,” sang lead on “Silent Running.”

Rutherford explained that the song, which he wrote with Scottish musician B.A. Robertson, was about “time travel. The story is about the idea that this father of this family is ahead in time, so he can look back and see what’s going to happen…He’s trying to get a message back to his family to warn them that impending disaster is coming. Hence the line, ‘Can you hear me, can you hear me calling you?” SF According to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40, he titled it after the 1972 sci-fi movie Silent Running because he thought the song had a spacey feel to it, WK although he also told Songfacts.com he hadn’t heard of the movie before writing the song. SF

The song was given the subtite “On Dangerous Ground” after it was chosen to be featured in the 1986 movie of the same name, although the movie was retitled Choke Canyon in the United States. WK The video featured clips from the movie. The BBC banned the song during the Gulf War because of its message regarding war, nationalism, and religion, including a direct reference to weaponry (“There s a gun and ammunition / Just inside the doorway.”). WK


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First posted 11/19/2022; last updated 12/28/2022.

Saturday, November 2, 1985

John Mellencamp “Small Town” released as a single

Small Town

John (Cougar) Mellencamp

Writer(s): John Mellencamp (see lyrics here)


Released: November 2, 1985


First Charted: September 14, 1985


Peak: 6 US, 6 CB, 4 RR, 13 AC, 2 AR, 53 UK, 13 CN, 80 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 17.1 video, 99.7 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Singer/songwriter and musician John Mellencamp was born in 1951 in Seymour, Indiana. He released his first album, Chestnut Street Incident, as Johnny Cougar in 1976. Over the next few years, he cracked the top-40 with hits “I Need a Lover,” “This Time,” and “Ain’t Even Done with the Night” before breaking through to a much wider audience with 1982’s American Fool. The album spawned the #2 hit “Hurts So Good” and chart-topper “Jack and Diane.”

The album was the first of five consecutive top-10, platinum-selling albums. Each of the first four produced at least two top-10 hits and he became the #1 album rock artist of the 1980s. While American Fool was his only chart-topper, the 1985 album Scarecrow matched it as his best-selling album with 5 million copies and reached #2. The lead-off single, “Lonely Ol’ Night,” reached #6. Its follow-up, “Small Town,” first charted on the album rock chart in September 1985 and was officially released two months later as a single. It copied its predecessor’s success in peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Cash Box called the song “a rocking homage to the small town of the artist’s life and the small towns of America.” WK Mellencamp wrote it about his life in Seymour and Bloomington, Indiana and being “steeped in the sensibilities of his environment.” DM “Many songs have been written about looking to escape the confines of small town America, but Mellencamp celebrates it…most vividly on this song.” SF It can be viewed as “sentimental nonsense derived from America’s myth of agrarian patriotism. But play this record for audience reared in Brooklyn and they’ll tell you that growing up there felt the same way to them.” DM

Mellencamp did actually move to New York City after he got a record deal, he “felt overwhelmed and creatively bereft” SF and moved back to Indiana. He told Rolling Stone, “I wanted to write a song that said, ‘You don’t have to live in New York or Los Angeles to live a full life or enjoy your life.’ I was never one of those guys that grew up and thought, ‘I need to get out of here.’ It never dawned on me. I just valued having a family and staying close to friends.” WK

He said, “I wrote that song in the laundry room of my old house…We had company and I had to go write the song.” WK He explained that he wrote the words on a typewriter which beeped when he misspelled a word, which amused the guests upstairs. WK He “perfects his latter-day folk-rock (C&W instruments played Rolling Stones-style).” DM


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First posted 10/27/2022; last updated 6/14/2023.