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Herb Alpert - Rise

Herb Alpert - Rise Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Rise
Released: 1979

Rise Lyrics

Rise

Herb's nephew, Randy Badazz Alpert, wrote this with Andy Armer. When the 3M Company lent a 32-track digital recorder to A&M Records (then co-owned by Alpert), they had some time to experiment. Says Randy: "It was Herb's idea to record The Lonely Bull and several other of his old hit records in a dance format, and though I did not particularly like the idea I did go ahead and work up some new dance arrangements for those old songs. I had played Rise and several other new songs for Herb several weeks before the recording session and he loved 2 out of the 3 songs. We had always intended to record Rise during the session. That song was never an after thought. We did try recording the Lonely Bull and one other song before we switched to Rise. The room seemed to light up when we started to record that tune. It was a magical moment for both Herb and me."

On the Armer/Badazz audition tape, this was a stomper, going 128 beats per minute. Alpert slowed it to about 100 BPM so "People could dance and hug each other at the end of the night."

After this was released, it got an unexpected boost when it was used in a critical scene in the TV series General Hospital - the rape of Laura by Luke (Anthony Geary, who plays Luke, suggested the song to the series' music director). The song was repeated several times a week for a short period afterward, until the storyline changed to make Luke and Laura a romantic couple.

It wouldn't be the last time General Hospital bumped a song up the charts: In 1983, "Think Of Laura" by Christopher Cross was used as Luke and Laura's love theme, and exposure on the show pushed it to #9 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

This was Alpert's second #1 (after "This Guy's in Love With You"), making him to only solo performer to be credited with a #1 vocal and a #1 instrumental single. This is the instrumental.

This became a hit in the UK - ironically at 135 BPM - as British club DJs did not realize that American 12-inch singles are played at 33 revolutions per minute, not 45 (the European standard).

All of the music for Notorious B.I.G.'s hit "Hypnotize" was sampled from this. "Hypnotize" was a Billboard #1 Pop, R&B, and Rap song and was Top 10 in most countries throughout the world in 1997. So the "Rise" music was actually a #1 record twice in a span of 28 years.

To follow this up, "Rotation" was released in January 1980 and was a minor Top 40 hit in America. There was another single called "Street Life" which was released in late spring of 1980. "Beyond" was released at the end of summer 1980. (Thanks to Randy Badazz Alpert for telling us about this song)

This song won a Grammy in 1980 for Best Pop Instrumental Performance. It was the third time that Alpert won a Grammy. His last 2 songs that won Grammys were "A Taste of Honey" (1965) and "What Now My Love?" (1966). (thanks, Jerro - New Alexandria, PA)

Irene Cara - Fame

Irene Cara - Fame Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Fame (Original Soundtrack)
Released: 1980

Fame Lyrics

I'm gonna live forever
I'm gonna learn how to fly
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Baby, remember my name!

Baby, look at me
And tell me what you see
You ain't seen the best of me yet.
Give me time,
I'll make you forget the rest.
I got more in me,
And you can set it free
I can catch the moon in my hand
Don't you know who I am?

Remember my name. Fame!
I'm gonna live forever
I'm gonna learn how to fly--high!

I feel it comin' together
People will see me and cry. Fame!
I'm gonna make it to heaven
Light up the sky like a flame. Fame!
I'm gonna live forever
Baby, remember my name
Remember, remember, remember, remember,
Remember, remember, remember, remember.

Baby, hold me tight
Cause you can make it right.
You can shoot me straight to the top
Give me love and take all I got to give

Baby, I'll be tough
Too much is not enough, no
I can ride your heart 'till it breaks.
Ooh, I got what it takes.

Writer/s: DEAN PITCHFORD, MICHAEL GORE
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Fame

Fame was a 1980 movie about students at Fiorello LaGuardia High, also known as the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. It's a real school whose alumni include Robert De Niro, Jennifer Aniston, Liza Minnelli and Nicki Minaj. The movie was fictional, following some of the students who aspired to stardom. Irene Cara played the role of Coco Hernandez in the film and also sang this title song. The song captured the spirit of the students determined to make sure people remember their names.

Lesley Gore's brother Michael Gore was the musical supervisor on Fame and responsible for coming up with the songs for the movie. He wrote this song with Dean Pitchford, a stage and commercial actor with a degree in English literature from Yale. Pitchford studied songwriting with Peter Allen ("I Honestly Love You," "Don't Cry Out Loud") and Gore gave him a big break when he asked him to write some lyrics for the movie. Pitchford co-wrote the title song and also "I Sing the Body Electric" and "Red Light," which were included in the film. When we spoke with Pitchford in 2012 , he told us: "At the time it was exactly what I had been living for the last six or seven years in New York. Had I stopped that and gotten further away from it in years, perhaps it wouldn't have been as heartfelt as it was. But both 'Fame' and 'The Body Electric' were both real available to me.

Gore and Pitchford later collaborated on "All The Man I Need," which was a hit for Whitney Houston in 1990. Soon after Fame Pitchford started work on his screenplay that would become Footloose.

Dean Pitchford tells us that this song took about a month to write. "That was excruciating, because it was very tough to navigate," He said. "You know, the idea of fame is such a pumped up, almost self-congratulatory notion, like, I'm going to be famous. It was very tricky to navigate and write something that still had energy and gosh-golly about it, without feeling too self-satisfied."

This won the 1980 Oscar for Best Original Song, and Michael Gore also won for Best Score for his work on the movie. Three years later, Irene Cara won the Best Original Song award along with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey for writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling," which she also performed.

A very distinctive feature of this song are the background vocals that trail out the word "Remember" after the line "baby, remember my name." It was Luther Vandross who came up with that part and sang it with backup singers Vivian Cherry and Vicki Sue Robinson (best known for her hit "Turn The Beat Around"). Vandross was not yet a solo star, but was in demand as a backup vocalist. He was the contractor on this session, meaning he was in charge of the backup vocals. Dean Pitchford explained: "He came in, listened down to the track. We got to the end of the chorus and he said, 'Back it up, back it up! Check this out.' And Irene Cara sang, 'Baby remember my name,' and he went, 'Remember, remember, remember...' and we all went, 'Oh! That's terrific!' Luther Vandross is the one who not only came up with 'remember, remember, remember...' but he also stacked the voices on top of, 'I'm going to learn how to fly high.' He did that. He made a couple of other contributions around the edges, but the 'remember' was the major one."

The movie was spun off into a TV show in 1982, with this song used at the theme and sung by Erica Gimpel, who played Coco Hernandez in this version (Janet Jackson was on the show for a season). When the song was first released in 1980, it flopped in the UK, but two years later it hit #1 as a result of the TV series.

The line "I'm gonna live forever" is one Dean Pitchford knew very well when he started writing this song. Says Dean, "There was a play that had been on Broadway years ago called Dylan, and it won massive amounts of awards when it was on Broadway. It was about the life of the Welsh poet, Dylan Thomas. When I was in high school I competed in speech tournaments and I was a debater, but I also did dramatic interp and things like that. There was a particular long speech that Dylan Thomas gives. He's drunk and he speaks about the gift that a poet gets: he may not have a long life, but in his poems he gets to live forever. And I competed with this, I went all the way to the state finals delivering this speech. And I always loved the sentiment in poetry: if you write words, you get to live forever in your works.

I wrote that line when Michael Gore played me the melody that he had come up with for the chorus. I listened down to it once, and I said, 'Oh, you mean something like...' and he went back to the top and he was playing it down, and I sang, 'Fame! I'm gonna live forever,' and he stopped playing, and he went, 'Oh my god! Write that down! I don't want to forget that!' And I said, 'Oh, Michael, I don't think I could forget that one.' The rest of the song took forever to write. It was literally a month of six days, seven days a week, six hours a day of carving every one of those verses. But that line sprang out of my mouth."

Lyricists can be very particular about how their words are sung, lest the be misinterpreted. He was new at this, so Dean Pitchford didn't push it, but in later years he became more a of "lyric policeman," even asking Barbra Streisand to redo a line in his song "If I Never Met You." Said Pitchford: "When I did 'Fame,' it never occurred to me that anybody would mishear Irene Cara sing, 'People will see me and cry, Fame!', but people have misheard that as 'die.' And I was horrified to find that lyric sites would write out the lyric to 'Fame' and state as if it were fact that I had written 'people will see me and die.' No. I had written 'people will see me and cry, Fame!' That would be their cry."

The movie Fame got a remake in 2009, with Naturi Naughton in a starring role and performing this song. Her version made #33 in the UK.

The Police - Driven To Tears

The Police - Driven To Tears Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Zenyatta Mondatta
Released: 1980

Driven To Tears Lyrics

How can you say that you're not responsible?
What does it have to do with me?
What is my reaction, what should it be?
Confronted by this latest atrocity

Driven To Tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Hide my face in my hands, shame wells in my throat
My comfortable existence is reduced to a shallow meaningless party

Seems that when some innocent die
All we can offer them is a page in a some magazine
Too many cameras and not enough food
'Cause this is what we've seen

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Protest is futile, nothing seems to get through
What's to become of our world, who knows what to do

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears

Driven to tears
Driven to tears
Driven to tears, driven to tears

Writer/s: Sumner, Gordon Matthew
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Driven To Tears Song Chart

Sting wrote this in 1979 after seeing television reports of starving children.

Written in a motel while The Police were on their second American tour. Sting thinks this is the only song he ever wrote on the road.

Sting: "What are you left with when you're faced with atrocities? All you can do is cry."

The Police played this when they toured Australia in 1980, a few months before they recorded it.

Sting played this at Live Aid in 1985. The concert was a benefit organized by Bob Geldof to help starving children in Africa. This was a very appropriate song for the occasion.

A version from Sting's first solo tour is on his 1986 album Bring On The Night. It was recorded in Paris.

A live version by The Police is on their compilation album Message In A Box.

A 1980 performance by The Police was used in the British documentary Urgh! A Music War, which featured Punk and New Wave bands like Wall Of Voodoo, XTC and Devo.

Sting performed this on the charity telethon, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, which was held on January 22, 2010. He was backed by American hip hop band the Roots, and trumpeter Chris Botti.

Sting performed this at the Live 8 concert in London in 2005. He recalled in Lyrics By Sting: "It seemed as relevant to me then as it was a quarter of a century ago. Biafra, Darfur ... the issues surrounding genocide are the same, and I wonder if we are making any progress at all, or are we now totally immune to the images of horror that appear daily, everywhere we turn?"

The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like

The Waitresses - I Know What Boys Like Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?
Released: 1980

I Know What Boys Like Lyrics

I Know What Boys Like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like
I've got what boys like
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I see them looking
I make them want me
I like to tease them
They want to touch me
I never let them
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like, boys
like, boys like me
But you, you're special
I might let you
You're so much different
I might let you
Mmmmm would you like that
I might let you
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I liow what boys like
I know what's on their minds
I what what boya like
I know what guys want
They talk about me
I got my cat moves
That so upset them
Zippers and buttons
Fun to frustrate them
They get so angry
Like pouty children
Denied their candy
I laugh right at them
I know what buys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like,
boys like, boys like me
Na, na, nya, nya, nya, nya..............
I feel sad now
I will let you
Sorry I teased you
I will let you
This time I mean it
I wil1 let you
Anything you want
You can trust me
I really want to
You can trust me
How would you like it
You can trust me
Sucker. Hmmmmm....
I know what boys like
I know what guys want
I know what boys like, boys
like, boys like me
Gny, nya, gna nyah nya..............

Writer/s: CHRIS BUTLER
Publisher: SPIRIT MUSIC GROUP
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

I Know What Boys Like Song Chart

This song was written by Chris Butler , who at the time was a member of a popular Akron, Ohio band called Tin Huey. He got the idea for the song when he and the band's drummer Stuart Austin were at a local bar called The Bucket Shop. Chris noticed that the ladies at the bar were giving their attention to the lawyers and other white-collar types while ignoring the lowly musicians.

"I got into this mindset, and it wasn't a pretty one," Chris said in our interview. "It was about women in a bar situation wheeling and dealing their wares, so to speak, for the highest bidder. And I was definitely the lowest bidder."

Chris Butler recorded a demo of this song (with him singing) hoping his band Tin Huey would record it. When he played it for his bandmates, however, they were incredulous, believing the song was nowhere near their standards. He put the song away, but revived it when he reconnected with Patty Donahue, who he know when they were students at Kent State University. He convinced Patty to sing on a new demo of the song, which he put together at the home studios of two local engineers, Mark Price and Rick Dailey.

Again, he presented it to Tin Huey, but with a twist: Chris proposed that at the end of their sets, they bring Patty up on stage to sing it, with the band transforming into a different act called "The Waitresses." The band went for it, and the bit became a staple of their shows. At the end of their sets, the band would put on T-shirts that said "Waitresses Unite" (Chris got them at a Kent eatery called Jerry's Diner) and Patty would join them for a few songs, including "I Know What Boys Like."

It was all a joke, but it went over very well, so Chris decided to turn The Waitresses into a real group. He and Patty moved to New York City and assembled a band that included drummer Billy Ficca and bass player David Hofstra. They released "I Know What Boys Like" as a single in 1980, but it went nowhere. The group got a deal with Polydor, however, and included the song on their 1982 debut album Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?, re-releasing it as a single that same year - this time it charted at #62 in the US. The Waitresses lasted just a few more years and never had another chart hit in the US, although their 1981 song "Christmas Wrapping" became a holiday mainstay.

Ralph Carney, who was also a member of Tin Huey, played saxophone on this track. His nephew, Patrick Carney, is one half of The Black Keys, another Akron band.

The song was conceived with a more straightforward vocal sound, but lead singer Patty Donahue didn't have a strong singing voice, so Chris Butler had her do it in more of a spoken word style, which became the group's signature sound.

This singing style also accommodated Butler's songwriting technique of cramming lots of words in his compositions. "I think it was kind of endearing, it was very one-on-one," he told us. "It gave me the opportunity to come up with a writing style where it's a one-sided conversation where you assume that the other person is listening and contributing. I didn't know it at the time, but we definitely came into an interesting technique that I think other singers have used."

Lead singer Patty Donahue was essentially acting when she performed for The Waitresses, and Chris Butler's lyrics were her scripts. They considered her a character: a tough, working-class girl with big dreams.

Between this song's first release in 1980 and it's second in 1982, MTV went on the air. The network had very few videos, and while the "I Know What Boys Like" clip didn't have tremendous production value, it had the captivating Patty Donahue and a band with the modern, new wave look. "The mainstream of American pop music was flannel shirts and long hair," Chris Butler told us. "This whole new wave thing was all nice and crisp and neatly dressed, and all of that was novel and new. And thankfully, it did look good on camera."

A new version of this song was used at the end of the 2008 movie The House Bunny, in a scene where the sorority sisters make a video to the song. It was sung by the stars of the film: Katharine McPhee, Emma Stone, Rumor Willis, Kat Dennings and Kiely Williams.

This song got a lot of attention when it was used in the 1982 film The Last American Virgin. It has also appeared in the movies I Was a Teenage Zombie (1987), Shoot or Be Shot (2002) and Another Gay Movie (2006). TV shows to use the song include The Simpsons, Desperate Housewives, Glee, Nip/Tuck, Ugly Betty, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and Californication.

AC/DC - Back In Black

AC/DC - Back In Black Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Back In Black
Released: 1980

Back In Black Lyrics

Back In Black
I hit the sack
I've been too long I'm glad to be back (I bet you know I'm,)
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about
I've been looking at the sky
'Cause it's gettin' me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild

[Chorus]
'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
(Well) I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

Back in the back
Of a Cadillac
Number one with a bullet, I'm a power pack
Yes, I'm in a bang
With a gang
They've got to catch me if they want me to hang
'Cause I'm back on the track
And I'm beatin' the flack
Nobody's gonna get me on another rap
So look at me now
I'm just makin' my play
Don't try to push your luck, just get out of my way

'Cause I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back
Yes, I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
(Well) I'm back in black
Yes, I'm back in black

Well, I'm back, yes I'm back
Well, I'm back, yes I'm back
Well, I'm back, back
Well I'm back in black
Yes I'm back in black

Ho yeah
Oh yeah
Yes I am
Oh yeah, yeah oh yeah
Back in now
Well I'm back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back, I'm back
Back
Back in black
Yes I'm back in black

Out of the sight

Writer/s: BRIAN JOHNSON, MALCOLM MITCHELL YOUNG, ANGUS MCKINNON YOUNG
Publisher: J. ALBERT & SON(INTERNATIONAL) PTY. LTD.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Back In Black Song Chart

This was released five months after lead singer Bon Scott died. The song is a tribute to Scott, and the lyrics, "Forget the hearse 'cause I never die" imply that he will live on forever through his music. With Brian Johnson on lead vocals, the Back In Black album proved that AC/DC could indeed carry on without Scott. (thanks, Nathan - Willow Spring, NC)

Brian Johnson made quite a statement with this song, quickly endearing himself to AC/DC fans and leaving little doubt that the band made the right pick to replace Bon Scott. Johnson had been in a group called Geordie, which Scott saw in 1973. After that show, Scott talked up the Geordie lead singer to his bandmates, and in 1980 when they were looking for a replacement, AC/DC's producer Mutt Lange suggested him. At the time, Johnson was working as a windshield fitter and had recently reunited Geordie.

The band got the idea for the title before writing any of the song, although Malcolm Young had the main guitar riff for years and used to play it frequently as a warm-up tune. After Bon Scott's death, Angus Young decided that their first album without him should be called Back In Black in tribute, and they wrote this song around that phrase. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

The album had a black cover with the band's logo on it, which was a tribute to Bon Scott. They didn't want it to feel mournful, however, and needed a title track that captured the essence of their fallen friend. They were certainly not going to do a ballad, so it fell on Brian Johnson to write a lyric that would rock, but also celebrate Scott without being morbid or literal.

Johnson says he wrote "Whatever came into my head," which at the time he thought was nonsense. To the contrary, lines about abusing his nine lives and beating the rap summed up Scott perfectly, and his new bandmates loved it.

Bon Scott had several lyrical ideas for the album, but those were abandoned by the band in favor of new lyrics by Brian, Malcolm and Angus. Former AC/DC manager Ian Jeffrey claims to still have a folder that contains lyrics of 15 songs written for Back In Black by Bon, but Angus insists that all of Bon's notebooks were given to his family.

This song was recorded in The Bahamas and produced in New York by Mutt Lange. Back In Black was one of the first big albums Lange produced. He went on to work with Def Leppard, Celine Dion, and Shania Twain (who he married in 1993). In the late-'70s, he produced two albums for the band Clover, which featured Huey Lewis on harmonica and Alex Call on lead vocals. Call explains Lange's production style:

"Mutt is a real studio rat. He is Mr. Endurance in the studio. When we were making the records with him, he'd start working at 10:30, 11 in the morning and go until 3 at night, night after night. He is one of the guys that really developed that whole multi-multi-multi track recording. We'd do 8 tracks of background vocals going, "Oooooh" and bounce those down to one track and then do another 8, he was doing a lot of that. A lot of the things you hear on Def Leppard and that kind of stuff, he was developing that when he worked with us. We were the last record he did that wasn't enormous, and that's not his fault, he did a really good job with us. Mutt is famous for working long hours. The story I heard about one of the Shania sessions, he had Rob Hajakos, who's one of the famous fiddle session men down here (Nashville). Rob was playing violin parts for like seven or eight hours and finally he said, 'Can I take a break,' and Mutt says, 'What do you mean take a break?' Rob goes, 'Have you ever held one of these for eight hours under your chin?' Mutt really loves to record, he loves music and he's a real perfectionist and an innovator. An unbelievable commercial hook writer." (Check out our full interview with Alex Call.)

This was the title track to AC/DC's most popular album. It has sold over 19 million copies in the US, the 6th highest ever. Worldwide, it has sold over 40 million.

The Beastie Boys sampled this on their 1985 single "Rock Hard," a single released in 1985 on Def Jam Records. They sampled it without AC/DC's permission, so AC/DC refused to allow the Beastie Boys to include the song on their 1999 compilation album Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Science. (thanks, Jimoh - New York, NY)

A remastered version is included on the 1997 Bon Scott tribute album, Bonfire.

The Atlanta Falcons football team used this as their theme song for a while. The Falcons also went through an MC Hammer phase, when they used "2 Legit 2 Quit" and let the rapper roam their sidelines.

This was used as the backing track to a bootleg version of Eminem's 1999 hit "My Name Is" The song fits surprisingly well under Eminem's rap.

Missy Elliott did a remix of this song called "Get Your Freak On (AC/DC remix)" that is played in the beginning of the movie The Rundown, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Sean William Scott. (thanks, Steve - Kitchener, Canada)

The Appalachian State Mountaineers football team use this song before and during their games, where it is a crowd favorite. The team colors are gold and black. (thanks, Laura K. - Toccoa, GA)

This features in a commercial for the 2015 Chevy Colorado pickup truck, where a mundane guy in a generic sedan is soundtracked with "Rainy Days And Mondays," which becomes "Back In Black" when a much more exciting fellow comes into the shot and drives off in his black Colorado.

Kurt Cobain was given his first guitar for his 14th birthday, and this was the first song that he learned to play.

Genesis - Misunderstanding

Genesis - Misunderstanding Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Duke
Released: 1980

Misunderstanding Lyrics

There must be some Misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I waited in the rain for hours
You were late

Now it's not like me to say the right thing
But you could've called to let me know
I checked your number twice, don't understand it
So I went home

Well I'd been waiting for this weekend
I thought that maybe we could see a show
Never dreamed I'd have this feeling
But seeing you is believing
That's why I don't know why
You didn't show up that night

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake
I was waiting in the rain for hours
You were late

Since then I've been running around trying to find you
I went to the places you always go
I rang your home but got no answer
Jumped in my car, I went round there
I still don't believe it
He was just leaving

There must be some misunderstanding
There must be some kind of mistake.
Writer/s: COLLINS, PHIL
Publisher: EMI Music Publishing, IMAGEM U.S. LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Misunderstanding Song Chart

This was one of the first songs Phil Collins wrote on his own. He was going through a very difficult time - his first wife Andrea had left him and taken their two children with her. Phil found himself alone in the house he once shared with them, and began writing songs - sad ones.

"Misunderstanding" finds Collins getting stood up and failing to understand that the girl wants nothing to do with him. Despite all evidence to the contrary, he keeps blaming her evasiveness on "some misunderstanding."

In a way, Collins is looking at himself as a witness observer - his story about a man who is delusional in love reflects his hopeless attempts to put his marriage back together (they divorced in 1980). At the time, Collins had much deeper concerns than being left out in the rain, and those concerns are laid bare on the song "Please Don't Ask," which is one of his most personal tales. "Misunderstanding" has a lot more distance, and also a lot more hit potential. Both songs were used on the Genesis album Duke; Collins poured out more of his heart on his first solo album, Face Value, which was released the following year.

This was the second Top 40 US hit for Genesis, following "Follow You, Follow Me." The band began divesting themselves of their progressive rock roots in 1978 with the release of their album And Then There Were Three. They continued moving toward more compact pop songs with "Misunderstanding," which runs just 3:08.

To write songs for the Duke album, Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks moved into Collins' house in Surrey, England for six weeks. Collins hadn't done much writing at that point, but Rutherford and Banks were very impressed when he played them this song. Five of the other songs for the album were group efforts written during these sessions when the band would jam together.

Genesis recorded this at Abba's studio in Sweden.

AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

Hip Hop, ,
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Back In Black Released: 1980

AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long Lyrics



You Shook Me All Night Long Song Chart
She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman I had ever seen
She had the sightless eyes
Telling me no lies
Knockin' me out with those American thighs
Taking more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to come but I was already there
'Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you

Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long

Working double time
On the seduction line
She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine
Wanted no applause
Just another course
Made a meal out of me and came back for more
Had to cool me down
To take another round
Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing
'Cause the walls were shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you

Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long

And knocked me out and then you
Shook me all night long
You had me shakin' and you
Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me
Well you took me

You really took me and you
Shook me all night long
Ooooh you
Shook me all night long
Yeah, yeah, you
Shook me all night long
You really took me and you
Yeah you shook me, yeah you shook me
All night long

Writer/s: BRIAN JOHNSON, MALCOLM MITCHELL YOUNG, ANGUS MCKINNON YOUNG
Publisher: J. ALBERT & SON(INTERNATIONAL) PTY. LTD.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long

Hip Hop, ,
AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Back In Black Released: 1980

AC/DC - You Shook Me All Night Long Lyrics



You Shook Me All Night Long Song Chart
She was a fast machine
She kept her motor clean
She was the best damn woman I had ever seen
She had the sightless eyes
Telling me no lies
Knockin' me out with those American thighs
Taking more than her share
Had me fighting for air
She told me to come but I was already there
'Cause the walls start shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you

Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long

Working double time
On the seduction line
She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine
Wanted no applause
Just another course
Made a meal out of me and came back for more
Had to cool me down
To take another round
Now I'm back in the ring to take another swing
'Cause the walls were shaking
The earth was quaking
My mind was aching
And we were making it and you

Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me all night long

And knocked me out and then you
Shook me all night long
You had me shakin' and you
Shook me all night long
Yeah you shook me
Well you took me

You really took me and you
Shook me all night long
Ooooh you
Shook me all night long
Yeah, yeah, you
Shook me all night long
You really took me and you
Yeah you shook me, yeah you shook me
All night long

Writer/s: BRIAN JOHNSON, MALCOLM MITCHELL YOUNG, ANGUS MCKINNON YOUNG
Publisher: J. ALBERT & SON(INTERNATIONAL) PTY. LTD.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Clash - The Crooked Beat

The Clash - The Crooked Beat Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Sandinista!
Released: 1980

The Crooked Beat Lyrics

Start the car lets make a midnight run
Across the river to South London
To dance to the latest hi-fi sound
Of bass, guitar and drum
Seeking out a rhythm that can take the pressure off
Stepping in and out of that crooked crooked beat

Take a piece of cloth, a coin for thirst
For the sweat will start to run
With a cymbal splash, a word of truth
And a rocking bass and drum
Seeking out a rhythm that can take the pressure on
Stepping in and out of that crooked crooked beat

So one by one they come on down
From the tower blocks of my home town
Stepping with the rhythm of the rockers beat
Drowning out the pressure of The Crooked Beat
Seeking out a rhythm that can take the tension on
Stepping in and out of that crooked crooked beat

It has crooked past this crooked street
Where cars patrol this crooked beat
Badges flash and sirens wail
They'll be taking one and all to jail

Prance! Prance! You want a law to dance?

Writer/s: JOE STRUMMER, PAUL SIMONON
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

The Crooked Beat

"The Crooked Beat" is often viewed as bassist Paul Simonon's followup to his popular song on the London Calling album, "The Guns Of Brixton." The songs share a South London location in the lyrics and also Simonon's monotone vocals. Both songs were written fully by him.

This was one of the very last songs recorded for the Sandinista! album, at Wessex in September 1980. It is rumoured to have been written and recorded quickly in order to both fill space on the huge triple-album, and give Paul Simonon some royalties. Indeed, the track is actually two versions of the same song - the original is then followed back to back by a dub remix by Mikey Dread, the Clash's producer at the time, featuring authentic Trenchtown patois vocals from Dread and an echo-saturated production.

The lyrics are inspired by the popular nursery rhyme "There Was A Crooked Man."

The song was one of the many more obscure tracks on Sandinista! never to be played live by The Clash, probably because "The Guns of Brixton" was used live as Simonon's signature song (he would swap instruments with singer Joe Strummer, who would play bass while Simonon sang lead vocals).

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden

Iron Maiden - Iron Maiden Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Iron Maiden
Released: 1980

Iron Maiden Lyrics

Won't you come into my room, I want to show you all my wares.
I just want to see your blood, I just want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow as it falls upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought, Iron Maiden can't be sought.

[Chorus]
Oh Well, wherever, wherever you are,
Iron Maiden's gonna get you, no matter how far.
See the blood flow watching it shed up above my head.
Iron Maiden wants you for dead.

Won't you come into my room, I want to show you all my wares.
I just want to see your blood, I just want to stand and stare.
See the blood begin to flow as it falls upon the floor.
Iron Maiden can't be fought, Iron Maiden can't be sought.

Writer/s: BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Iron Maiden

This became the band's trademark song and a concert favorite. They would typically close out their sets with it before returning for an encore.

The original demo of this song appeared on the raw tapes played at the Soundhouse, a metal club in London, when the band was just starting out. The demo was eventually released as an EP called The Soundhouse Tapes, but the song was re-recorded for their debut album.

The song is about the medieval torture device of the same name. It was a specifically shaped iron coffin that resembled a sarcophagus. The door was imbedded with long spikes. It was held vertically so the victim could be placed inside, and the door slammed shut under its own massive weight. The victim was skewered, as well as crushed. Steve Harris, who started the band, first saw the Maiden in an old film adaptation of The Man In The Iron Mask.

Maiden mainstay Steve Harris said of this song: "It's quite simple. The bass line is fairly straight forward as is the drumming. But the guitar is over the top with harmony, and the bass is descending behind it. I think this makes it pretty special."

Will Malone was the producer for the album, although the production was done primarily by the band and the recording engineer.

Derek Riggs designed the cover art, which depicted a shock-haired, skeletal zombie in an alley. When the album was re-mastered in 1998, a slightly edited version of the cover was used. It was darker, both colour-wise (it looked shadier) and emotionally (the zombie looked far less cartoonish and more horrific). Riggs slipped his logo- the symbol which features a reflected D and a right-hand R (his initials)- into the cover art. It appears on the second brick from the left, six rows down, on the shadier half of the wall. Also, a wastebasket on a street lamp by the wall reappeared on the cover art for Somewhere in Time, next to Eddie's left leg.

Only one song from the album was released as a single, "Sanctuary," and it was exclusively in the UK. Paul Di'Anno , who was the vocalist at the time of this album's release, was far less popular than Bruce Dickinson, whose air-raid siren voice was far more well received that Di'Anno's grittier singing. (Ironically, Bruce tried a grittier style in albums like No Prayer for the Dying).

The album was recorded in December 1979, and released on April 11, 1980. "Iron Maiden" was the last track.

The guitar riff was a heavy influence on their later, and far more successful song, "Aces High."

Steve Harris thought "Iron Maiden" could also be a description of a cold-blooded woman (Indeed, Margaret Thatcher's nickname was "Iron Maiden," she appeared on some single covers). The song describes such a damsel, who seduces men into her bedroom to show off her "wares" (torture devices) and proceeds to kill them in an Iron Maiden.

There is an all-female Los Angeles tribute band called the Iron Maidens, who have actually met the band and have a female Eddie as their mascot. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada, for all above)

The Heavy Metal band Trivium covered this in 2008. It was included as a bonus track on their Shogun album. (thanks, Nick - Cairns, Australia)

Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers

Peter Gabriel - Games Without Frontiers Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Peter Gabriel (third)
Released: 1980

Games Without Frontiers Lyrics

Games Without Frontiers
Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane
Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again
Suki plays with Leo, Sacha plays with Britt
Adolf builts a bonfire, Enrico plays with it
Whistling tunes we hid in the dunes by the seaside
Whistling tunes we're kissing baboons in the jungle
It's a knockout
If looks could kill, they probably will
In games without frontiers-war without tears
Games without frontiers-war without tears

Jeux sans frontieres

Andre has a red flag, Chiang Ching's is blue
They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu
Dressing up in costumes, playing silly games
Hiding out in tree-tops shouting out rude names
Whistling tunes we hide in the dunes by the seaside
Whistling tunes we piss on the goons in the jungle
It's a knockout
If looks could kill they probably will
In games without frontiers-wars without tears
If looks could kill they probably will
In games without frontiers-war without tears
Games without frontiers-war without tears

Jeux sans frontieres

Writer/s: GABRIEL, PETER
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Games Without Frontiers Song Chart

The lyric repeated at the beginning and end is "Jeux Sans Frontieres," which is French for "Games Without Frontiers."It is frequently misheard as "She's So Popular."

This song is about the childish antics of adults, which is especially prevalent when their countries are competing in the Olympics.

Gabriel wrote this before the US boycotted the Moscow Olympics in 1980. This reinforced the theme of adults acting like children over the Olympics.

Kate Bush sang backup - that's her singing "Jeux Sans Fronteires."

Gabriel got the idea for the title from a 1970s European game show of the same name where contestants dressed up in strange costumes to compete for prizes. A version of the show came out in England called "It's a knockout," giving him that lyric.

This was Gabriel's first UK Top 10 as a solo artist. It had an interesting impact on his American distribution: Gabriel's first two solo albums were distributed in America by Atlantic Records, but they rejected his third album (which contained this track), telling Gabriel he was committing "commercial suicide." Atlantic dropped him but tried to buy the album back when "Games Without Frontiers" took off in the UK and started getting airplay in the States. At this point, Gabriel wanted nothing to do with Atlantic and let Mercury Records distribute the album in America.

The whistling is Gabriel along with producers Steve Lillywhite and Hugh Padgham.

In 1991, Gabriel's performance of this from Holland was beamed to Wembley Stadium in England as part of "The Simple Truth" concert for Kurdish refugees.

The video includes film clips of Olympic events and scenes from the 1950 educational film Duck and Cover, which used a cartoon turtle to instruct school kids on what to do in case of nuclear attack. (thanks, Patrick - Conyers, GA)

Part of the song goes: "Andre has a red flag/ Chiang Ching's is blue/They all have hills to fly them on except for Lin Tai Yu.

Andre could refer to Andre Malraux (1901-1976) the French statesman and author of the book Man's Fate, about the 1920s communist regime in Shanghai. Red flag may refer to Malraux's leftist politics. Chiang Ching could refer to Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) Chinese leader of the Kuomintang who opposed the Communists - hence, the rightwing Blue Flag. Chiang's forces lost the civil war in 1949 and fled to Taiwan, where they set up a government in exile.

Lin Tai Yu may be Nguyen Thieu (1923-2001), South Vietnamese president during the height of the Vietnam War. After the Communist victory of 1975, Thieu fled to Taiwan, England, and later to the United States where he died in exile.

The lyric could refer to the fact that while leftist politicians like Andre Malraux had a secure position in France, and rightist leaders like Chiang Kai Shek had a secure country in Taiwan, those caught in the middle like Nguyen Thieu were pawns in the Cold war and had no secure country. This could also be a reproach to either Thieu or his United States backers, saying that he was now a nobody.

A remix by Lord Jamar was used for the theme for the 2009 Winter X Games. The new version was dubbed "X Games Without Frontiers." (thanks, Justin - Durango, CO)

The singer recorded a German-language version of Peter Gabriel titled Ein deutsches Album. Hearing Gabriel singing about Adolf building the bonfire in German on this song makes it sound a lot more sinister.

Billy Joel - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me

Billy Joel - It's Still Rock And Roll To Me Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Glass Houses
Released: 1980

It's Still Rock And Roll To Me Lyrics

What's the matter with the clothes I'm wearing?
"Can't you tell that your tie's too wide? "
Maybe I should buy some old tab collars?
"Welcome back to the age of jive.
Where have you been hidin' out lately, honey?
You can't dress trashy till you spend a lot of money."
Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but It's Still Rock And Roll To Me

What's the matter with the car I'm driving?
"Can't you tell that it's out of style? "
Should I get a set of white wall tires?
"Are you gonna cruise the miracle mile?
Nowadays you can't be too sentimental
Your best bet's a true baby blue Continental."
Hot funk, cool punk, even if it's old junk
It's still rock and roll to me

Oh, it doesn't matter what they say in the papers
'Cause it's always been the same old scene.
There's a new band in town
But you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine
Aimed at your average teen

How about a pair of pink sidewinders
And a bright orange pair of pants?
"You could really be a Beau Brummel baby
If you just give it half a chance.
Don't waste your money on a new set of speakers,
You get more mileage from a cheap pair of sneakers."
Next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock and roll to me

What's the matter with the crowd I'm seeing?
"Don't you know that they're out of touch? "
Should I try to be a straight 'A' student?
"If you are then you think too much.
Don't you know about the new fashion honey?
All you need are looks and a whole lotta money."
It's the next phase, new wave, dance craze, anyways
It's still rock and roll to me

Everybody's talkin' 'bout the new sound
Funny, but it's still rock and roll to me

Writer/s: JOEL, BILLY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

It's Still Rock And Roll To Me

In this song, Billy Joel was making a comment on musical styles and trends. At the end of the Disco era, the music press began touting the "New Wave" sound, which included bands like The Police and The Cars. Joel thought that this new sound was just a variation on Power-Pop that had been around since the '60s. He didn't have a problem with music, just the way it was being categorized. "I like it, but it's not particularly new," he said.

Around this time, Joel was often abased in the music press as a provider of middle-of-the-road dreck. Popular artists are often targets for journalist derision, but while most of these artists choose to ignore it, Joel responded in this song. The lines, "It doesn't matter what they say in the papers, 'cause it's always been the same old scene." and "There's a new band in town, but you can't get the sound from a story in a magazine," were specifically written to attack the press that was bringing him down by pointing out that the only way to know what a band sound like is to listen to it.

"Sometimes the press gave me a hard time, and liked giving them a hard time back," Joel told Howard Stern in 2014. "In my neighborhood, somebody hits you, you hit them right back."

One of Joel's most popular songs, this was his first #1 hit on the Hot 100, spending two weeks at the top spot in July, 1980. The single was certified Platinum, which at the time meant sales in excess of 2 million.

Joel would score two more #1 hits in America: "Tell Her About It" and "We Didn't Start The Fire."

"Miracle Mile," as mentioned in the line "Should I get a set of white wall tires? Are you gonna cruise a miracle mile?" is a stretch of road (about a mile long) full of various stores in Manhasset, Long Island near where Joel grew up. (thanks, Nicole - Garden City, NY)

After he wrote this song, Joel says he realized that the chords were the same ones Bob Dylan used on "Lay Lady Lay."

Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself

Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Vital Idol
Released: 1980

Dancing With Myself Lyrics

On the floor of Tokyo
Or down in London town to go, go
With the record selection
With the mirror reflection

I'm Dancing With Myself
When there's no-one else in sight
In the crowded lonely night
Well I wait so long

For my love vibration
And I'm dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself

Well there's nothing to lose
And there's nothing to prove
I'll be dancing with myself
If I looked all over the world

And there's every type of girl
But your empty eyes
Seem to pass me by
Leave me dancing with myself

So let's sink another drink
'Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance

And I'll be dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself
Well there's nothing to lose

And there's nothing to prove
I'll be dancing with myself
If I looked all over the world
And there's every type of girl

But your empty eyes
Seem to pass me by
Leave me dancing with myself
So let's sink another drink

'Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance
And I'll be dancing with myself

Oh dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance

If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance

Dancing with myself
Dancing with myself
Dancing with myself
Dancing with myself

If I looked all over the world
And there's every type of girl
But your empty eyes
Seem to pass me by

Leave me dancing with myself
So let's sink another drink
'Cause it'll give me time to think
If I had the chance

I'd ask the world to dance
And I'll be dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself
Oh dancing with myself

If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance
If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance

If I had the chance
I'd ask the world to dance

Writer/s: JAMES, TONY / IDOL, BILLY
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Dancing With Myself Song Chart

This song is commonly thought to be about masturbation, but it's really more about dancing by yourself. Billy got the idea after watching Japanese kids at a Tokyo disco "dancing with themselves" in a nightclub. The kids would dance in a pogo style up and down, and there were mirrors in the club so they could watch themselves doing it.

Idol concedes, however that there is "some sort of masturbatory element" to the song.

Idol originally recorded this in 1980 with his band Generation X, but producer Keith Forsey thought Billy should try releasing it on his own in the States. Forsey set Billy up in New York and thanks to MTV, the song quickly caught on. Idol re-recorded it when he went solo in 1981 and used it as a B-side on various extended singles.

This song is about more than just dancing. Idol told Rolling Stone: "The song really is about people being in a disenfranchised world where they're left bereft, dancing with their own reflections."

Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols played the solo. Steve and Billy remained close friends.

This song was a big deal for Idol because it established him in America. When he left Generation X, he came to the States and tried to get his solo career off the ground. With no idea what to do and a bit of depression creeping in, he went to the New York nightclub Hurrah to drown his sorrows. As Idol tells it, he was in the bar area when suddenly a crowd migrated to the dance floor. The song that got them up and dancing was "Dancing With Myself," which he had recorded with Generation X.

He realized that this was the hot sound - one also being employed by Simple Minds and Depeche Mode - and that he should run with it. With this revelation, Idol was able to evolve his punk sound into a new wave/dance style that made him one of the biggest stars of the '80s.

The video was directed by Tody Hooper, who directed the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (thanks, Saint - New Orleans, LA, for all above)

On Guitar Center Sessions, Idol explained: "With 'Dancing With Myself' I was trying to put back in punk energy, but streamline the music at the same time and make it great to dance to and slightly more sexual - some of the things that punk precluded because it was a sort of gang kind of music. I wanted to put a sexual feeling into it, and that's when I started doing with songs like 'Dancing With Myself.'"

Blondie - Call Me

Blondie - Call Me Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: American Gigolo Soundtrack
Released: 1980

Call Me Lyrics

Call on me, oh call up, baby
Call on me, oh call
Call on me, oh call up, darling
I know who you are
Come up off your calling chart
I know where you're coming from

Call Me!
(Call me!)
On the line
Call me, call me any anytime
Call me!
(Call me!)
I'll arrive
You can call me any day or night
Call me

Cover me with kisses, baby
Cover me with love
Roll me in designer sheets
I'll never get enough
Emotions come, I don't know why
Cover of love's alibi

Call me!
(Call me!)
On the line
Call me, call me any anytime
Call me!
(Call me!)
I'll arrive
When you're ready we can share the wine
Call me

Ooh, he speaks the languages of love
Ooh, amore, chiamami, chiamami
Ooh, appelle moi, mon cheri, appelle moi
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, anyway
Anytime, anyplace, anywhere, any day

Call me!
(Call me!)
My love
Call me, call me any anytime
Call me
(Call me!)
For a ride
Call me
Call me for some overtime

Call me!
(Call me!)
My love
Call me
Call me in a sweet design
Call me!
(Call me!)
Call me for your lover's lover's alibi

Call me!
(Call me!)
For a ride
Call me, call me any anytime
Call me
(Call me!)
Uh, call me
Uh, uh, uh, call me!
(Call me!)
My love
Call me, call me any anytime

Writer/s: MORODER/HARRY
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Call Me

This song is about a prostitute. It was featured in the film American Gigolo in a scene where the lead character is "working."

European disco producer Giorgio Moroder wrote this with Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry, who thus became the first woman in British chart history to write three #1 hits. However she hadn't been Moroder's first choice. The Italian disco king had originally wanted Stevie Nicks to provide vocals on the track but the Fleetwood Mac vocalist declined the offer.

This was the most successful of all Blondie singles in their native USA. It was the best-selling single of 1980.

In 2002, The Box Tops recorded this for the compilation album When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear . Cevin Soling, who was executive producer on the album, explains: "I got the Box Tops back together again, and that was a blast. That was so much fun working with the Box Tops. Especially with Alex Chilton there singing. I didn't produce that. I was in the studio, but the producer on that one was a buy named Benji King, who was the keyboard player for the band Scandal. That studio experience was pretty funny, because he's so full of energy. He's always excited and always really into things. The Box Tops are each one degree more laid back to the next. Coming from the South, they're all kind of very chill. Until you get to Alex Chilton, who's practically catatonic. And so you have that contrast." (Check out our interview with Cevin Soling.)

In 2009, Franz Ferdinand covered this song for the War Child Presents Heroes charity album.

This song was covered by the heavy metal band In This Moment on their 2008 album, The Dream. (thanks, Charlie - Las Vegas, NV)

Giorgio Moroder told Billboard magazine that his difficult experience of recording this song with Blondie taught him not to work with rock bands. "There were always fights," he recalled. "I was supposed to do an album with them after that. We went to the studio, and the guitarist was fighting with the keyboard player. I called their manager and quit."

Yusuf Islam - A Is For Allah

Yusuf Islam - A Is For Allah Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: A Is For Allah
Released: 1980

A Is For Allah Lyrics

A Is For Allah Song Chart

When Cat Stevens converted to Islam and adopted the name Yusuf Islam in 1977, he was determined to give up his musical career as he felt he needed to dedicate himself to study of his new religion and avoid the secular aspects of the music business. However the birth of Yusuf's first child, a daughter named Hasanah, prompted a return to songwriting. He explained to Uncut: "I wrote a song in 1980 called 'A is For Allah.' I sang it to my first-born and then, when I was going around, a lot of people wanted me to give a talk and then they'd want me to sing something. I wouldn't have a guitar, so I'd just sing this song a cappella and it was recorded on people's cassettes."

"It was probably one of the biggest hits of the Muslim world back in the '80s. Almost every family had it. From there I realized, these kids need music, they need something. So I started writing songs for children and we've had one of the most popular CDs in the Muslim world called I Look, I See."

Steve Winwood - While You See a Chance

Steve Winwood - While You See a Chance Youtube Music Videos and Lyrics

Album: Arc Of A Diver
Released: 1980

While You See a Chance Lyrics

Stand up in a clear blue morning
Until you see
What can be
Alone in a cold day dawning,
Are you still free?
Can you be?

When some cold tomorrow finds you,
When some sad old dream reminds you
How the endless road unwinds you ?

While You See a Chance take it,
Find romance fake it
Because it's all on you

Don't you know by now no one gives you anything
Don't you wonder how you keep on moving
One more day your way
When there's no one left to leave you,
Even you don't quite believe you
That's when nothing can deceive you

Stand up in a clear blue morning
Until you see
What can be
Alone in a cold day dawning,
Are you still free?
Can you be?

And that old gray wind is blowing
And there's nothing left worth knowing
And it's time you should be going

Writer/s: WINWOOD, STEVE/JENNINGS, WILL
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

While You See a Chance Song Chart

Winwood did very well in the '60s and '70s with his bands The Spencer Davis Group, Blind Faith and Traffic, but he was struggling to find success as a solo artist. He teamed up with lyricist Will Jennings, who had written songs for Barry Manilow, B.B. King, Joe Cocker and The Crusaders, and the pair wrote most of the songs for Arc Of A Diver. Jennings told us:
"'While you see a chance take it, find romance, fake it, because it's all on you'" - the lyric of the song is about realizing that you are all alone in this life and you have to do with it what you can - it was written around 1980 in a certain part of my life when I realized it was all on me to do, the lyric inspired by Steve's transcendent track."

Jennings is renowned for his ability to write meaningful lyrics for talented musicians. He and Winwood spent a lot of time together, not just working, but hanging out and getting to know each other. Says Jennings, "It's like writing... if you're writing a play, you're writing for a particular persona, a particular character, and you try to feel as deeply inside them as you can - where are they coming from and what they've been through. It's the same with Steve, 'While You See A Chance,' because he was coming out of a whole period with Spencer Davis and Traffic, and then where else do you go? I was up there at his place in rural England, and I was in his life so to speak, and trying to see through his eyes as well as mine. And that's what all those things were about, all the songs we wrote."

Jennings explains the line, "While you see a chance take it, find romance, fake it":
"Well the next line explains it: 'Because it's all on you.' There's an old English expression called "Fake it till you make it." If you don't have romance in your life, meaning in the broader sense, really, something to make life interesting, just imagine it until it's there." (Check out our interview with Will Jennings.)

This became Winwood's first Top 40 hit as a solo artist. In 1986 he hit #1 in the US with "Higher Love," which also had lyrics written by Jennings.

During production, Winwood accidentally erased the drum track from part of the song as he prepared to record a vocal. After months of trying to patch up the damage, he left the drums off the erased part and restructured the song.

Winwood played all the instruments on the album.

Blondie - Rapture

Blondie - Rapture Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Autoamerican
Released: 1980

Rapture Lyrics

Toe to toe
Dancing very close
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotized
And they're stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture

Back to back
Sacroiliac
Spineless movement
And a wild attack

Face to face
Sadly solitude
And it's finger popping
Twenty-four hour shopping in Rapture

Fab Five Freddie told me everybody's high
DJ's spinnin' are savin' my mind
Flash is fast, Flash is cool
Francois sez fas, Flashe' no do
And you don't stop, sure shot
Go out to the parking lot
And you get in your car and you drive real far
And you drive all night and then you see a light
And it comes right down and lands on the ground
And out comes a man from Mars
And you try to run but he's got a gun
And he shoots you dead and he eats your head
And then you're in the man from Mars
You go out at night, eatin' cars
You eat Cadillacs, Lincolns too
Mercury's and Subaru's
And you don't stop, you keep on eatin' cars

Then, when there's no more cars
You go out at night and eat up bars where the people meet
Face to face, dance cheek to cheek
One to one, man to man
Dance toe too toe
Don't move to slow, 'cause the man from Mars
Is through with cars, he's eatin' bars
Yeah, wall to wall, door to door, hall to hall
He's gonna eat 'em all
Rapture, be pure
Take a tour, through the sewer
Don't strain your brain, paint a train
You'll be singin' in the rain
I said don't stop, to punk rock

Well now you see what you wanna be
Just have your party on TV
'Cause the man from Mars won't eat up bars when the TV's on
And now he's gone back up to space
Where he won't have a hassle with the human race
And you hip-hop, and you don't stop
Just blast off, sure shot
'Cause the man from Mars stopped eatin' cars and eatin' bars
And now he only eats guitars, get up!

Writer/s: DEBORAH HARRY, CHRIS STEIN
Publisher: BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Rapture

This was the first #1 hit song with a rap. Artists like Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, and Kurtis Blow had been rapping since the mid-'70s, and The Sugarhill Gang had the first Top 40 hit earlier in 1980 with "Rapper's Delight," but until "Rapture," rap had never been incorporated into a hit pop song.

Debbie Harry did the rap, and it was really ridiculous, with lyrics about the "Man from Mars eating cars," but the novelty helped the song become a hit.

Harry's rap is so goofy that it sounds like she could be mocking the genre, but this was very early in the evolution of hip-hop, and many of the rhymes that came out of the New York block parties were just as silly. Harry and Chris Stein of Blondie championed rap and got involved in the community, often attending these block parties - they even took Nile Rodgers to one, which is where he learned that his song "Good Times" was a DJ favorite. Blondie brought rap to a far larger audience with this song; Debbie Harry says that a lot of rappers - including members of Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan - told her it was the first rap song they ever heard, since the genre wasn't welcome on the radio then.

Until this came out, rappers always used existing songs as the basis for the music they would rap over. They usually took disco or soul records and looped the beats to extend the breaks. Debbie Harry's rap in this was nothing special, but it was the first rap in a song that had its own original music.

In certain Christian theology, The Rapture is an event where believers are transported to heaven while others must endure the beginning of the end times on Earth. The lyrics of this song are a bit apocalyptic, as the "Man from Mars" starts destroying the planet with his insatiable appetite. The word "Rapture" is also a play on the rap aspect of the song.

As the age of disco ended, so did Blondie's success. This was their last US hit until 1999, when they had a comeback song called "Maria." They did have another UK hit in 1982 called "Island Of Lost Souls."

If you listen carefully to the lyrics, you might hear something naughty. Shortly before the rap, there is a line that sounds a lot like "Finger F--king." Most lyric sheets list this line as "Finger Popping."

Hip-Hop promoter and former host of Yo! MTV Raps Fab 5 Freddie is in the video and is mentioned in the song. He was part of the early rap scene and is credited with helping bring it into the mainstream. Blondie originally met Fab Five Freddy and his crew at a club. They all became friends, and one day Freddy jokingly suggested that Debbie Harry should write a song about them. She did, and the result was the rap that is the second half of the song. She sent it to Freddy, he and his crew loved it and she ended up recording it.

The video for this features a cameo appearance by New York artist/Andy Warhol disciple Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose life was portrayed in the 1996 film Basquiat.

The lyrics, "Flash is fast, flash is cool" are a reference to pioneering hip-hop DJ Grandmaster Flash.

KRS-One interpolated this song on his 1997 single "Step Into A World (Rapture's Delight)," which made #70 in the US. Singing with KRS-One on the track is Keva Holman. The song can be heard in the 2013 movie This Is the End, where it fits with the rapture theme.

A few months after this song was released, Tom Tom Club issued their first single, "Wordy Rappinghood." The Tom Tom Club song wasn't issued in America, but became a big hit in Europe and Latin America. Like "Rapture," it featured a white female vocalist doing a rap (Tina Weymouth).

Like Blondie, Tom Tom Club was immersed in the New York music scene and influenced by hip-hop. Neither act knew the other was working on a rap song - Blondie was recording in New York while Tom Tom Club was working in the Bahamas.