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This was a hit back in the 80s by the group Naked Eyes. As a teenager I remember this song getting a LOT of airplay.
As it turns out, this song is actually a cover. Written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, it was originally intended for Dionne Warwick in 1963, but the first release was the version by Lou Johnson in 1964, which turned into a minor hit.
That same year Sandie Shaw took the song to number one in the UK.
Of course, who can forget this version by Ted "Jesus Christ Superstar" Neeley.
Discussion (11)
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Naked Eyes still get a lot of airplay with this song.
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I was almost oblivious to pop music in the 80's but definitely know the song. I'm almost positive that the version I am familiar with is by Dionne Warwick.
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Sandie Shaw, one of the sounds of my youth!
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Ah. Well.
I have a particular affinity for this album, since its release coincided with a torrid affair in 1983. But there was more to it than that. The distinctive sound of that Bacharach cover - its manic robotic electronic drum fills - was the work of producer Tony Mansfield, one of the true Mysterious Geniuses of early 80s synth-pop. Mansfield was the brain and heart behind New Musik, a band whose UK work albums were boiled down for a single album intended to make a big stateside splash. Every track was amazing.
It didn't sell. Mansfield cobbled together one more album, Warp, then abandoned the band for a career as a producer. He doesn't seem to have any recent credits. He turns 71 next week.
Early 80s synth-pop is one of those you-had-to-be-there genres. It was so different from all the radio fare, and the sounds were fresh and unfamiliar, a vanguard of a new way of thinking about pop music. The programmed drums gave it an implacable, insistent strength; the new keyboard sounds were fascinating, and the presence of a strummed guitar gave it a human touch.
Warp is a flawed work, but this track has the antecedents of the Naked Eyes tune, and you can tell why those of us geeking out over this subgenre were amazed when these particular drum sounds were now playing on AM radio on the Naked Eyes song. That's Tony! Tony has a hit! (Sorry for the links; as usual, cannot figure out what fargin' code to use for the YouTube embed,)
From the earlier albums, one of his effortlessly melodic tunes:
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