3RD SEPTEMBER- THE HARDER I TRY- Brother Beyond (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/The_harder_i_try.jpg

 

Though I own many a No 2 on vinyl prior to this song (mostly picked up at record faires), this is the first one that I bought at the time, it would have been "The Locomotion" but I opted for the album instead- probably due to her wink on the front cover. Brother Beyond were, for about 6 months, positioned as rivals to Bros, and fans were branded "youndies", needless to say in the title of their next hit (almost) "They Weren't No Competition". The band had been struggling away having a couple of minor hits without threatening the top 50 before EMI won a charity auction for Young Variety Club Of Great Britain- the prize? The services of Stock Aitken Waterman of course, the hottest producers in the land. EMI decided that Brother Beyond could benefit the most from their services and Waterman, having met the group before, agreed, the result was S/A/W biggest "soul" dig and the most obvous ape of the motown brand.

 

Sampling "This Ole Heart Of Mine" in the intro the whole affair has a motown vibe to it, it certainly turned the trick for the band and provided them with their biggest UK hit. Though 3 top 20 hits followed only the S/A/W penned follow up "He Ain't No Competition" made the top 10 and the band fizzled out in the early 90s when the hits dried up, but Nathan Moore (lead singer) went on to perform in 90s boyband Worlds Apart, and Bassist Eg White proved the most successful ex member going on to write many hits including of course "Leave Right Now" for Will Young.

 

As a song I quite like "The Harder I Try", catchy, upbeat, and actually not your typical S/A/W composition, the usual Hi-NRG backing track slowed down to a more mature sound. Indeed it defeats the argument that they only made one kind of single, and whilst they had never had success previously in the "boyband" arena, this proved the catalyst for them to produce acts like Yell! and Big Fun....decide for yourself if that was a good thing!.....

 

Edited August 11, 201113 yr by gezza76

22ND OCTOBER- DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY- Bobby McFerrin (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/DontWorryBe.jpg

 

His sole UK top 40 hit almost went all the way. McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy" is for me, an annoying record, like one of those people you meet who is relentlessly upbeat, it never seems real. I mean well done to him for making a technically unusual record (there are no instruments here and it's all done accapella) but other than that it's not a record I would choose to listen to voluntarily, and my, doesn't it seem to go on forever? It was ironically used in George Bush Snr's campaign for the 1988 presidential election much to McFerrin's disgruntlement. Chirpy and annoying, thank god relief is just around the corner......

 

Edited August 11, 201113 yr by gezza76

16TH JULY- PUSH IT/ TRAMP- Salt N Pepa (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/30/Push_It_by_Salt-N-Pepa_single_cover.jpg

 

I remember this from the time but can't say I ever really liked it as a 7 year old. I do know though from talking to some of my workmates (who are quite a few years older than me) that if you were 16 years old in 1988, the chances are you bought 'Push It' and it was your anthem of the year. :lol: So maybe if I had ben 16 in 1998 my opinion of this song at the time would've been different. Ironically, by the time I was 16 I'd found a new (sort of) love for this song. It's certainly one of those songs I've grown to like over the years.

 

6TH AUGUST- THE LOCOMOTION- Kylie Minogue (4 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b7/KylieTheLoco-MotionCover.png

 

The princess of pop really was a dominating force. So whilst 16 year olds were buying 'Push It' in their droves for 3 weeks. It was the teenyboppers who kept 'The Locomotion' at no. 2 for a month. I can understand Gezza's frustration of being a 12 year old, loving a song and wanting it to go to no. 1 but always missing out each week - especially when it turns out that it almost did get to no. 1 in one of those weeks. I guess those who were buying 'Push It' may have been the same people buying 'The Only Way Is Up' - those who regularly went clubbing, and those not quite old enough but wanted to be part of the dance revolution. As it is, I actually do prefer Yazz's song - even back in 1988 it was the same. Maybe it was because my older brother bought this too and seemed to play it constantly. My sister bought 'The Locomotion' because my neice loved it the time. I even remember her excitement at seeing the video on The Chart Show for the very first time. :lol:

 

3RD SEPTEMBER- THE HARDER I TRY- Brother Beyond (2 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/The_harder_i_try.jpg

 

Hmm!!! I really don't have anything constructive to say about this. As a 7 year old boy I didn't like it. As a 30 year old man, I like it even less. Next... :D

 

22ND OCTOBER- DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY- Bobby McFerrin (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/DontWorryBe.jpg

 

Whilst you might've hated this song, I actually thought it was brilliant. I rememeber seeing the video on TV - not sure if it was played on TOTP or The Roxy (it was one of them anyways) and finding the video hilarious. Watching it now, some 23 years later, the humour is clearly being forced upon. It's like they're desperately trying to be funny and from a 30 year olds perspective, it's just not as funny as it is to a child. That's the beauty of being a child - so much innocence and naivety. :D Is this a song I'd choose to listen to? No, but I guess for guilty pleasure purposes if they played the video on VH-1 Classic, I'd probably watch it. :lol:

29TH OCTOBER- JE NE SAIS PAS POURQUOI- Kylie Minogue (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/KylieJeNeSaisPasPourquoiCover.png

 

I saw the Showgirl Tour in 2004, one of the most interesting aspects of that greatest hits tour for me was how Kylie treated her very early hits. Whilst "The Locomotion" "I should Be So Lucky" were turned into camp kitsch affairs and "Got To Be Certain" nothing more than an interlude half sung track, "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" however still sounded fresh in a new stripped down Ballad version. I suspect it's Kylie favourite of her 1988 hits considering her treatment of it and it's mine too, a much more mature track, in theme not much different from "Better The Devil You Know", it's a bit of sophisticated pop a la 88. Kylie's vocal is actually less canary like than on previous singles and the production not so VERY 1988 if that makes sense, there is some genuine emotion in the vocal as well, although she was an actress so I can't be sure. At any rate it was a hint that there might be more longevity to her career than just one album's worth of goodies.

 

Kylie's transformation into Doris Day continues in the video set in 50s/60s France, and it's a comprehensive pop package that I don't think it was topped by her until the aforementioned track in 1990, and the one that has aged the best of her 80s hits. Originally planned as a double A Side with "Made In Heaven" it performed so well on it's own that the planned flip never happened (The Video for "Made In Heaven" is I assure you awful in any eventuality) and was also intended as Kylie's Xmas single for 1988 until S/A/W thought of the idea of THAT Kylie/Jason Duet.....

 

Edited August 13, 201113 yr by gezza76

19TH NOVEMBER- STAND UP FOR YOUR LOVE RIGHTS- Yazz (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10144.jpg

 

 

Famous for once being George Michael's hairdresser Yasmin Evans was first catapulted to fame as lead vocalist on Coldcut's top 10 hit "Doctorin The House" before spending those 5 weeks at No 1 with "The Only Way Is Up" and was, by November 1988, a big star appearing at that year's Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, pretty much as big as the BRITS in the late 80s.

 

"Stand Up For Your Love Rights" is a song that borrows from the then, newly emerging Acid House scene, and its a song that didn't interest me much at the time (well it wasn't S/A/W for a start) but it's still listenable, and again hasn't aged that badly. She'd dropped the Plastic population by now (who never really existed in reality) and struck out on her own, but only one more top 10 hit was to come, "Fine Time" in 1989" before the hits started to dwindle. Yazz actually found christianity in the 90s and relocated to Spain.....

 

 

The princess of pop really was a dominating force. So whilst 16 year olds were buying 'Push It' in their droves for 3 weeks. It was the teenyboppers who kept 'The Locomotion' at no. 2 for a month. I can understand Gezza's frustration of being a 12 year old, loving a song and wanting it to go to no. 1 but always missing out each week - especially when it turns out that it almost did get to no. 1 in one of those weeks.

My hatred of Yazz in 1988 would have known NO bounds had I known just how close Kylie had got- i'm gettin angry again now....... :lol: :banghead:

26TH NOVEMBER- NEED YOU TONIGHT- Inxs (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/Need_you_tonight.jpg

 

For a group with such a long history it is perhaps surprising that this remains the band's sole top 10 hit in this country, though it is perhaps more recognisable today as the basis for Professor Green's version of this last year. "Need you Tonight" was very much against the grain of what was in the charts in 1988, a raw stripped down track with a guitar lick that screams sex, the track is really little more than a vehicle to show the sexuality of Michael Hutchence. Though not the best of the "Kick" Singles (that would be "Mystify" or "Never Tear Us Apart" ) it was certainly the most arresting and nonethless a cracking single.

 

Unmistakeably a masculine record, wearing its bare faced sexual drive for all to see, it also goes against the grain of asexual stars that ruled the charts and airwaves by the late 80s. of course their status as Australians by this time was entirely a positive, it was where all our sex symbols came from in 88. In a way Hutchence as sex symbol is interesting and worth pondering on as this is the essentially the message of "Need You Tonight", no other pop star was selling masculinity in such a way at this time. Bros, Donovan, Astley, even Prince were selling quite a pretty boy, effeminate (in some ways) version of masculinity, non threatening, Hutchence however was doing the exact opposite. It's that simple, driving force that makes "Need You Tonight" work and probably garner sales and attention at the time, the harnessing of sexual prowess is the most blatent since Madonna's emergence some three years before and this is just masculinity catching up. Looking back on the decade as a whole only Springsteen comes to mind for trading in the same brand of manliness, but whereas you could imagine Springsteen working as a car mechanic Hutchence would have been far too busy corrupting the females of the town to hold down a full time job.

 

As intersting as it is unique "Need You Tonight" deserves its place our rundown....

 

3RD DECEMBER- CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS/ SILENT NIGHT- Bros (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10218.jpg

 

Right, where are we with Bros by this point? Well they had finally got a No 1 with "I Owe You Nothing" but follow up "I Quit" had disappointed "only" getting to No 4, but their stab at the Xmas No 1 for the year was a return to form. With a competant version of "Silent Night" on the reverse to attract sales, the main draw and the focus of promotion was undoubtably "Cat Among The Pigeons" a fifth release from their debut album "Push" and their most controversial release- well almost. Originally conceived and written about teenage pregnancy it was thought to be a step too far for the teen screams and the re-write of a couple of lines altered the meaning and the video paints the story of Matt caught up as the son of parents who have domestic violence issues (still relatively doom laden for the festive season) but it was their first ballad so kudos for altering the tempo.

 

I confess this is my favourite Bros single ever and rounded off a fantastic year for them, much like "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" it points a more mature side to the band, and whilst I love the immediacy of "When Will I Be Famous" and its youthfulness, there is much to be said for this track, and if it hadn't been by Bros it would probably be considered a much greater track than it is though of course whether or not it would have made No 2 is of course questionable....

 

Right my 80s friends- only one last stop on this trip- 1989- how was 88 for you??

19TH NOVEMBER- STAND UP FOR YOUR LOVE RIGHTS- Yazz (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10144.jpg

 

Whilst 'The Only Way Is Up' was a true solid gold moment of pop genius (sorry Gezza :D ) I've always thought this only well off the back of the success of 'TOWIU'. For me, this is such an average song and one that even in 1988 I didn't see the appeal of. I'd also say 'TOWIU' has aged better of the two tracks.

 

26TH NOVEMBER- NEED YOU TONIGHT- Inxs (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d9/Need_you_tonight.jpg

 

Now this is excellent. Even as an innocent minded 7 year old, I adored this song. :D Yes, you're absolutely right in saying this track was a proper masculine song. I remember seeing the video on TOTP and loving this. However, I must admit that me and my friends at school were all addicted to the big Coca Cola anthem of the time that kept this off the no. 1 spot. However, this is one of the few UK #2 tracks listed that I still enjoy listening to these days.

 

3RD DECEMBER- CAT AMONG THE PIGEONS/ SILENT NIGHT- Bros (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10218.jpg

 

I honestly don't remember 'Cat Among The Pigeons' at all. Even now just listening to it, I personally find the track dull and lifeless and question the vocals too. :( It all sounds so wishy washy that I'm guessing back in 1988, this would've been one of those "go and get a drink" moments if I ever did see this on TOTP.

 

Right my 80s friends- only one last stop on this trip- 1989- how was 88 for you??

 

Well May 1988 was when I discovered a new love for all things UK charts. It increased even more over the following few years and by the early-mid 90s was at its peak.

 

Out of interest, have you thought about counting down one of these topics focusing on UK #2 singles of the 90s? At least I'd be able to add more contributions as we go along.

Out of interest, have you thought about counting down one of these topics focusing on UK #2 singles of the 90s? At least I'd be able to add more contributions as we go along.

You missed giving your thoughts on "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" :D

 

Yes I will be doing the nineties, though prob not the 00s (there are so many and ones that disappeared after one week of glory) :o

Quite liked 88, especially Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" :wub: 1989! :cheer: The year I was born!

You missed giving your thoughts on "Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" :D

 

Outragous!!! :o Let's rectify that straight away... :D

 

29TH OCTOBER- JE NE SAIS PAS POURQUOI- Kylie Minogue (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/dc/KylieJeNeSaisPasPourquoiCover.png

 

By the time 'Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi' was released as the fourth single, I was fully championing everything Kylie related be it her singles or watching Neighbours as I've already mentioned. I'm not sure when Kylie's debut album was released but by this point in 1988 I'm sure I would've been asking my parents every other day if I could have it. Finally, on Christmas day 1988 my parents bought me my own tape recorder and a copy of 'Kylie - The Album' on cassette which I played so much that my tape player ended up chewing the tape meaning all the songs played backwards. :( So they bought me a second copy of the album to compensate. :D

 

Yes I will be doing the nineties, though prob not the 00s (there are so many and ones that disappeared after one week of glory) :o

 

Oh good stuff. This thread has been fantastic to follow.

7TH JANUARY 1989- THE CRACKERS INTERNATIONAL E.P- Erasure ( 3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/15/Erasure_crackers.jpg

 

So here we are, it's 1989 the final year of our countdown and I became a teenager! There was no tumultuous transformation a la Harry Enfield's "Kevin"- in truth I had little to rebel about certainly in relation to the charts, Beloved Kylie was at No 1 with "Especially For You" and this was No 2, Erasure had run up 8 straight top 20 hits and had become chart regulars in the intervening 3 years since we met them last in 86. The most famous track from the EP is of course "Stop", an engaging Hi-NRG romp of a song that was by now their stock in trade and would become the biggest hit of their career until they finally got that chart topper in 1992.

 

I recall being rather partial to a bit of Erasure back in the late 80s even buying the "Drama" single in 1989 (the year when I went single buying crazy), Bell on fine camp form in the video flouncing around in no particular fashion. Having been released over the christmas period the song had already spent a month in the top 10 before it moved into the runners up spot, but sales wise it was spent and did little trouble S/A/W's golden couple at No 1.

 

This isn't "Sometimes" though- that has a great narrative and curiosity about it, this is much more flat out pop, but then in 1989 that's what you needed to make it big....

 

28TH JANUARY- THE LIVING YEARS- Mike + The Mechanics (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/TheLivingYears.jpg

 

Formed as a side project by people in other bands (Paul Young- Sad Cafe, Mike Rutherford- Genesis) Mike & The Mechanics had a low key chart career int eh 80s until "The Living Years" exploded in the charts in Jan 1989. A song about the troubled relationship between a father and son was in some ways a pre-cursor of Genesis's 1991 top 10 hit "No Son Of Mine" and was actually a breath of fresh air in a chart stuffed full of daytime pop, which at the princely age of 13 I thought proved that I was a sophisticated record buyer when I found myself liking it.

 

Written by 70s pop star BA Robertson, it mirrored his experience of losing his father just before the birth of his child. There are no hystrionics (you can only imagine what Carey et al would turn this into) and the choiral backing adds religious tones to the record, there's an element of catharsis here, and it's all the more touching for being honest and understated, reflecting a point when barriers are let down. Themes of personal mortality are also addressed, unusually in pop which has tended to be about youth and love in the main, not in a morbid way but in terms of reality. It's also a song about love though, not in the cliched way like we'll see very shortly. but a warts and all portrayal, it's power to divide as much as to unite, and looking at the list of No 2 hits left in the 80s I have to say this is probably my personal favourite of the year, touching, sincere, and succint, what more could you want?.....

 

Edited August 15, 201113 yr by gezza76

25TH FEBRUARY- LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING- Michael Ball (2 weeks)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10304.jpg

 

It's a tale of two Michael's up next. This one is awful, consider him a Rhydian of 1989 if you will, but Michael Ball was an opera star who got the lead role of Alex in the new Andre Lloyd Webber miusical "Aspects Of Love" which had just opened in London's West end, and from it "Love Changes Everything" was released as a single. It outperformed all expectations when it duly became a No 2 hit, Webber had already acheived that chart topper with "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" with vocalist Julie Covington in 1977, and the explanation as to why this was such a big hit may lie in the fact that "Aspects Of Love" was teh follow-up, if you like, to "The Phantom of The Opera" probably the biggest musical opera of the 80s.

 

Naturally it's dross, I've never been an opera/ Musical kinda guy, though I love "Blood Brothers", but whereas bombastic delivery was all very alluring in 1984, by 1989 this seems curiously out of place. It's nice to be putting a bit of variety into this thread, its almost a bit of an anacronism now though, you just couldn't imagine something like this being a top 10 hit now (watch, i'll be proved wrong next month probably), and you can't fault Ball's voice when he belts out the tune, it's just empty and full of cliches though, there is no subtly, this song is designed to beat you down with sheer force, the musical equivalent of being in a wind tunnel I suppose.

 

At the end you feel no more enlightened about love and how it changed "everything" than you did at the beginning- FAIL....

 

 

4TH MARCH- LEAVE ME ALONE- Michael Jackson (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Leave_Me_Alone.jpg

 

For an artist that so dominated the decade it is perhaps surprising that this is the only solo Jackson single to qualify for this thread. It was an incredible eighth release from the "Bad" album though it appeared only on the CD version of the album and thusly was a "new track" to a significant number of purchasers in 1989 (myself included as I had the Vinyl version), and this perhaps explains how it became the second highest charting track from the album.

 

An uptempo dance track "Leave Me Alone" is actually one of my fave's from the Jackson cannon, and considerably better than the drippy "Liberian Girl" which followed this. I seem to recall this made No 1 on the chart show and on the Network Charts (which I listened to back in 1989) so I was surprised to find out a few years later that it was never an "Official" chart topper, shame really as it's far better than "I just Can't Stop Loving You"- "Bad"'s only UK chart topper. With a video mocking the many rumours and speculations about Jackson's private life by the time of the late 80s it's also a bit of tongue-in-cheek humour from the star beforet he complete meglomania kicked in in the 90s.

 

"Leave Me Alone" is in short a great record, not the best of 89 but certainly worth noting, adn of course both "Thriller" and "Bad" redefined not only the video age but also the concept of just how many singles you could plunder from an album, which is the bigger story here.....

 

Time to catch up with this,. :D This is what I was thinking of the UK #2s at the time, and how my opinions (may) have changed since.

 

7TH JANUARY 1989- THE CRACKERS INTERNATIONAL E.P- Erasure ( 3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/15/Erasure_crackers.jpg

 

Brilliant stuff!!! :D I know my brother bought this but 'Stop!' really is the only track I remember well from the EP. Also from watching old clips of The Chart Show on YouTube, it's maybe interesting to note that all 3 weeks when 'Especially For You' was the official UK #1 single, this was The Chart Show #1 single.

 

28TH JANUARY- THE LIVING YEARS- Mike + The Mechanics (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/TheLivingYears.jpg

 

This song is exceptional. It's a song I appreciate so much more now than I probably ever did as an 8 year old. That said, I did like this song back then but it's not the type of song young kids want to listen to. This is genuine music catered for genuine music lovers. I actually do find this song has pure emotion within it. Iirc, didn't Rolf Harris review this song on Going Live and he was almost in tears talking about it - and that was from a 30 second clip of the video. I guess that shows how powerful a song it is.

 

25TH FEBRUARY- LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING- Michael Ball (2 weeks)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10304.jpg

 

On the other hand, I guess this is a song I liked more as an 8 year old than I do now aged 30. It's definitely not a song I'd ever choose to listen to, and if I ever am watching VH-1 Classic or Magic TV and this comes on, there's 100% chance I will change the channel. :lol:

 

4TH MARCH- LEAVE ME ALONE- Michael Jackson (1 week)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/84/Leave_Me_Alone.jpg

 

I was a big fan of Michael Jackson as a child. My eldest brother bought 'Bad - The Album' on cassette for my nephew who is only a few years younger than me. I had a copy of this which I was listening to in 1989 on my beloved tape recorder. :lol: It is strange to think 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' was a UK #1 song. Not that it's a bad song but the follow up singles were just so much stronger imo. Title track 'Bad' was an anthem for all young lads and I personally think 'The Way You Make Me Feel' is a glorious pop moment. Then we have 'Leave Me Alone' which I know my older brother bought on cd single - by 1989 he had moved away from buying 7" and 12" records and was now buying everything on cd single. I remember seeing the video at the time and being absolutely fascinated by it.

15TH APRIL- IF YOU DON'T KNOW ME BY NOW- Simply Red (3 weeks)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/eb/If_you_don't_know_me_by_now.jpg

 

Originally turned down by Labelle, "If You Don't Know Me By Now" was eventually recorded and released by Harold Melvin & The Bluenotes in 1972 before the mighty Hucknell decided to pluck it from pop history and hurtle it back into the UK charts in April 89. Whereas I love and understand the appeal of "Holding Back The Years" i'm rather more lukewarm on this one. It seems slightly too maudlin and funerial for my personal taste, though I of course give kudos to them for a competant cover and an impressive vocal (a front that Hucknell never fails to deliver).

 

By 1989 Simply Red had emerged as one of the biggest album sellers of the decade, and IFYDKMBN remains a testament of that time, but the problem with the song is that it is probably the weakest release from the "A New Flame" album. The Bluesy "It's Only Love" and the fantastic title track, full of attitude and gusto, are far more fitting for this thread, but we have this track instead. I don't question the decision to release it (it did after all become their biggest hit until 1995's No 1 "Fairground") and promoted the album to million selling status before Y/E 1989, it's just, dare I say it, slightly dull......

 

Edited August 17, 201113 yr by gezza76

3RD JUNE- MISS YOU LIKE CRAZY- Natalie Cole (1 week)

 

http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/10460.jpg

 

Now this on the other hand is a great little track. Conversely this is a record which I didn't really connect with at all at the time but that I have grown to rather like over the years, one of only two top 10 singles of her career in this country there isn't that much remarkable about the ballad but I do admire the way it's sung. Cole's vocal is clear and bright, sincere and oddly enthusiatic, considering she's meant to be depressed and longing for her lover, all wrapped up in a nicely produced track that treads that line quite well between heart felt emotion and false emoting, and I always felt that Cole deserved more success that she aquired in this country.

 

"Pink Cadillac" was her first top 10 hit in 1988, a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song which was a barely veiled reference to something quite rude. Springsteen apparently vetoed the first request by a female to record the track (that being bette Midler) but acceded to Cole's request- i'm not sure she knew what it was about- on the basis of "Miss You Like Crazy" you have to suspect not, but all in all it's a sweet ballad and rather pleasing......

 

Edited August 17, 201113 yr by gezza76