Have no idea why, but lately I’ve become fixated on random 80s songs — here’s a short-list:
Stuck On You — Lionel Richie (#35 in 1984, while “Hello” was #6 that same year)
I Want To Know What Love Is — Foreigner (the #4 song of 1985, mind you)
Don’t Ask Me Why — Billy Joel (didn’t make it to top 100 lists in 1980)
Yes, I know – the lyrics to the first two songs are completely inane, but there’s something going on lately where I have this (completely unsubstantiated) belief that there is something deeper in popular 80s music than we could have ever imagined. I’m not saying these particular songs are indicative of that, but I think even then there was a deeper wisdom yearning to be expressed — it just found its voice in the superficialities of the time, when Phil Collins and Billy Ocean ruled the charts.
I’m with you on this, Tal.
The lyrics to Stuck On You mention leaving on a midnight train, feeling down deep that we just can’t loose, needing a friend, being together until the end.
One of the first girls I ever fell in love with was from England; she was on holiday visiting common friends. We both knew that she’d be going home before long.
She sang that song softly in my ear on a dance floor in Madison Wisconsin. That was in the early 1980’s.
To this day I think of her when I hear that song. I always will.
Together until the end.