song of the day – “Why Can’t I Have You” | THE CARS | 1985.

The Apple LISA II Macintosh XL home computer, 1985.

On January 7, 1985, my almost 18-year-old self couldn’t even begin to fathom what life would be like 35 years later, as an almost 53-year-old, on January 7, 2020.  Blogging wasn’t a thing, MacBook Pros (like the one I’m typing on) didn’t exist (the Apple LISA II Macintosh XL home computer, released January 1, 1985, was a whopping $3,995 at the time of release), I had yet to become a radio DJ (that reality wouldn’t happen for another eight months), and I wasn’t one of the cool kids (far from it), and madly in love with my best friend (who I wouldn’t meet — and meeting through the wonders of community radio — for 21 years).

Me and Maryhope, WMPG-FM, Portland, Maine, 10.23.2019.

And, on January 7, 1985, I certainly wouldn’t have been thinking about The Cars’ then 40-year-old Ric Ocasek not being around anymore (Ric passed away at the age of 75 on September 15, 2019).  He’s surely missed, but I take comfort in the fact that the music of Ric and The Cars will drive up and down the radio dials forever.

January 7, 1985 was also the release date of “Why Can’t I Have You,” the fifth single from one of The Cars’ biggest and highest-charting albums ever, HEARTBEAT CITY.  Released in mid-March 1984 to much acclaim, HEARTBEAT CITY was certified Platinum in New Zealand and certified Gold in the U.K., sold four million copies in U.S. alone, reached No. 3 on BILLBOARD’s album chart, and was one of the 50 biggest albums in America for both 1984 and 1985.

Half of the gatefold artwork for the cover of HEARTBEAT CITY.

“Why Can’t I Have You” followed the singles “You Might Think,” “Magic,” “Drive” and “Hello Again,” all Top 20 singles on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  If my nerdy singles chart math is correct, HEARTBEAT CITY was just the second album by a group (followed by the Huey Lewis & The News album, SPORTS) and just the fourth artist overall (following Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Huey Lewis & The News and Cyndi Lauper) to produce five Top 40 singles from one album.

The U.K. 12″ version of “Why Can’t I Have You.”

Entering the BILLBOARD Hot 100 about three weeks after its release, “Why Can’t I Have You” debuted on the chart at No. 79.  Five weeks later, in early March 1985, “Why Can’t I Have You” reached the Top 40 of the Hot 100, wedged in between the wonderful “This Is Not America” by David Bowie and Pat Metheny, and the (well, not so wonderful, but extremely popular) “Rhythm Of The Night” by DeBarge.

By the end of March 1985, “Why Can’t I Have You” spent a week at No. 33, fell out of the Top 40 a couple weeks later, and hung around the Hot 100 for a respectable 17 total weeks, ending its run in mid-May 1985, more than a year after the release of HEARTBEAT CITY.

NERDY HEARTBEAT CITY FUN FACT: The second song on the album, “Looking For Love” (written by Ric Ocasek and not a cover of the 1980 Johnny Lee hit from URBAN COWBOY), was actually covered later in 1985 by the pride of Austria, Falco, as “Munich Girls,” a German-language version of “Looking For Love.”  I never made the connection until researching for this blog post.  Holy cats!  I mean, Heilige Katzen!

NERDY HEARTBEAT CITY FUN FACT No. 2: For the cover art of the album, The Cars (having fun with their namesake) used a 1972 piece of artwork by English artist Peter Phillips called Art-O-Matic Loop di Loop, and features the 1971 Plymouth Duster 340.

The full gatefold cover art for HEARTBEAT CITY.

The Cars have so many incredible and infectious songs they’ll always be remembered for, so many still thankfully being played on the radio today, I don’t know if I could even put together a list of my 10 favorites, but I do know that if I could, “Why Can’t I Have You” would definitely be in that Top 10, if not the Top 5. 

In the 1984 ROLLING STONE review for HEARTBEAT CITY, writer Don Shewey wrote, “‘Why Can’t I Have You’ is easily the LP’s most affecting song, because Ocasek drops his usually chilly persona and, against a gorgeous whispered chorus, sings with plaintive desperation.”

The cover art for the Germany version of “Why Can’t I Have You.”

The only known cover of “Why Can’t I Have You” that I have ever heard is this stunning version by Brooklyn, NY Folk / Americana singer-songwriter-musician Kris Delmorst, who in 2011 put together a collective of singers and musicians from the Boston / Cambridge, Massachusetts area (including The Cars’ own keyboardist, Greg Hawkes) for her album of entirely Cars covers, appropriately titled, CARS.  Her version of “Why Can’t I Have You” is one of the best covers I’ve ever heard.

I think why I love “Why Can’t I Have You” so much is because it’s gorgeous, haunting, not quite like the rest of HEARTBEAT CITY, but yet still belonging to the essence of the overall feel of the album, and though it didn’t match the success the album’s other singles, I love how the band took a chance with this different, non-trad Cars Pop/Rock/Punk/New Wave offering, and still managed to reach the Top 40 anyway. 

And, as I blog about this 35 years later, I’m hoping a new generation of Cars fans will read this post and listen to “Why Can’t I Have You” and fall in love with song they’ve prolly never heard on the radio before, and if some members of this new generation of Cars fans are radio DJs, maybe they’ll end up loving the song as much as I do, and they’ll play this gorgeous treasure on the radio themselves…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxGO23cI92U

 

song of the day – “Rock Me Amadeus” | FALCO | 1986.

Through the course of music history, not many foreign-language songs have reached No. 1 here in America.  In fact, from the inception of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in August 1958 through today, out of the 1,061 songs that have reached No. 1, only six (6) songs in a foreign language have reached the top of the U.S. singles chart: “Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare),” Domenico Modugno (Italian; 1958); “Sukiyaki,” Kyu Sakamoto (Japanese; 1963); “Dominique,” The Singing Nun (French; 1963); “Rock Me Amadeus,” Falco (English / German, 1986); “La Bamba,” Los Lobos (Spanish; 1987); and, currently the seventh-biggest song of all-time on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (whether you like it or not), “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)” by Los del Río (English / Spanish, 1996 for 14 weeks).

From that handful of No. 1 foreign-language hits on the Hot 100, on this date (3.29) in 1986, Falco’s “Rock Me Amadeus” started its three-week stay at No. 1.  The late, great Vienna, Austria-born singer / songwriter / rapper had charted on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, when his 1981 original version of “Der Kommissar” (a No. 5 Hot 100 hit for British group After The Fire in 1983) peaked at No. 10. 

But, despite the global success of “Der Kommissar” (it was Italy’s No. 1 song for all of 1982), and the release of several other singles between 1981 and 1984, Falco did not have any luck on the American singles chart.

Well, that all changed when, in June 1985, Falco released his tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – “Rock Me Amadeus” – inspired by the Academy Award-winning film from the year before, AMADEUS.

The cover for the American version of FALCO 3.

“Rock Me Amadeus” was originally recorded in Falco’s native German language.  A number of English / German language versions were recorded, with my favorite versions being the four-minute “Canadian Edit” and the eight-minute “Saleri Mix,” found on the original American version of the album, FALCO 3, which gave you a history lesson-of-sorts on all things Amadeus:

1756: Salzburg, January 27, Wolfgang Amadeus is born.

1761: At the age of 5 Amadeus begins composing.

1773: He writes his first piano concerto.

1782: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart marries Constanze Weber.

1784: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart becomes a Freemason.

1791: Mozart composes The Magic Flute.

On December 5 of that same year, Mozart dies.

1985: Austrian rock singer Falco records “Rock Me Amadeus”

Falco (sort of) channeling Mozart for the music video of “Rock Me Amadeus.”

The music video for “Rock Me Amadeus” featured the all-German version of the song, and the video blended mid-1980s style with 18th Century style.  (I’m almost sure that Mozart did not ride an 80s motorcycle.  But, it did look like Falco and Co. were having a fun time!)

“Rock Me Amadeus” was a massive global hit in both 1985 and 1986, reaching No. 1 in Austria, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the U.K., No. 2 in Belgium, Canada, Holland, Italy and Switzerland, No. 6 in Norway and No. 15 in Australia. 

The American version of the 12″ single for “Rock Me Amadeus.”

Sadly, Falco is oft-labeled as a one-hit wonder here in America, led by folks like VH1, where Falco and “Rock Me Amadeus” appeared on their early 00s bullshit list of “VH1’s 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders.”  I’ve actually brought this very subject up in one of my first blog posts in 2016.  I get it.  Radio stations want you to conform to remembering just the one big hit, even if they had more than one.  They don’t want you to remember that Falco actually did reach the Top 20 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 one more time, when the cool “Vienna Calling” peaked at No. 18 in June 1986.  So, technically, here in America, Falco was a TWO-HIT wonder.

After “Vienna Calling” reached the Top 10 in at least seven countries around the globe, Falco’s global music career held on for a couple more years, with “Jeanny” (the third single from FALCO 3), reaching No. 1 in at least five countries.  In 1987, Falco even teamed up with actress Brigitte Nielsen for a No. 1 song in New Zealand – “Body Next To Body.”

Between 1988 and 1998, Falco continued to chart songs in some European countries, but in his home country of Austria, he was music royalty.  And, I think, in a way, he still is.  Just 13 days before he turned 41, Falco, on a trip in the Dominican Republic, died when his car collided with a bus.  It was revealed he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine at the time.  When my late, great friend and world traveler, Adam Towne (who also passed away far too early; from cancer), visited Vienna back in 2009, he photographed Falco’s grave (located in Vienna’s Central Cemetery) for me, knowing I wouldn’t think of it as morbid, but that I would appreciate the sentiment.  I still do.

One of my favorite versions of “Rock Me Amadeus” is the symphonic version from the album and DVD appropriately-titled, SYMPHONIC.  It was recorded live in 1994 with the Wiener Neustadt orchestra, and was released nearly 10 years to the day after his death, and of course, it went to straight to No. 1 in Austria. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8niNHOs_kU

Maybe some folks reading this thought of “Rock Me Amadeus” (and maybe even Falco himself) as a novelty, but I think “Rock Me Amadeus” was not only a pretty cool music history lesson set to a drum-machine beat, but it was just a downright fun song. 

I know at the time of his death, he was planning a comeback, but at the very least, his legacy lives on, and despite what some folks (like VH1) say, I’ll never think of Falco as a one-hit wonder, mainly because, well, he wasn’t.  And, like in the English translation of “Rock Me Amadeus,” Falco “was a superstar, he was dynamite and whatever he did seemed to be alright…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVikZ8Oe_XA

wouldn’t it be good.

To borrow from Nik Kershaw’s 1984 gem of a song, wouldn’t it be good to be on your side (or my side) of the subject of one-hit wonders?  What do you think of when you think of a one-hit wonder?  You think of a band or a singer who had one big hit, and that’s it, right?  What 80s one-hit wonders come to mind right away for you?  a-ha?  Falco?  Men Without Hats?  Eddy Grant?  Information Society?  The Outfield?  ’til Tuesday?  Madness?  For the record (no pun intended), NONE of these acts were one-hit wonders here in America.  In fact, every one of the acts listed above had multiple Top 40 hits, and in some cases, multiple Top 20 hits on the BILLBOARD Hot 100. 

Well, if you’re surprised that the artists listed above had more than one hit, don’t blame yourself; most people feel that way.  It’s not at the fault of the people, it’s radio stations and media outlets like VH1 who, over the years, “determine” what songs are the ones worth remembering, and what songs get left behind, despite what imprint they may have left on the singles chart.  And I love radio.  

In 2009, VH1 did a show on the “Greatest One-Hit Wonders Of The 80s,” and I responded with a show on STUCK IN THE 80s, titled “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder,” featuring hits by artists listed above and other artists who appeared on VH1’s list like Thomas Dolby, John Waite, Devo, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, A Flock Of Seagulls and Dead Or Alive.  I don’t know who put this bullshit list together for VH1, but if I recall, nearly 75% of the list was inaccurate.

Later that year, in advance of their first Portland, Maine show, I had the amazing opportunity to interview Dave Wakeling, the voice and force behind The English Beat and General Public.  Knowing General Public had more than one hit (“Tenderness” in 1984 and their brilliant cover of The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” in 1993), I had played “I’ll Take You There” on my “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder” show, and asked Dave if it bothered him that General Public, according to VH1, was referred to as a one-hit wonder (“Tenderness” was No. 77 on the list):

“[VH1] asked me to be involved in that, and I sent them a list of [our] hits, and I was like, ‘Sadly, we can’t be involved in a one-hit wonder [show], can we?’  So, I told him that I thought they were barking up the wrong tree, and beating a dead horse, and it seems to be something, I think it stems more from VH1 than anything else, to try and marginalize or even ridicule the 80s somehow, and most of the people working on those damn programs weren’t even there; with their young sarcastic tones.  I put the guy in his place, frankly.  And, I said, ‘Even if I was a one-hit wonder, it’d be one more than you, mate, wouldn’t it?!’  Or, as my dad used to say, ‘Better to have been a has been than a never-bleeding wozzer!’”

Between late 1979 and the end of 1989, there were nearly 500 (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s.  Once a week, prolly on Mondays, I’ll feature a (real) one-hit wonder of the week.  For me, being the chart nerd I am (I have warned you of this), a (real) one-hit wonder was a artist that reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just one time, whether it was a No. 1 hit, like M’s “Pop Muzik,” a Top 10 hit like Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love,” a Top 40 hit like Laid Back’s “White Horse,” or a song that just squeaked into the Hot 100 at No. 96, like “The Only Way Is Up,” by Yazz & The Plastic Population, a song that actually spent 5 weeks at No. 1 in the United Kingdom.  And with nearly 500 (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s (including the aforementioned Nik Kershaw), I could do this as a weekly feature for many years to come.  Stay tuned…