Don’s Top 10 For July 28, 1983

One-hit wonders here, but multiple hitmakers in Europe. co-produced by Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. Lead singer Limahl (an anagram of his surname, Christopher Hamill) soon left for a solo career. Limahl had accidentally met Rhodes while working as a waiter at a swanky club in London.

Clive Davis of Arista Records didn't want this released as a single in the U.S. because he felt the subject matter was "too British". What he failed to realize was we were entering a second British Invasion of American pop music. The song is a tribute to Ray Davies's sister Rene, who surprised younger bro Ray with a guitar on his 13th birthday that his parents had refused to buy him, then died of a heart attack (only 31 years old) while out dancing on a ballroom floor that night (wow).

Eddy first hit the charts way back in 1968 as lead singer of The Equals, with the killer track "Baby Come Back" (Bonnie Raitt later covered that). It's kind of ironic that "Electric Avenue" is used in so many commercials, TV shows & movies because the song is about a nasty riot, the 1981 Brixton riot, where Electric Avenue can be found.

"How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" is a song composed by Michel Legrand, with lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman for the 1982 film "Best Friends" (it starred Burt Reynolds & Goldie Hawn), where it was introduced by Patti Austin and James Ingram. It was one of three songs with lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman that was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 55th Academy Awards. They had a three out of five shot to win...& they lost, to "Up Where We Belong".

Annie Lennox certainly stood out from the crowd, didn't she? Lennox's striking androgynous visual image, with close-cropped, orange-colored hair, & dressed in a man's suit brandishing a cane, immediately made her a household name. Her gender-bending image would be further explored in other Eurythmics videos such as "Love Is a Stranger" & "Who's That Girl?" As for the song, the original recording's main instrumentation featured a sequenced analog synthesizer riff, which Dave Stewart accidentally discovered in the studio when he played a bass track backwards.

A return to form for the disco queen, which was a term Summer did NOT like, BTW. She wrote or co-wrote every track on the album this came from. A super-talented, very underrated artist.

Philadelphia born & raised, Sembello was one of the top session musicians in the business before his one success on the singles chart, most notably with Stevie Wonder from 1974 to 1979. He plays electric & lead guitar on most of "Fuffillingness' First Finale" & "Songs In The Key Of Life".

Giorgio Moroder originally recorded "Flashdance... What a Feeling" with Joe Esposito (he sang "Heaven Knows" with Donna Summer as lead singer of Brooklyn Dreams); Paramount Pictures asked Moroder to rework the song with a female artist to parallel the gender of the dancer who was the film's protagonist.

Credit where credit is due department: the singers are Joe Pizzulo & Leza Miller. Mendes never sang lead on his hits. Surprise comeback, in a totally different style from the bossa nova pop he had been famous for in the late 60s. Written by the famous songwriting duo of Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil. They had originally given it to Earth, Wind & Fire, who passed. It was first recorded by Dionne Warwick.

Sting doesn't get how this is thought of as a happy love song by so many. He later said he was disconcerted by how many people think the song is more positive than it is. He insists it's about the obsession with a lost lover, the jealousy and surveillance that follows. "One couple told me 'Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!' I thought, 'Well, good luck.'" When asked why he appears angry in the music video Sting told BBC Radio 2, "I think the song is very, very sinister and ugly and people have actually misinterpreted it as being a gentle, little love song."