"I Only Wanna Be with You" by The Tourists

Song#:  0170
Date:  05/17/1980
Debut:  87
Peak:  83
Weeks:  4
Genre:  Pop, New Wave



Pop Bits:  The Tourists had some good success in their UK homeland with three charting albums and two Top 10 singles, with this one being their biggest reaching #4. This would be their only US chart song, but the group is now more famous for being the launching pad for two of its members who would go on to have tremendous success - Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, aka Eurythmics. Stewart formed the group (originally called The Catch) with Peet Coombes and they found Lennox who joined the group and also dated Stewart. By the time their third album was released in 1980, the group was having legal, internal, and creative issues and finally just called it quits. Although Stewart and Lennox would also break-up, they continued their musical partnership which would take off in a big way in 1983. "Sweet Dreams" indeed.

ReduxReview:  This is pretty hilarious. I dearly love Annie Lennox and there is just something about this girly song combined with her alto voice and whip cracks that make it more kitchy and kinky than what the songwriters had probably ever intended. It all doesn't seem to go together - like PJ Harvey covering a Debbie Gibson song - but it kind of works; all except for Lennox's pedestal dancing. Who could even guess that three short years later this awkward pixie would be famously blazing up the screen in a suit and short red hair intensely waving a riding crop and telling you what sweet dreams are made of.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  This song was originally a hit for Dusty Springfield in 1964 when it peaked at #12. It was Springfield's first solo single and she was the second artist of the British Invasion to hit the pop chart, following the Beatles. The Bay City Rollers tied her #12 peak with their version in 1976.

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