Top 10 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
One-Hit Wonder!
Song#: 0818 One-Hit Wonder!
Date: 11/14/1981
Debut: 86
Peak: 8
Weeks: 29
Genre: Soft Rock
Pop Bits: Higgins began his musical career playing drums for Tommy Roe's backup band The Roemans. After spending a lot of time on tour, he decided to leave the band and begin work on his own music. He was eventually signed by the CBS affiliated label Kat Family and this debut single was issued. It became a surprise Top 10 hit and did even better at AC reaching #1. His album "Just Another Day in Paradise" also did well hitting #38. Unfortunately, Higgins couldn't secure a follow-up to this hit. He would have one more single peak outside the Top 40, but that would be the end of his chart career. The lack of another hit left him tagged as a one-hit wonder.
ReduxReview: With references to a couple of classic films, "Key Largo" and "Casablanca," I think the lyric were nostalgic to a lot of folks and they got sucked into this tune. I liked the song back then and it still is a nice listen, but not so sure the arrangement has weathered the years. It's sounding pretty dated. But like the old movies it talks about, maybe any modern update would end up ruining it.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: Higgins ended up with a major hit in Japan, but it wasn't this single. The song "Casablanca" was issued there and it became very popular. The tune was covered by Japanese artist Hiromi Go as well and that version reached #2. It helped Higgins' album became one of the best selling English language releases that year.
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Also a 7/10 for me, oddly I used to think it was Kenny Rogers who did this song when I first heard of it, this song luckily came out right at the tail end of the soft rock/yacht rock era of music before New Wave and Synth/Pop became the flavor.
ReplyDeleteI never considered Kenny Rogers when hearing this, but you are right. This would have made a great single for him.
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