"Swingin'" by John Anderson

Gold Record Alert!

Song#:  1366
Date:  03/05/1983
Debut:  75
Peak:  43
Weeks:  13
Genre:  Country



Pop Bits:  Florida native Anderson took a chance and moved to Nashville to pursue a career in country music. After several years toiling in the local clubs, he finally got an offer from Warner Bros. to join their roster. A couple of low-charting singles were issued before Anderson's self-titled debut album appeared in 1980. The fifth single from the album, "1959," became his first country Top 10 reaching #7. It started a streak of Top 10's for Anderson which included this single from his fourth album "Wild & Blue." The song was his second #1 country hit and it became so popular that it crossed over onto the pop chart where it came close to reaching the Top 40. The addition of a pop audience helped make this a gold record. It would end up being his only pop chart entry.

ReduxReview:  This was one of those songs where the genre didn't matter much. There was just something about it that made a ton of people love it regardless if they liked pop, country, R&B, hard rock, etc. The tune is just loads of fun and hard to resist, kind of like "Elvira" was for the Oak Ridge Boys. The production was solid and it still sounds fresh today. We all should be swingin'!

ReduxRating:  8/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) After this major hit, Anderson's popularity started on a slow descent that lasted the rest of the decade. A couple of label changes didn't help anything and by the 90s, he had been without a major country hit for several years. In 1991, Anderson made another label jump to BNA and with producer James Stroud recorded the album "Seminole Wind." The album's second single, "Straight Tequila Night," soared to #1 on the country chart while three other singles from the album reached the Top 10. The run of hits helped the album become Anderson's biggest seller eventually reaching double-platinum status. It was a solid comeback for Anderson which he would ride for the next few years.  2) "Seminole Wind" included the track "Steamy Windows." The song was a remake of Tina Turner's 1989 single from her album "Foreign Affair." While Turner's single reached the Top 10 in several countries, it could only hit #39 in the US. Anderson's version was not issued as a single.

_________________________________________________________________________________