"You Make My Heart Beat Faster (And That's All That Matters)" by Kim Carnes

Song#:  1759
Date:  01/21/1984
Debut:  84
Peak:  54
Weeks:  8
Genre:  Pop, Dance



Pop Bits:  Carnes just barely scraped the Pop Top 40 with "Invisible Hands," the first single from her album Café Racers. She moved into dance-pop territory with this second single and the response in clubs was pretty good. The tune was able to reach #15 on the Dance chart. However, it wasn't as enticing to Pop listeners and the single stalled near the halfway point.

ReduxReview:  I like the urgent arrangement of this song and the production is quite nice for a mid-80s tune. It's not one of my favorites from Carnes and I was always peeved that this song got issued over the far better "Hurricane" (see below). I think the one thing that held this song back though is the title repetition. Sure, she makes it so you can't forget it, but the constant repeating of the title can be annoying for some listeners. I think this song may set a record of sorts. The full title gets repeated twenty-five times (and that's not counting all the extra "heart beats"). There are songs with shorter titles that have repeated more, but this is one dang long song title to be singing over and over again. I almost get out of breath just hearing it! It's not one of her best moments, but it's far from being one of her worst.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) In addition to this song, Carnes was able to reach the Dance chart with another tune from the album. "Hurricane" would do well enough to reach #16. Although it was moderately successful, it wasn't enough to prompt the label to issue the song as a single for Pop chart contention.  2) The video for this song features actor Ian McShane. Although he had appeared in TV programs and films since the early 60s, he became a star on British television thanks to the long running series Lovejoy. American audiences are probably more familiar with his work on the HBO series Deadwood. McShane won a Golden Globe award for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his role on the show. He also recently appeared in the hugely popular series Game of Thrones.

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