"Every Little Kiss" by Bruce Hornsby & the Range

Song#:  3126
Date:  05/16/1987
Debut:  61
Peak:  14
Weeks:  15
Genre:  Pop, Soft Rock



Pop Bits:  Hornsby and his band became music stars after their debut The Way It Is album scored two Top 10 hits and won them the Grammy for Best New Artist. Following that win and the LP's third single, the #4 "Mandolin Rain," it was decided that a fourth single should be pushed out. But instead of picking a fourth track from the album, the label chose to give the LP's first single, "Every Little Kiss," a second shot. The first time around, the track made a modest impact on the Pop chart peaking at #72. For its re-release, the tune was given a slight makeover in the form of a remix and thanks to that along with Hornsby's newfound popularity, the single did far better on its second chart appearance. It would get to #3 AC while nearly cracking the Pop Top 10. The tune would complete the run of singles from the album. In the end, Hornsby's debut album would be a #3 triple-platinum seller.

ReduxReview:  This "remix" was not all that different from the original. I think it just got a bit of a sound boost to make it more pop radio friendly. It has kind of been forgotten about as it seems the only way to get the remix version now is via the old 45 (which someone put on YouTube - above). Hornsby's The Way It Is album along with subsequent compilation collections seem to all contain the original album version. Still, the ploy of reissuing the song as a remix worked and the tune became a deserved hit on its second go-around.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Back when he attended Boston's Berklee College of Music, Hornsby would utilize the album rental offering of the Boston Public Library and explore various styles of music including classical. Among his favorite composers was Connecticut-born modernist composer Charles Ives (1874-1954). Ives' experimental style didn't bring him much notoriety or accolades during most of his life, but an appreciation of his works started to come about in the 1930s. In 1947, Ives would win the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Symphony No. 3. Hornsby was drawn to Ives' experimental style and he paid a sort of homage to Ives with "Every Little Thing." Hornsby based a part of the opening piano section of the song on Ives' Piano Sonata, No. 2 (aka Concord Sonata). Inspiration for Ives' work came from popular writers and poets of Concord, Massachusetts, who were associated with the philosophical movement of transcendentalism. Each movement was inspired by one or two people (in movement order Emerson, Hawthorne, The Alcotts, and Thoreau). It was the opening phrase from the third movement The Alcotts (as in Bronson and Louisa May) that Hornsby borrowed for the opening of "Every Little Kiss." In an NPR interview, Hornsby said his use of the passage nearly got him sued, but apparently it all worked out as his recordings of the song still contain the Ives-inspired opening.

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