You may not like the song, but I think you’ll like the story
Remember the piña colada song? I didn’t much care for it (or the earworm it sometimes gave me). I also didn’t even know its title was actually “Escape.”
But no matter. It was a huge hit and apparently has some staying power. Here the singer-songwriter Rupert Holmes tells us the story of how he came to write it and sing it, and I think you’ll be entertained:
[NOTE: Holmes (birth name: David Goldstein) has dual British and American citizenship. I see that, like so many people in the pop or rock music field (for example, the Bee Gees), he’s got a bandleader father and comes from a musical family, with a brother in the business as well.]
David Goldstein, not Richard
There are some examples of an act being super well known for one song but actually having another song that is far superior and I would say Rupert Holmes and ‘The Pina Colada Song’ are a good case.
‘The Pina Colada Song’ was a huge #1 hit but the follow up also made the top ten and is better in my opinion.
Rupert Holmes ‘Him’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_eQ63Plv6A
Griffin,
I like both songs a great deal, but I agree that “Him” is a superior work.
That was a nice story to hear though about how the song came together.
Yes, “Him” is better. Three is one too many of us.
I’ve got that problem right now!
The Professor Of Rock YouTube channel is really good and he’s at his best when he interviews people like Rupert Holmes or this interview with the lead singer of the Scottish band Danny Wilson that was a 1980s one hit wonder with their song
‘Mary’s Prayer’. They seem so appreciative of their success. It’s refreshing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ntu–PTL8g
Mary’s Prayer’ does for me what Rupert Holmes was talking about in that it brings me back to a specific time. It came out in the summer of 1987 after I had graduated HS and was getting ready to go to college.
One of the great things about music is how it can bring back all of those good and bad memories from long ago just like that.
For those curious, but not interested enough to sit through a 34min video:
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The chorus originally started with “If you like Humphrey Bogart”, which Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_(The_Piña_Colada_Song)
I’ve always loved this song. But I love cheese, in its many forms.
I was at an investment conference where one of the speakers was a woman whose startup was some kind of matching system. I was chatting with her the formal session, and we were discussing the similarity of systems of this type to computer dating systems.
We were both inspired to start singing The Pina Colada song, perhaps somewhat to the surprise of some of the other attendees.
Neo. Come on man. Ya gonna make us dig around the internets? Interesting story. Now how’s about a link to the song?
Marisa:
Thanks!
Milwaukee:
It’s one of those earworm songs, but since you asked for it (this particular video has over 70 million views so far):
The song is an ear worm. I eagerly seek the next opportunity to not hear it ever again…
😀
The story may be interesting, but i’d have to give the ear worm a chance to infect me, and then where would I be?
INFECTED!!
LMAO.
Thank you. On my phone, posting a link is beyond my technical skills. On my desk top, no problem.
This has been a pleasure, thank you for bringing this to our attention.
While I appreciate the Pina Colada song as the pinnacle of pop cheesiness, Rupert Holmes deserves even greater credit for writing “Timothy”, performed by the Buoys, the only Top 20 song ever about cannibalism. Classic! Now if the Bee Gees had only done a version . . .
I draw a complete blank. Don’t remember this song at all and never heard of the musician in question. (I’m also baffled as to why the mechanics of how a particular piece of music was generated is of interest to anyone not in that trade).
He was responsible for “Timothy?” That song was the antithesis of “New York Mining Disaster 1941” IMO. High school, what a mess!
Just shows the depravity of pop music in the late 60’s! (sarc) It’s much better now. 🙂
Neo: Here you are. Why don’t you take on this nice fat and probably immortal earworm?
Moi: Er, ah, well….. no.
I was wondering if “The Pina Colada Song” qualifies as yacht rock. According to Hal Isen’s “Yacht Rock” songbook, yes indeed. It makes the cut into a list of 32 yacht rock classics.
https://www.halleonard.com/product/199977/yacht-rock
During the summer of 2016 I had breakfast each morning in a diner playing a yacht rock channel. I confess I got to enjoy it. One can do worse. It’s competent music designed to be enjoyed.
huxley,
In the above video they talk about it being in the Yacht Rock HOF along with ‘This Is It’ by Kenny Loggins, ‘Sailing’ by Christopher Cross, ‘What A Fool Believes’ by the Doobie Brothers and a couple of others.
Griffin:
Nice to know. I’d listen to the Professor more often if I wasn’t put off by his clickbait titles.
I had read the Bogart/Colada story a long time ago and couldn’t quite remember it. That sort of riddle torments me maybe more than an earworm. So I looked it up.
You can’t trust wiki on anything political, but it’s great for stupid entertainment questions.
There are MANY songs people love in which they really dont pay close attention to what the lyrics are actually saying forget about implying…
Billy Joel’s “She’s Always a Woman” is one of those songs…
Any time you notice a woman saying they love that song ask them one question
“Would you want to live and be in love with such a person”
She can kill with a smile, she can wound with her eyes
And she can ruin your faith with her casual lies
And she only reveals what she wants you to see
She hides like a child but she’s always a woman to me
She can lead you to love, she can take you or leave you
She can ask for the truth but she’ll never believe you
And she’ll take what you give her as long as it’s free
Yeah she steals like a thief but she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She’s ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind
And she’ll promise you more than the garden of Eden
Then she’ll carelessly cut you and laugh while you’re bleeding
But she brings out the best and the worst you can be
Blame it all on yourself ’cause she’s always a woman to me
Oh, she takes care of herself, she can wait if she wants
She’s ahead of her time
Oh, and she never gives out and she never gives in
She just changes her mind
She is frequently kind and she’s suddenly cruel
But she can do as she pleases, she’s nobody’s fool
And she can’t be convicted, she’s earned her degree
And the most she will do is throw shadows at you
But she’s always a woman to me
A lot of these songs end up being wedding songs and yet you wonder WHY would someone play THAT at a wedding? Amazing..
Artfldgr:
Sting, as I recall, was mystified that “I’ll Be Watching You” — a song about a stalker — had become popular as a wedding song.
huxley,
‘The One I Love’ by R.E.M. is another one. It’s a ‘revenge f***’ song basically.
It’s a great song though.
Artfldgr:
I hope no one has the pinata colada song as a wedding song!
But I agree that people’s choices can be mighty odd. My guess is that mostly they’re not paying attention to the lyrics.
neo,
‘I hope no one has the pina colada song as a wedding song!’
Yes, but ‘Him’ would be an even worse wedding song!
But I agree that people’s choices can be mighty odd. My guess is that mostly they’re not paying attention to the lyrics.
My dearest denies that “Both Sides Now” was played at her brother’s wedding in 1973.
Could be worse: Billy Idol “White Wedding” at a wedding.
But it could be raining.
‘The One I Love’ by R.E.M. is another one. It’s a ‘revenge f***’ song basically
Griffin:
I thought Michael Stipe had maybe gotten around to saying something specific in “Losing My Religion” but he claimed it was really an unrequited love/obsession song.
I find REM’s lyrics closest in rock to much contemporary poetry in which the words seem to parse but refuse to cohere to any meaning at all.
huxley,
Yeah, R.E.M. is a hit and miss for me. ‘The One I Love’ is good and so is ‘Orange Crush’. But ‘Losing My Religion’ and especially ‘Everybody Hurts’ are just too much for me. ‘Everybody Hurts’ almost became a parody of itself it was so serious and dour.
Here is an even worse song where they, Bananarama, stuck with a famous actor reference. It came out a couple years after the Rupert Holmes song.
Robert De Niro’s Waiting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H87yGvoCNHU&t=212s
Lyrics
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bananarama/robertdeniroswaiting.html
Similar topic. Sexually frustrated and looking for your fantasy lover. They actually started with Al Pacino, but eventually they figured that it sounded better with De Niro.
I wouldn’t be surprised if couples are getting married to Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day.”
On the surface it’s a lovely song about drinking sangria in the park with a lover, then going home. Susan Boyle and Pavarotti have covered it. The Boyle video is gorgeous.
–Susan Boyle, “Perfect Day”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrQobQMZYnY
But you must remember: this is a Lou Reed song. You don’t have to drill down far to find the narrator’s ambivalence, self-loathing and even menace in the lines:
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You keep me hanging on.
You keep me hanging on.
You keep me hanging on.
…
You make me forget myself
I thought I was someone else
Someone good
..
You’re going to reap just what you sow
You’re going to reap just what you sow
You’re going to reap just what you sow
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There’s a reason the song was used as an ode to heroin in the film, “Trainspotting.”
So I find it disconcerting to hear the song get this big-production, classic treatment as though the performers were singing Blake’s “Jerusalem”
Yeah, R.E.M. is a hit and miss for me.
Griffin:
They were golden for me through “Eponymous,” their first greatest hits album and one of the best. But I failed to connect with almost anything later. Loved the kudzu on their first cover.
In my comment to Artfldgr, the auto-correct on my phone changed “pina colada” to “pinata colada.” And this time, in this very comment, it tried to change “pina” into 2 words, as in “pin a.”
Auto-correct is racist.
I was so into college radio/ alternative 80s, I missed this huge hit the first time. Then I heard it, and heard it, and heard it … overplayed.
But among simple semi-happy songs, a cute story.
Rest of the video includes Holmes telling his producers that “Him” is the hit, and them telling him their focus groups love “the pina colada” song. He agreed to add that, in parentheses, to his song name Escape (the pina colada song).
I also think that drink is too sweet, so among vacation drinks, it’s a fitting choice.
He mentions adding syllables/ singing faster, or drawing too few syllables out. For me, those changes make the song better by being less “polished”.
I also think that drink is too sweet, so among vacation drinks, it’s a fitting choice.
If it’s spirits, a gentleman sticks to Jack Daniels, neat.
“The Pina Colada Song” reminds me of “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).” I assumed “Brandy” was too early (1972) to be yacht rock, but it makes some lists, so hey! In any case I’ve always enjoyed it…in moderation.
When I listened to the smooth music and lead’s creamy toffee voice, in my mind’s eye I saw Captain & Tenille, but the band, the Looking Glass, were four particularly shaggy hippies!
–Looking Glass, “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVx8L7a3MuE
What a fun story. The song was always super sweet, bubblegum, but marks a very memorable time in my life.
}}} neo,
‘I hope no one has the pina colada song as a wedding song!’
Yes, but ‘Him’ would be an even worse wedding song!
As I understand it, the Brit standard for weddings is “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyIlFsQgRvY
As to peeps paying attention to the lyrics, well, the king of THAT one is the most evil song ever written, “Imagine”.
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too
So — nothing to kill or die for?
No family, no friends, no children, no lovers.
No PASSION of any kind.
NO ART, NO MUSIC, nothing but a grey formless nothingness to float in.
THAT is what this song is describing. Because that’s what “nothing to kill or die for” really means: “I don’t CARE about ANYTHING at all.”
The song, folks, is describing HELL and making it sound wonderful.
The devil was on Lennon’s shoulder that day, whispering in his ear.
:-/
Huxley:
Stipe on “The One I Love” wiki page —
Stipe related in 1987 to Rolling Stone, “I’ve always left myself pretty open to interpretation. It’s probably better that they just think it’s a love song at this point.” However, in an interview in the January 1988 issue of Musician magazine, he said that the song was “incredibly violent” and added, “It’s very clear that it’s about using people over and over again”
The devil was on Lennon’s shoulder that day, whispering in his ear.
ObloodyHell:
I think that was mostly Yoko and Jerry Rubin. 😉
As you know, I was a leftist and a hippie in those days. I thought “Imagine” beautiful. It spoke to my desire for an end to war and the competition which led to it. And an end to hunger.
In its place we imagined a world where people could pursue relationships, creativity and spirituality and warm themselves by those fires.
I could still settle for that.
However, life is more complicated. At some point one must be willing to fight for freedom against those who have other plans for you. Many do.
It turns out competition is the engine which drives much of civilization and led to the prosperity which makes a song like “Imagine” possible.
Plus — I don’t want to overstate this, yet not ignore it — we had all taken a fair amount of LSD and John Lennon had taken ridiculous amounts. It skews one’s perceptions.
As Leonard Cohen, a favorite in these parts who had mounted that particular barricade, said, “It takes ten years to recover from the serious use of LSD.” I can’t find the quote at the moment. But I swear to the quote and its import.
Here’s Lennon’s video of “Imagine” from that time. He and Yoko thought they were living in the future.
–JOHN LENNON – Imagine (clip with Yoko Ono, 1972)
https://vimeo.com/510454167
“It takes ten years to recover from the serious use of LSD”
Baloney. I still haven’t recovered. Though I admit I’ve never really been serious.
I can’t get past the porkpie hat.
Love the song.
My son disapproves.
One irony of “Imagine” is that it is essentially a religious hymn, both in form and content.
For people who claim to despise religion.
And it’s tenets are far more “faith-based” than those of most religions.
Baloney. I still haven’t recovered. Though I admit I’ve never really been serious.
FOAF:
You’ve got a point!
I did find the quote on the internet.
____________________________________
It takes ten years to recover from serious use of LSD.
–Leonard Cohen, quoted in Tom Parker’s “Rules of Thumb”
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Rules_of_Thumb/kde1DQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=leonard+cohen+“recover+from+serious+use+of+LSD.”&pg=PA174&printsec=frontcover
____________________________________
The link is safe and the accompanying photo funny.
That seems to be the only cite on the internet. Which I find surprising, since Cohen did reach a global stature and it is a juicy quote. I could swear Althouse did a post on it ten years or so ago.
“I find REM’s lyrics closest in rock to much contemporary poetry in which the words seem to parse but refuse to cohere to any meaning at all.” – huxley
Bingo.
I don’t like much contemporary poetry, and haven’t since it began displacing the poems that had rhyme, proper scansion (I don’t insist on classic metric feet), and comprehensibility – granted, you had to work at understanding the serious ones, but it could be done.
And major points for the “Jerusalem” analogy, which is spot on.
Beautifully written, lofty sentiments, and far too metronymic for the moderns, which made it the perfect text for a hymn tune, although not so simple as it might seem (per my second link)*.
He got in this line, “Bring me my chariot of fire!” which evoked the appropriate allusions for the movie about the Olympic runners of Great Britain.
http://gentlewisdom.org/william-blakes-jerusalem-a-christian-hymn/
More relevant for Neo’s post is this “just so story” of its origin (which oddly doesn’t include the text itself, which is why I included the first link).
The very long essay includes a great deal of biography and social history along with the poetical and musical analysis, and is quite the best that I have ever seen of the genre; a humorous foot note remarks that at least one commenter’s interpretation gets just about everything wrong.
*Although it was originally designed to “be “suitable, simple music to Blake’s stanzas—music that an audience could take up and join in,” the setting is a good deal less simple than that of most congregational hymns” — as Ferber explains.
http://bq.blakearchive.org/34.3.ferber
As a bonus, the post includes a facsimile of Parry’s setting from an early publication.
The music, performed in every possible permutation of voice and instrument, is available in numerous YouTube videos, including The Royal Wedding in 2011.
}}} In its place we imagined a world where people could pursue relationships, creativity and spirituality and warm themselves by those fires.
Oh, I know how it sells itself… but that’s not the way humans — or even reality — work.
You cannot have “nothing to kill or die for”, and have ANY of the above, because those are ALL things which HUMANS feel are worthy of killing to protect, and dying to obtain. And therein lies the rub.
The moment Uggh found that pretty piece of volcanic glass while digging in the muck looking for worms, we had *things* that put paid to all the above — things worth killing or dying for.
}}} However, life is more complicated. At some point one must be willing to fight for freedom against those who have other plans for you. Many do.
Agreed, but, as I note, you didn’t even NEED to go directly into the fascism of others to find a violation of the wishful thinking that blinds everyone to the reality.
}}} we had all taken a fair amount of LSD and John Lennon had taken ridiculous amounts. It skews one’s perceptions.
Having done so many times myself, I will state — it does not NEED to skew ones perceptions into full-boar unreality. It CAN break down the barriers, and limits, of one’s thought processes to allow connections otherwise missed, which one can then TEST against more coherent thought processes after. I think acid is a great thing for a strong mind. It makes you conscious of limits and directions your thoughts flowed in before, the “channels” they’d gotten stuck in… You can then build on that, afterwards. Failing to grasp the flaw in “Nothing To Kill Or Die For” is NOT something someone as well-read as Lennon should have been able to miss. I am certain he read heavily of philosophers before he got into serious drugs. It fits that bohemian “early beatnik” component of what the band was formed in.
}}} Baloney. I still haven’t recovered. Though I admit I’ve never really been serious.
You’re not supposed to recover, is the problem. You’re supposed to learn and grow. 😉
}}} I did find the quote on the internet.
One reason I consider Cary Grant one of the coolest men who ever lived is that, even in his 60s, he was still breaking boundaries — he dropped acid a number of times. I gather Dyan Cannon, his wife of the time, was one of the reasons.
It’s NOT for everyone, but it can be a very good thing given the right person and the correct context.
Of course, it can destroy lives, but hey….
After listening to the interview, I read through the lyrics, and realized that there really is nothing new under the sun.
Holmes told a great story, but it’s just an updated version of an old English folk song called “Lamorna,” which you can hear at the second link by clicking on the album cover.
https://www.songlyrics.com/rupert-holmes/pina-colada-lyrics/
https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/kings_singers/lamorna.html
(In the last verse, the word “donah” is an old dialect term for “wife.”)
AesopFan:
Thanks for the “Jerusalem” link!
I loved the vicar’s comment on the use of “Jerusalem” at wedding:
_____________________________________________
I once heard a story of this hymn being sung at another wedding, and when the vicar announced it he said “and in case anyone’s wondering, the answer to all the questions is no”
_____________________________________________
I didn’t know “Jerusalem” from the hymn side. I first really listened to it on Judy Collins’ “Trust Your Heart” (1987) album.
If the Bible were ever open for additions (not that it will), Blake would be at the top of my list.
So I had to have my wife listen the pina colada song, it wasn’t such a hit in Slovakia in 1979 nor 1980 (only song to reach #1 Billboard in two decades, with a week off in between).
I’m planning on never being tired of her, but avoiding going stale takes some effort from both sides.
Then I heard Chris Rea “Fool if you think it’s over”, and the fine sax on “Baker Street” and then chose this really great Sultans of Swing live version plus fantastic dueling sax (?) – guitar (Mark Knopfler) vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFclpoxI_-M
Then I recall my ’73 HS enjoyment of Jerusalem by ELP (Emerson Lake & Palmer), which I haven’t heard in … decades.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bzRI0BUv0
ELP is not for weddings, tho.
Big Head Todd & The Monsters have a great cover version of “Brandy”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJAsOGizkfU
One reason I consider Cary Grant one of the coolest men who ever lived is that, even in his 60s, he was still breaking boundaries — he dropped acid a number of times. I gather Dyan Cannon, his wife of the time, was one of the reasons.
She was his 5th wife and in the course of their divorce proceedings in 1968 claimed he beat her in front of the servants. Maybe we all oughta settle for something other than ‘cool’.
Tom Grey:
Are you still an ELP fan?
Here’s a link I put up a while back of Keith Emerson’s protege, Rachel Flowers — a young blind woman — playing piano on “Endless Enigma” in a live tribute to Emerson after he died.
–“Rachel Flowers Plays The Endless Enigma — Tribute to Keith Emerson”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zb7G_K5iRBk
Quite moving. Emerson must have been more than a rock star.
Big Head Todd & The Monsters have a great cover version of “Brandy”
rongalt:
Wow! I wouldn’t have expected that from a group with such a weird name.
The lead could have used a touch more ascot in his voice. Still, lead, horns and back-up — nailed it!
neo:
If you’re up for a voice question, does that “Brandy” voice/tone have a name? It sounds like it happens in the mouth and sinuses.