Key Largo (song)

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"Key Largo"
Key Largo by Bertie Higgins US vinyl.png
Side A of US single
Single by Bertie Higgins
from the album Just Another Day in Paradise
B-side "White Line Fever"
ReleasedSeptember 1981
Recorded1981
Genre Soft rock [1]
Length3:20
3:05 (7")
Label Kat Family, Epic
Songwriter(s) Bertie Higgins, Sonny Limbo
Producer(s) Sonny Limbo, Scott MacLellan
Bertie Higgins singles chronology
"Key Largo"
(1981)
"Just Another Day in Paradise"
(1982)

"Key Largo" is the debut single by Bertie Higgins, released in September 1981. It became, in early 1982, Higgins' only top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track spent 17 weeks in the top 40 and was certified gold by the RIAA. [2] In addition, "Key Largo" topped the Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. [3] In the United Kingdom, it reached No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart.

Contents

Background and content

The song's lyrics plead with a lover to reconsider ending a romance the singer compares to that depicted by Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, the stars of the 1948 namesake film. The glamorous couple is recalled in the lyric We had it all / Just like Bogie and Bacall / Starring in our own late late show / Sailin' away to Key Largo. The lyrics also draw from the film Casablanca , in the lines "Here's looking at you, kid" and "Please say you will / Play it again". The song "Key Largo" was included on Higgins' album Just Another Day in Paradise .

In 2009, VH1 ranked "Key Largo" #75 on its program 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s.

Music video

A promotional music video was produced in 1982, filmed in and around Tarpon Springs, Florida and directed by David Jean Schweitzer. It begins with Bertie Higgins leaning against a pole, smoking a cigarette, reminiscing. Later, the singer is seen walking with a young woman, played by then-17-year-old Patty Wolfe. [4] The scene then cuts to the pair riding in a motorboat around Anclote Key, off Tarpon Springs. The video also shows them in a car on Fred Howard Park. The final moments depict the two walking along a beach at sunset.

Chart performance

Certifications and sales

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [18] Gold50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

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