"If This Is It" | ||||
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Single by Huey Lewis and the News | ||||
from the album Sports | ||||
B-side | "Change of Heart" | |||
Released | July 10, 1984 | |||
Recorded | 1983 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:54 | |||
Label | Chrysalis | |||
Songwriter(s) | Johnny Colla, Huey Lewis | |||
Producer(s) | Huey Lewis and the News | |||
Huey Lewis and the News singles chronology | ||||
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"If This Is It" is a song by American pop rock band Huey Lewis and the News. [3] It was released as the fourth single from their number-one album Sports in 1983, and became their fifth top-ten and third consecutive number-six hit on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached number five on the Adult Contemporary chart, [4] and then became their first UK hit single, reaching number 39 on the UK Singles Chart. [5] The song is written in 12
8 time signature.
Billboard called it a "guileless '50s throwback." [6] Cash Box called the song "doo-wop at its finest." [7]
The music video for "If This Is It" was filmed in Santa Cruz, California, in June 1984. [8] Huey is seen trying to reconcile with his ex-girlfriend (Janet Cross). [9] He sees her on the beach and at a line of midway amusements with other men, and has a flashback of a romantic night with her. His ex's friend (Sandra Wilder) observes Huey's frustrations and feels sorry for him. After one last effort by Huey to win his ex back fails, he sits alone on the beach as the crowd fades. The ex's friend then appears, smiling at Huey, and they walk away together toward the boardwalk. The video ends with a family, who spent hours looking for an open space on the beach, finally locating one, only to be attacked by a shark underneath the sand that charges toward them.
The band appears in various scenes on the beach, one of which features them singing the chorus while buried in sand with only their heads visible. Comedian John Means appears as the Ball Toss Manager.
In an interview with the blog Noblemania, Cross recalled the challenges of playing Lewis' irritable ex-girlfriend. "Looking angry at Huey Lewis was tough," she said. "The whole filming was hilarious, one stunt after another and all the different boyfriends they gave me. When [Huey and I] were pretending to fight it was hard not to laugh." [10]
The video was directed by Edd Griles, who also directed the band's videos for "The Heart of Rock & Roll" and "Stuck with You", as well as Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" and "Time After Time".
The video starts with a snippet of another Huey Lewis and the News song, "I Want a New Drug", also from the album Sports . [11]
Weekly charts
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Huey Lewis and the News is an American pop rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Mainstream Rock charts. Their sound draws upon earlier pop, rhythm & blues and doo-wop artists, and their own material has been labeled as blue-eyed soul, new wave, power pop, and roots rock.
"Travelin' Band" is a song written by John Fogerty and originally recorded by Creedence Clearwater Revival. It was included on their 1970 album Cosmo's Factory. Backed with "Who'll Stop the Rain", it was one of three double sided singles from that album to reach the top five on the U.S. Pop Singles Chart and the first of two to reach the number 2 spot on the American charts, alongside "Lookin' Out My Back Door", in which they were unable to interrupt the six-week run of the successful number one, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel. "Travelin' Band" was also a hit in the UK, reaching number eight on the UK Singles Chart.
"Typical Male" is a song recorded by American singer Tina Turner. It was written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle and produced by the former for Turner's studio album Break Every Rule (1986).
"Ghostbusters" is a song written by American musician Ray Parker Jr. as the theme to the 1984 film Ghostbusters, and included on its soundtrack. Debuting at number 68 on June 16, 1984, the song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 11, staying there for three weeks, and at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart on September 16, staying there for three weeks. The song reentered the UK Top 75 on November 2, 2008 at No. 49 and again on November 5, 2021, at No. 38.
"The Power of Love" is a 1985 single by Huey Lewis and the News, written for the soundtrack of the 1985 blockbuster film Back to the Future. The song became the band's first number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and their second number-one hit on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart. In the United Kingdom, it was released as a double-A side with "Do You Believe in Love," becoming the band's only top ten hit on the UK Singles Chart. The song is included alongside "Back in Time" on the film's soundtrack, and appears as a bonus track on international editions of the band's fourth studio album, Fore! The song also played at the end of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," an episode of The Really Loud House.
"Let's Hear It for the Boy" is a song by Deniece Williams that appeared on the soundtrack to the feature film Footloose. The song was released as a single from both the soundtrack and her album of the song's same name on February 14, 1984, by Columbia Records. It was written by Tom Snow and Dean Pitchford and produced by George Duke. The song became Williams' second number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on May 26, 1984, also topping the dance and R&B charts, and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart, behind "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and was certified platinum in the US and gold in Canada and the UK by the Recording Industry Association of America, Music Canada and the British Phonographic Industry, respectively. The music video was released in mid-April 1984. The song features background vocals from George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, who would go on to form the duo Boy Meets Girl.
"We've Got Tonite" is a song written by American rock music artist Bob Seger, from his album Stranger in Town (1978). The single record charted twice for Seger, and was developed from a prior song that he had written. Further versions charted in 1983 for Kenny Rogers as a duet with Sheena Easton, and again in 2002 for Ronan Keating.
"Sweet Talkin' Woman" is a 1978 single by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) from the album Out of the Blue (1977). Its original title was "Dead End Street", but it was changed during recording. Some words that survived from that version can be heard in the opening of the third verse, "I've been livin' on a dead end street".
"The Wanderer" is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion, released on his 1961 album, Runaround Sue. The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a travelling man and his many loves. The song is ranked number 243 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"Do You Believe in Love" is the first US top-ten hit for the American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, peaking at number seven in April 1982, off their second album Picture This. It was written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange.
"I Want a New Drug" is a song by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News from their third album Sports. It is its second single, following the top-ten hit "Heart and Soul" in January 1984. The single reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Dance Club Play chart. It is a love song wherein the word "drug" has an intentionally open-ended meaning for the listener's interpretation, and became one of the band's signature songs.
"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, the band's third.
"Stuck with You" is a song by American pop rock band Huey Lewis and the News, written by guitarist Chris Hayes and lead singer Huey Lewis. Released in 1986, it was the first single from the band's fourth album, Fore!. The song spent three weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band's second number-one hit on the chart. Internationally, the song became the band's second top-20 hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, and peaked within the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Iceland, South Africa, and New Zealand.
"It Never Rains in Southern California" is a 1972 song jointly written and composed by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood and sung by Hammond, a British-born singer-songwriter.
"Doing It All for My Baby" is a song performed by Huey Lewis and the News, released as a single from the album Fore! in 1987. The single peaked at number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 19, 1987, becoming the fifth top-ten hit from the album and making the band the first group to have five top-ten Hot 100 singles from one album.
"The Heat Is On" is a song written by Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey, and recorded by Glenn Frey for the American film Beverly Hills Cop (1984). The song was published as a single and as the sixth track of the album Beverly Hills Cop: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1984).
"Heart and Soul" is a song written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn and made famous by Huey Lewis and the News. The song was first recorded by Exile in 1981 as the title track to their album Heart and Soul. Exile's single failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 102 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. The song was also recorded by the BusBoys for their 1982 album American Worker.
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"The Lazy Song" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bruno Mars for his debut studio album, Doo-Wops & Hooligans (2010). It was serviced to contemporary hit radios in the United States on February 15, 2011, as the album's third single by Atlantic and Elektra. Development of "The Lazy Song" began while Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine were hanging around the studio and didn't feel like working. The trio produced the track under their alias, the Smeezingtons, and wrote the song in collaboration with rapper K'naan. Musically, "The Lazy Song" has been described as borrowing "heavily from roots reggae" and has been compared to the reggae style of Jason Mraz, while lyrically it is an anthem to laziness.
"Daddy's Home" is a famous song by American doo-wop group Shep and the Limelites. The song was written by the three members of the band, James "Shep" Sheppard (1935–1970), Clarence Bassett (1936–2005) and Charles Baskerville. The group recorded the original version of "Daddy's Home" on February 1, 1961, and it was released on Hull Records in March 1961 with the B-side being "This I Know".
...consider that this pristine slice of whimsical doo-wop melancholy was the album's fourth single.
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: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Cash Box magazine.