Single of the Day – Carly Simon – Why
Ahhh, the summer. There’s nothing like the summer with a bit of Carly Simon. What’s Carly Simon got to do with the summer? I hear you ask. Well, my friends this timeless ‘Balearic’ classic will tell you ‘why’ (arf!).
Produced by the mighty Chic in 1982 for the flop movie ‘Soup For One’ (the soundtrack has been mentioned a few times on this website, notably here), it was considered a bit of late disco cash-in by the critics and the public alike (it reached a giddy #74 on the Billboard chart!). What did they know huh? ‘Why’ is by far one of the best pieces of work that Chic have ever done and the best song Carly Simon has ever done (it beats ‘You’re So Vain’ – who cares who it was written about? I still think its Warren Beatty btw Carly…). Tinged with melancholy, the song is an intriguing mix of reggae-lite disco and off-beat pop. Constantly enticing the listener with its bouncing rhythm and the simple vocal refrain of ”la, di-da, di-da”, its clear why the record-buying public of 1982 didn’t get it. It was waaaay ahead of its time.
It was only in 1989 when the whole Hacienda/acid house/Ibiza/Balearic thing kicked off that the song started to get recognition. DJs such as Mike Pickering and Graeme Park reclaimed the song and turned into a Hacienda classic. Treating a generation of clubbers to the whole concept of mellow, feel-good sunny vibes. When A Tribe Called Quest sampled the instrumental for ‘Bonita Applebum’, the tracks’ legacy across the emerging house and hip-hop scene were finally confirmed.
A bona-fide summer classic. Just don’t mention the 1999 Glamma Kid version…
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
“>Carly Simon- Why
6 Comments
I prefer the 1999 Glamma Kid version.
Did you like his version of Sade’s ‘Sweetest Taboo’ with Shola Ama? That was wicked x
Glamma Kid version was the bollocks.
Ok, that’s it. The nonsense has to stop now. x
In the UK this went top 10. I remember my brother owned it and we were big Chic fans. The UK charts even back then were more receptive to US club records – there was never a disco backlash like here in the US. It was a golden age for leftfield disco/pop. Thanks for sharing!
Hey, no problem! Glad you enjoyed it x