Written and composed by the founding member of the British-American rock band Foreigner, Mick Jones, with an unaccredited portion (somewhere between 5% according to Jones and 40% according to other band member Lou Gramm), “I Want To Know What Love Is” was the first single released from Foreigner’s 1984 album entitled “Agent Provocateur”.
The song features backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir, affiliated with the Gospel Music Workshop of America, ‘Dreamgirls’ star Jennifer Holliday, and the Thompson Twins .
The song hit number one in both the United Kingdom and the United States and remains the group’s biggest hit to date. It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on January 15th 1985, knocking ‘Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” from the top spot, and then stayed at number one for three weeks.
In the US it reached number one of the US Billboard Hot 100 on February 2nd 1985, retaining that spot for two weeks.
To this day, it is still one of the band’s best known songs and most enduring radio hits, charting in the top 25 in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents chart.
In 2004, “I Want To Know What Love Is” was voted number 476 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest songs of all time. And in 2006 was included on VH1’s programmes “Top 100 Songs of the 80s” coming in at number 65.
In 1985, the New Jersey Mass Choir released their own version of “I Want To Know What Love Is” as a single in the gospel music market which received several awards within the industry.
The song was also covered by Australian singer Tina Arena in 1988 as a single from her album “In Deep”.
This version of the song was produced by Mick Jones from Foreigner and included a previously unrecorded bridge between the second and third choruses that was specifically written for Tina Arena by Mick Jones.
“I Want To Know What Love Is” has also been covered and released by American country singer Wyonna Judd in the summer of 2004 and by Mariah Carey in 2009.
Numerous other versions and covers have been released with the latest being Tom Cruise and Malin Akerman covering the song for the screen version of ‘Rock of Ages’ with the soundtrack being released in June 2012.
'I Want To Know What Love Is' – Foreigner
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
Aaaah woah-ah-aah
Now this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds
I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-ooh
I'm gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me,
Oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I've got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found me
In my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
I can't stop now,
I've traveled so far
To change this lonely life
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show me
Let's talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I'm feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let's talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah
With the music written by Richard Rodgers, an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and 43 Broadway musicals, as well as composing music for films and television and the lyrics by Lorenz Hart who also wrote “Blue Moon”, “The Lady Is a Tramp” and “My Funny valentine” amongst others, “ Manhattan” is part of the Great American Songbook, a hypothetical construct that seeks to represent the best American songs of the 20th century, principally from musical theatre, Broadway theatre and Hollywood musical film from the 1920s to the 1960s.
The Songbook became, and remains, a vital repertoire of jazz musicians.
The song has been performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Wiley, Oscar Peterson, Tony Martin, Mel Torme, Blossom Dearie and Dinah Washington, amongst others and was originally written by Rodgers and Hart for the revue “Garrick Gaieties” which debuted on Broadway in 1925. It was introduced by Sterling Holloway, an American character actor who appeared in 150 films and television shows, and June Cochran.
The song describes, in a number of choruses, the simple delights that Manhattan has to offer for a young couple, talking of places to go, things to see, plays to watch, and since its debut has appeared regularly in popular culture.
It was first heard in the short television film “Makers of Melody” in 1929, as a tribute to Rodgers and Hart sung by Ruth Tester, a singer and dancer in Broadway musicals of the 1920s and 1930s, and Allan Gould and has been used in numerous other films throughout subsequent decades, right up to its most recent appearance in a 2007 episode of “Mad Men”.
In the early and mid-1950s, singer Julius la Rosa became a national celebrity for his exposure on several of the shows hosted by Arthur Godfrey, one of the most popular television stars of the era.
In October 195, Julius sung “ Manhattan” on one of Godfrey’s radio shows and immediately after he finished the song, Godfrey fired him live on air, with the words “ that was Julius’ swan song with us.”
Summer journeys to Niag'ra
and to other places aggra-
vate all our cares.
We'll save our fares!
I've a cozy little flat in
what is known as old Manhattan
we'll settle down
right here in town!
We'll have Manhattan
the Bronx and Staten
Island too.
It's lovely going through
the zoo!
It's very fancy
on old Delancy
street you know.
The subway charms us so
when balmy breezes blow
to and fro.
And tell me what street
compares with Mott Street
in July?
Sweet pushcarts gently gli-ding by.
The great big city's a wonderous toy
just made for a girl and boy.
We'll turn Manhattan
into an isle of joy!
We'll go to Yonkers
Where true love conquers
In the whiles
And starve together dear, in Chiles
We'll go to Coney
And eat baloney on a roll
In Central Park we'll stroll
Where our first kiss we stole
Soul to soul
And "My Fair Lady" is a terrific show they say
We both may see it close, some day
The city's glamour can never spoil
The dreams of a boy and goil
We'll turn Manhattan
into an isle of joy!
Written by John Farrar, an Australian-born music producer, arranger, songwriter, guitarist and singer, in 1978, “Hopelessly Devoted To You” is one of a number of hits that he worked with Olivia Newton-John on from 1971-1989.
Performed by Olivia Newton-John, the song featured in the film version of ‘Grease’, where Olivia’s character Sandy Olsen sings about her love for local bad boy Danny Zucco. It became so well-known in its own right that it received an Oscar nomination as Best Original Song, being pipped to the post by “Last Dance” from ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ at the 51st Academy Awards in April 1979.
The Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film.
The performers of the song are not credited with the Academy Award unless they contributed to either the music or lyrics, or both, in their own right.
Olivia Newton-John performed the song at the 21st Grammy Awards and it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, number two on the UK Singles chart and number one on both the Irish and Canadian Singles chart.
In 1994, the artist Sonia, managed by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, took over the role of Sandy at a West End production of Grease, replacing Debbie Gibson.
In conjunction, she also released a cover version of the song “Hopelessly Devoted To You” in June 1994 as a non-album single. The single was actually Sonia’s first not to reach the top forty in the United Kingdom, where it only peaked at position number sixty one.
With The Black Crook of 1866 considered by some historians to be the first musical, show tunes are as popular now in the twenty first century as they were one hundred years ago. Show tunes are songs specifically written for musical theatre productions such as The Phantom of the Opera; Jesus Christ Superstar; Oklahoma!; Guys and Dolls and Cabaret, to name but a few which have then become popular in their own right.
The songs are initially written as part of the score – be that for film or stage musical – and have over time become detached in most people’s minds from the original context and are viewed as stand-alone pieces.
Although show tunes vary in style they do tend to share certain common characteristics – they fit the context of a story being told in the original musical and are very useful in enhancing and heightening particular moments – “Do Re Mi.” from The Sound of Music, for example, or “Surrey With the Fringe on Top” from Oklahoma! to name but a couple.
Musical theatre, from which show tunes originate from, is a style of theatre that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance.
The story itself and the emotional content displayed to the audience such as pathos, humour, anger or love are all communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects. Although musical theatre does overlap with other such theatrical displays such as opera and dance, its distinguishing feature is the equal importance that is given to the music as well as the dialogue and movement. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre has generally been referred to as musicals.
With music being part of drama presentations since ancient times, it was during the 19th century that modern Western theatre emerged, culminating in the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and Harrigan and Hart.
This was followed by numerous Edwardian musical comedies, which led in turn to the ground-breaking musicals of Show Boat in 1927 and Oklahoma! in 1943.
Some of the most iconic musicals whose show tunes still wow audiences today can be found within each decade of the twentieth century: West Side Story in 1957; Hair in 1967; A Chorus Line in 1975; Les Miserables in 1985 (the recently released film of which is soaring at the Box Office and has one of its stars tipped for a Best Actress Oscar); The Phantom of the Opera in 1986; Rent in 1994; The producers in 2001 and Wicked in 2003.
Show tunes, covering all manner of topics from heartbreak and loss to sheer elation, are tunes that often make you want to sing out loud, the most popular of which are instantly recognisable, even when the musical in its entirety is not.
Listen in to the newly launched Showstoppers programme with Graham Dene, every Tuesday and Thursday from 7pm-10p.m
You've heard of major stores having their own radio stations, but have you ever heard of a dating website with its own radio station?
Faced with the question of how to make online dating more fun, one of the world’s best websites for over 50's, OlderDatingOnline.com, decided to introduce its own music station.
Visitors simply click on a link to instantly launch a radio station that accompanies their dating experience.
Remember, people using dating websites can sit for hours browsing through hundreds of suitable matches, so why not make it an even more enjoyable time?
The radio station is called `Lovesongs247.com` (http://www.lovesongs247.com) and is a music station designed to fit perfectly with the mood of people using OlderDatingOnline.com. So, it might be a tune about special times together or the best friend in the world.
Lovesongs247.com also comes from a high pedigree as it’s being run by career broadcasters and will include shows from well -known presenters including Mick Brown and Graham Dene.
It will also have specialist shows including jazz, blues, soul and music from the world of film and theatre.
Online dating has moved into a new era with the announcement of this unique radio station for OlderDatingOnline.com. No longer is it about staring at a blank screen. It is now about a `full on` experience from the moment you log on, to the moment you fall in love.
With Valentine’s Day just round the corner, here at Older Dating Online we were thrilled to hear from one of our senior single members who wanted to tell us his older dating tale, one which he felt would inspire other senior singles to keep searching for that perfect partner, and to prove that online older dating really works.
Donald from South Glamorgan had been a member for some months without any luck but was truly committed to finding long lasting love and refused to give up on his search for older dating success.
He then received a lovely message from Trisha, a local senior single who just knew that she and Donald could potentially have some fun together. They soon arranged their first older dating adventure and it was a perfect first date. As Donald told us ‘”We spoke on the phone and then had a wonderful day out, enjoying a meal and a walk in a park getting to know one another.”
They instantly agreed to meet for future older dating fun and have hardly been apart since.
What’s more, their older dating was such a success that we will soon have our very first Older Dating Online wedding as Donald and Trisha are planning to tie the knot and officially stop being senior singles later this year. Understandably their families couldn’t be more pleased about their new found happiness, and neither could we here at Older Dating Online.
As Donald himself said “...We would like to let other people know that your site can be successful and bring people together.” With February being the month for love and romance, it’s a great place to start.
