Joe Jackson -- Steppin' Out/Breaking Us in Two

 

In this "Reminiscings of Youth" article for this Thursday, I will first take you to the local Hudson's Bay department store. One day as a teenager of the early 1980s, I was walking about on the main floor when I heard this song piping through the store speakers and it wasn't any sort of Pablum-y Muzak. It had class, groove and heft, and as a kid, I was just getting into all sorts of music from both sides of the Pacific Ocean, so I needed to know where this song was at. At the time, record sections were still the common area in any department store so I made the beeline there.

From Rolling Stone

When I got to the Bay record shop, I saw this album being profiled with the album standing right behind the store record player on which the LP was spinning. That was, and still is, one truly spiffy cover for Joe Jackson's 5th studio album, "Night and Day", released in June 1982. Didn't know about the title's connection with Cole Porter at the time, but according to Wikipedia, the "album pays tribute to the wit and style of Cole Porter (and indirectly to New York)".

I'd already known about Jackson and my image of him was that of the angry young man bouncing around for some return of jive and New Wave. He even looked like a younger version of my junior high school science teacher who frankly wasn't the most stable of people. But looking at the cover of "Night and Day", it appeared that Jackson was aiming for a sleeker form of jazz.

That song of class, groove and heft? It was "Steppin' Out" which was also Jackson's August 1982 single in the United States (October in the UK). Over the decades, the song would weave in and out of my memories and during that time, I would always think of it being a jazz/pop or sophisti-pop tune, so it was surprising reading the Wikipedia article and seeing it classified as an electropop song! But then, I went to YouTube to watch the video and hear the song again as a tuxedo-clad Jackson held court at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City, and I realized that the instruments were indeed synthesizers. 

Still, the elegant jazziness in the overall sound is undeniable, and the music video of that maid fantasizing about a dreamy and high-class night out in New York simply shouts out to the good ol' days and nights. The fascinating thing is that Jackson doesn't go off on melodic tangents with "Steppin' Out"; it covers the same basic melody and rhythms through the four verses and the refrain and yet it never tires me out. It's like a mantra of Manhattan marvel.

Aside from what was depicted in the music video, "Steppin' Out" was supposedly all about enjoying that night drive in the beautiful city, so of course, I've imagined one of J Utah's driving videos. Luckily, he recently put up a night drive in the Big Apple itself. The song itself was inspired by Jackson's time in New York.

"Steppin' Out" became his most successful hit in America by hitting No. 6 on Billboard and even got Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.

The other wonderful track from "Night and Day" is "Breaking Us in Two" which was also released as a single in August 1982. I don't quite remember where I first heard this song but it could have been the radio or watching the poignant video about a woman on the brink of leaving her boyfriend/husband behind only for some folks in the neighbourhood to lend a hand. And maybe even Jackson as perhaps Heaven's most dour-looking angel helps out from the train.

Wikipedia has categorized "Breaking Us in Two" as a sophisti-pop song but I just think of it as a truly poignant pop ballad about desperately keeping the couple together. Those final bars that the piano plays out was what first hooked me to the song and then hearing the whole thing eventually landed me. The single did pretty well in America by hitting No. 18.

As for "Night and Day", it peaked at No. 4 on Billboard and sold over a million copies in the US, as it also did in Canada, earning Platinum status here, too. It's interesting comparing the two songs here with ABC's "The Look of Love" (a subject of a past ROY article) which came out just a month earlier in May 1982 for that feeling of New Wave and sophisti-pop as well.

I'll just go with the release date of June 1982 for "Night and Day" for what was going on in Japan but seeing that I've already provided the Top 3 of Oricon in that particular month via The Go-Gos' "Vacation", let's see what three singles were actually released at that time. Well, two of them were supposedly released in May according to what I've written about them, but "Showa Nights" is showing them as June releases.

Tatsuro Yamashita -- Amaku Kiken na Kaori (あまく危険な香り）

Rumiko Koyanagi -- Midare Gami （みだれ髪）

Southern All Stars -- Niji Iro The Night Club （匂艶「にじいろ」THE NIGHT CLUB）