DeBarge -- You Wear It Well

 

Got together for a ramen lunch with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a few years in person and made a new friend today. It was good to have the Meat Lover's Ramen at Touhenboku; good soup and plenty of protein. Unfortunately, I may have overdone it with the Fuwa Fuwa pancake dessert and then the usual dinner at home a few hours later, but my gastrointestinal tract (or what's left of it) was gradually able to process everything.

Anyways, as I told Gary over pancakes this afternoon, I said that I would be doing DeBarge tonight for the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article. I've already written up on a couple of articles on this family of talented singers and songwriters from the 1980s. "All This Love" and "Love Me In A Special Way" are some of the most wonderful love tunes this side of Quiet Storm that I had ever heard from this Michigan-based group, but this time, I wanted to re-check their more upbeat and party-hearty work as well as get a vicarious workout from today's large ingestion of food.

It's too bad that the original music video for "You Wear It Well" is not up on YouTube but that's OK. The song on its own is just smashing to listen to. It's cool, it's 80s, it's downtown and it's darn funky. Created by El and Chico DeBarge as an October 1985 single, it just pops like a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn and it seems to be the perfect song for a slow-motion montage during a scene of paint-the-town-red luxury.

According to the Wikipedia article for "You Wear It Well", El and the stylish song made their appearances on a few shows such as the stylish "Miami Vice", and though I couldn't find a video, I swear that it also got used in a montage scene of "Moonlighting". And yep, it was a pretty luxurious scene, too.

Of course, being the 1980s, "You Wear It Well" did get a few dance remix versions including the M&M Club Mix. The song hit No. 46 on the US Billboard Top 100, but it did hit the top spot on its Hot Club Dance Play chart. It was also included on DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night" album released in March 1985.

So, how was Oricon doing in the month of October 1985? Here are No. 1, 2 and 4.

1. Momoko Kikuchi -- Mou Aenai Kamoshirenai（もう逢えないかもしれない）

2. Akiko Kobayashi -- Koi ni Ochite (恋におちて）

4. Akina Nakamori -- Solitude