Bobby Caldwell/Boz Scaggs -- Heart of Mine

From Wikipedia

Being March 14th, it is White Day in Japan so the guys there are getting their cookies and chocolates. In the rest of the world perhaps, it is known as Pi (3.14) Day for the mathematically inclined and strangely enough, the theoretical physicist Albert Einstein was born on this day in 1879. I've already mentioned yesterday that enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）also has his birthday today. But for this weekly Reminiscings of Youth article, I'm going to be featuring once more singer-songwriter Bobby Caldwell because it was one year ago today that he passed away at the age of 71.

The man known as Mr. AOR in Japan will always be famous and adored for his 1978 "What You Won't Do For Love". I've been listening to that one for decades but it was also the fact on the ol' radio that I also got to hear another song of his, "Heart of Mine", which was the title track for his 1989 album. Yet another tenderhearted ballad by the late crooner about trying to mend a broken heart after a sudden and unexpected romantic breakup, I was surprised that the song came into being so much later than I had thought. I had assumed that "Heart of Mine" was the follow-up to "What You Won't Do For Love" which perhaps attests to its timelessness. I am still assuming that the song was used for one of those ancient Parliament cigarette commercials in Japan.

Crazy thing though. When this song first came to my ears' notice decades ago, I'd been left wondering whether it was Caldwell or other AOR crooner Boz Scaggs behind "Heart of Mine". Well, it turned out to be both: both of them co-wrote the song along with Dennis Matkosky and Jason Scheff. And Scaggs' version came out first as a single in 1988 with its inclusion in Scaggs' May 1988 album "Other Roads". As much as his 1976 "Lowdown" is one of my favourite uptempo tunes by him, "Heart of Mine" is his representative love ballad. "Other Roads" ended up peaking at No. 35 on the US charts while in Canada, it ranked in at No. 25.

May 16th 1988 was the release date for "Other Roads". Coincidentally enough, I was able to find the Oricon chart for that date. What was up at Nos. 1, 3 and 4?

1. Yui Asaka -- C-Girl

3. Yoko Oginome -- Stardust Dream（スターダスト・ドリーム）

4. TUBE -- Beach Time