I mentioned in my previous article that today is a national holiday here in Canada, so of course, that means we have a special Reminiscings of Youth article regarding some of my cherished songs from my own yesteryear. And once again, we have the late and lovely Laura Branigan to bring back some of my 1980s musical memories.
Of course, I'll always remember "Gloria" and her take on the ballad "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You?", but during the early half of the decade, she had some of her other minor hits crossing into the radiosphere. One single of hers from July 1984 was "The Lucky One". Starting off like a David Foster tune (it was actually created by Bruce Roberts), it quickly went into a mid-tempo pop-rock number along the lines of a Heart-ish song.
All of my memories about "The Lucky One" were from the radio since I had never seen the music video until today. Apparently, the producers were interested in having Laura go through a contemporary version of "My Fair Lady"; she's not too bad with the comedic chops, either. "The Lucky One" went to No. 53 on the Canadian charts while in the United States, it did better by peaking at No. 20.
So, what was coming out on top of the Oricon charts in July 1984? We have Nos. 2, 3 and 4.
2. Asami Kobayashi -- Ame Oto wa Chopin no Shirabe （雨音はショパンの調べ）
3. Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Main Theme （メイン・テーマ）
4. Yuko Ishikawa & Chage -- Futari no Ai Land （ふたりの愛ランド）
I remember Laura Branigan most for "Self Control", "The Power of Love" and her cover of "Forever young". But, I don't recall ever hearing the "lucky one" before.
ReplyDelete"Self Control" was another one of her biggest hits, although it's not one of my favourites. I remember that the music video stirred up some controversy but aside from the writhing of Laura in the last minute or so, I never saw what the problem was.
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