Song 21:
"Affair of the Heart” by Rick Springfield
Peak: 9
Year: 1983
Year end position: 57
Alphabetical Songs by Artist: 1/9
Chronological Songs by Artist: 6/9
Video?: Yes
Spotify?: Yes
On yesterday's
blog post, Hall & Oates made their first appearance, making them the act
with the most songs we've seen so far.
That also made them the third Hall of Fame act we've come across. That brings us, sadly to Rick
Springfield. As you know by now, my
criteria for inclusion into the Hall of Fame is 10 songs in the top 20 over the
course of a career. If you read the stats
at the start of the post, you will notice that Rick came up one song
short. What makes that a little bit
sadder is that he had 7 songs peak between 21 and 30. He just needed one of those to creep over the
bar to make it in. Not only was he
really close, he was really dominant during his chart peak. He had a somewhat obscure song in 1972 that
we will get to ("Speak to the Sky"), but his other 8 songs all hit
the top 20 between 1981 and 1984. If you
just look at that time frame, his 8 songs were tied for second most with Lionel
Richie and Culture Club (3 songs behind Hall & Oates). Rules are rules though, so Rick Springfield
doesn't make it in the Hall.
"Affair of
the Heart" came right in the midst of Rick Springfield's peak powers. At the same time as he was hitting the
charts, he was also starring as Dr. Noah Drake on "General
Hospital". It was also right before
he started filming on his star vehicle movie "Hard to Hold", so Rick
Springfield saturation was almost total in the pop culture of the day.
I was looking up
just what an "Affair of the Heart " actually is. The definition I came across most often is a close,
intimate relationship that contains virtually no sex. This definition seems almost totally in
opposition to the lyrics of the verses of this song. Take the following line for example: " When we make love, it's a
passionate thing / You shudder and shake, sink your teeth in my skin". That seems like they are having some pretty
wild sex, making it more than an "Affair of the Heart". It's in the chorus, where it seems like there
is some cooling off for Rick. He says
"Don't try to tell me you think it's all physical / It goes much deeper than
that" making me think that Rick thinks, yeah the sex is great, but the
connection he feels is much stronger.
That may be true, but I think he hasn't used quite the correct term to
describe their relationship. Another
interpretation may be that the woman he is singing to thinks it's just sex, but
Rick thinks it's more involved and he is trying to convince her of that. I have figured out where the "blind
faith" lyric plays into all this, but then again, maybe I'm not supposed
to read too much into this song. It is a
straight forward rock song and I'm sure it did very well for Rick on tour.
There is a part of the song around the bridge that I never
could wrap my head around. It sounds
like he's saying some words like "touch you... seize you...." I really can't make out the words, but it
reminded me what witches sound like when they are gathered around a cauldron
mixing up some kind of sinister potion.
The words are all distorted, so I'm not even 100% sure what they are
saying exactly or how it relates to the rest of the song. It's kind of a neat effect, and gives the
song a mysterious streak, so it's at least memorable.
As with a lot of videos in this era, the concept is
virtually incomprehensible. I think Rick
is trapped in some kind of room, but he opens a door and pushes down a window
into another room. Once he is in the
second room, there is a stage and he plays "Affair of the Heart" to
about 20 people before going back into his room by running the original tape
backwards. There is a lot of shots of
shirtless Rick Springfield, so it's good if you want to see a lot of the
hunkiness that is Rick Springfield. I'm
guessing that was most of the concept for the video.
I like Rick Springfield.
It's too bad he never had the 10th song make the top 20 so he could take
his place in the Hall of Fame. Anyone
that can release a song called "Bruce" about how people mistake him
for Bruce Springsteen deserves at least a great deal of respect from me.
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