Songoftheday 7/2/12 - Looking out a dirty old window, down below the cars in the city go rushing by...

Kim Wilde - "Kids In America"

from the album Kim Wilde (1981)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #25 (four weeks)

Weeks in the top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by new-wave singer Kim Wilde, who is the daughter of British rock star Marty Wilde. Marty's claim to fame was covering American hits that weren't released there yet, kind of like the Pat Boone of the Isles. Kim's first hit, however, was written by Marty and her brother Ricky, and was a #2 record in England a year before crossing over to the States. Odd, for a single about American children..

"Kids In America" was one of three top-40 UK hits from her debut album, but she wouldn't see the top-40 in the US again until 1986, where like her dad, a remake would bring her to the top (in her case, the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On").

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Kim would redo the song in 1994, but fail to chart with it.