Songoftheday 10/30/13 - There's a light on in your window there's a shadow on the street, two silhouettes tell me it's over the shadow knows the shadow's me...


Elton John - "Who Wears These Shoes?"
from the album Breaking Hearts (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's Song of the Day is by Elton John, who had released his eighteenth studio album with the designer-jean tie-in "Sad Songs (Say So Much)", which made the top-5 on the American pop chart. For the follow-up Elton released the toss-off pop cheating accusation of "Who Wears These Shoes?". Written by the singer with longtime collaborator Bernie Taupin, and produced by Chris Thomas, the song came with another over-the-top campy video complete with Elton dancing with scantily-clad women and men along with oversized heart props. And they seemed to try their best to get Elton without his glasses as much as they could...


"Who Wears These Shoes?" went to the top-20 on both the American pop and adult contemporary charts in November of 1984, though I think it was more from his momentum than the quality of the song. It's passable enough, but I felt it was more of an album filler than a big hit single. (I preferred the album opener "Restless" and the folky "Passengers").  That thought must've been shared outside of the US, since the single stalled down at #50 in his native England, and barely made the top-40 in Canada.

(Click to see the rest of the post)


...and here's a taste of Elton live in concert for the album with the song...


Up tomorrow: Halloween gets a punker amorous for some skin.

Comments