Songoftheday 2/10/15 - Have I told you lately that I love you, if I din't, darlin', you see I'm so sorry...

"To Be A Lover" - Billy Idol
from the album Whiplash Smile (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day comes from the British pop/punk star Billy Idol, whose sophomore album Rebel Yell spun off two top-40 pop hits in the US with "Flesh For Fantasy" and the top-5 "Eyes Without A Face". After taking a two-year break, Idol released his third album Whiplash Smile in 1986. With a more stripped down approach, the set seemed a more mature progression. Adding to that was the choice of lead single, a remake of a soul nugget from William Bell, who released "I Forgot To Be Your Lover" in 1968. The track. written by Bell with Booker T. Jones, went to #10 on the R&B chart, but stalled under the pop top-40 at #45....

Idol took this song and made it totally unrecognizable from the original, twisting the lyrics and making the beat much faster with a cold, metal sheen on the backing track, with synths and a pure piano riff replacing the usual Steve Stevens guitars...

Not only did Idol complete the rare feat of completely outshining the original, his version of "To Be A Lover" became the singer's second pop top-10 hit in America in December of 1986. The single also went all the way to #2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart. Internationally the record climbed to the runner-up position in Australia and New Zealand, #28 in Germany, and #22 in Idol's native Britain. But artistically this put him in the big leagues, proving he was more than just an "idol"; he was nominated for a Grammy for Male Rock Vocal Performance, losing to Robert Palmer's "Addicted To Love"...

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Here's Billy performing "To Be A Lover" at the Grammys in 1987...

..and again from his tour in the 90s...

Finally, here is Idol from Storytellers in 2001...

Up tomorrow: A British new wave band makes themselves into a verb.