Songoftheday 8/11/13 - Sometimes you start feelin' so lost and lonely then you'll find it's all been in your mind ...

Joe Jackson - "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)"
from the album Body and Soul (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #15 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's song of the day is by British singer/songwriter Joe Jackson, who had his biggest success in 1982 with his fifth album Night and Day, which went top-10 and gave him a top-10 pop hit with "Steppin' Out" and a respectable follow-up with "Breaking Us In Two". The year after, Jackson provided the music to the Debra Winger film Mike's Murder, and a track from the set, "Memphis", was a minor pop hit.

Jackson then released an true "followup" to Night and Day, which incorporated jazz and standards into his new wave just like the previous release, and the first single was the upbeat (and long-titled) "You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want)", which brought the horn section to the forefront along with Jackson's piano in the mix with David Kershenbaum handling the production again....

The record became Jackson's fourth and so far latest top-40 hit in June of 1984, while also reaching #13 on the adult-contemporary (easy listening) format. Its follow-up single, "Happy Ending", was a minor pop hit, and Joe's last appearance on the pop chart that same year. He would continue to have success on rock radio through the rest of the decade, with two of his songs going top-5 on the newly-minted "modern rock" chart, and the "Obvious Song" making it to #2. In 1991, his cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well" becoming his most recent charting hit on the Mainstream Rock format at #25.

These days Joe's music doesn't rely on radio presence, and all the better for it. He's truly one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the 80s, and deserves a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

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Here's Joe performing the song live in concert in '88..

...and again live in 1986...

Up tomorrow: Glam rockers behind Quiet Riot's success get their own day in the sun.