Songoftheday 8/29/13 - And maybe love is letting people be just what they want to be the door always must be left unlocked, to love when circumstance may lead someone away from you and not to spend the time just doubting...

Howard Jones - "What Is Love?"
from the album Human's Lib (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 4

Today's song of the day is by singer/songwriter/keyboardist Howard Jones, who broke through the din of new wave bands with his one-man (and a mime) act with the bouncy "New Song" which made the American top-40 in the spring of 1984. For the follow-up, Jones released a moodier and more pensive piece called "What Is Love?". Cowritten with lyricist and spiritual writer Bill Bryant, the minor-key hook-filled record became his biggest hit at home, and scored more success in the States, even with its rather pessimistic refrain of "does anybody really love anybody anyway?"...

"What Is Love?" became Jones' second top-40 hit in America in June of 1984, while going as high as #2 on the British singles chart, the highest he would ever get there. It also went top-10 in Germany (his only one there), Norway, and Sweden, and remains one of his best-loved tracks.

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Howard mimed his Top Of The Pops appearance, but he can also sing live on TV, like this one from Germany in 2007..

 
...and also really live from a couple years ago in London...

German "filter-house" producers Milk & Sugar had a hit in their country with a version of the song remixed in 2005...

Swedish producer Håkan Lidbo did a "lounge" version of the song in 2002...

Up tomorrow: a rock star gone disco pops out on the Streets Of Fire.