Songoftheday 11/1/13 - You and I are on an island where I thought the storm would never end...

Diana Ross - "Swept Away"
from the album Swept Away (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day is by Diana Ross, who by the mid-80s was going thru a sort of dry spell, as her 1983 album Ross, with new wave influences and produced by Steely Dan's knob-twiddler Gary Katz as well as Ray Parker Jr, only spun off one moderate hit with "Pieces Of Ice". Taking over a year to record her next album, her biggest exposure came with her benefit concert(s) in Central Park, where torrential rains caused her to put on a second show the following day (and obliterate any funds raised from the show for charity).

In 1984 Ross released her Swept Away album, which contained a song already reaching the top-20 on the pop chart, her duet with Julio Iglesias, "All Of You". The second single released would be the title track, written by the singer with then red-hot Daryl Hall and his writing partner Sara Allen. Produced by Hall with dance club king Arthur Baker, "Swept Away" was a full-on diva track with those power chords that won't let go of your ear. And this time the over-the-top video was given play by MTV...

"Swept Away" reached the American pop top-20 in October of 1984, and topped the dance club play chart in Billboard. The single reached #3 on the R&B chart, her highest rank since 1982's "Mirror Mirror". However, although reaching #17 in Canada, it failed to chart most everywhere else.

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...and here's Arthur Baker's 12" Remix which topped the dance chart (which extra hitting in the video)...

..and here's the diva herself live with "Swept Away" in 1985...

Up tomorrow: a man from the Styx looks up to the satellite.