Songoftheday 11/3/13 - He said, "Baby, what's wrong with you why don't you use your imagination, nations go to war over women like you it's just a form of appreciation...

Sheena Easton - "Strut"
from the album A Private Heaven (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's song of the day is by Scottish singer Sheena Easton, who had returned herself to the top-10 in 1983 with "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" and followed it with another top-40 hit with the amazing ballad "Almost Over You". The following year, Sheena would release her fifth album in America, A Private Heaven, which was branded as more adult, both in her image and in the songs she sang. The first release from the set was the plucky and funky "Strut", which was written by Charlie Dore (who had a top-20 hit of her own with "Pilot Of The Airwaves") and Julian Littman, and produced by Greg Mathieson....

"Strut" became Sheena's fifth top-10 pop hit in the US in November of 1984, as it also did on the dance club play chart in Billboard. The record also went top-10 in Canada and New Zealand, and top-40 in Germany and Australia, but surprisingly missed even the top 100 chart in her native Britain. Sheena was nominated for "Best Pop/Rock Performance, Female" at the Grammys (her third and final in four years' time) but lost out to Tina Turner (natch).

And Lord, did I adore this song as a kid, the horn licks in the back of the circular chorus fadeout. Heaven.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Sheena used "Strut" as she was hawking gym memberships when she was a spokesperson for Bally's in 1988..

..and here's Sheena actually performing live on TV promoting the single...

...and more recently in Tokyo...

...and from this year in Atlantic City...

Up tomorrow: The Thin White Duke goes for another color.