Songoftheday 12/30/13 - I need a love that grows I don't want it unless I know....

Steve Perry - "Foolish Heart"
from the album Street Talk (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #18 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's Song of the Day is by the moonlighting lead singer of the arena rock band Journey, Steve Perry. His first solo album Street Talk had already spun off three top-40 pop hits with "Oh Sherrie", "She's Mine", and "Strung Out". The fourth single from the project was the ethereal ballad "Foolish Heart", written by the artist with Randy Goodrum, and produced by Perry. The video, a single take with just himself and a microphone, showed off the show well in its simplicity...

"Foolish Heart" did better than his last two singles, climbing to the top-20 on the American pop chart in February of 1985, while going all the way to #2 on the adult-contemporary radio format, his biggest hit there. After this, Steve would return to Journey, and not release another solo album for another ten years.

Lyrics-wise, this is one of my favorite songs of the 80s.

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There was an alternate version of the video with Steve joining his band at the end with champagne to toast the holidays and hinting at cutting a new record (though it's weird that two of the members in this were fired before Raised On Radio came out)..

In 1989, R&B Sharon Bryant, formerly of the group Atlantic Starr, released a soulful version of the song, and went to #7 on the R&B chart and #89 on the pop chart...

 Sheena Easton also covered the song for her international release from 1997, Freedom...

Up tomorrow: we'll close out 2013 with a little radioactive jitterbug.