Songoftheday 3/26/14 - My friends know what's in store I won't be here anymore, I've packed my bags I've cleaned the floor Watch me walkin' out the door...

Eurythmics - "Would I Lie To You?"
from the album Be Yourself Tonight (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #5 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the British new-wave duo Eurythmics, whose last major studio release Touch in 1983 had spun off three top-40 hits in America with "Here Comes The Rain Again", "Who's That Girl", and "Right By My Side". The following year they recorded the criminally underrated album soundtrack to the movie adaptation of George Orwell's 1984, and the fabulous dance single "Sexcrime (1984)" became a top-5 hit in England, though it was relatively ignored in the States (it didn't help that the director of 1984 didn't approve of the duo's soundtrack at all).

After this album the pair switched musical direction to a more rock and soul oriented sound, and the earthier and meatier production is displayed the best on their first single for their fourth studio album Be Yourself Tonight. "Would I Lie To You?" features a kick-ass horn section and Aretha-style call and answer background vocals that packed quite the punch. Even the video forgoes the high-concept video for a bad performance-style clip (albeit with the over-dramatic flourish in the start)...

 "Would I Lie To You" became the Eurythmics' third (and so far most recent) top-10 pop hit in America, while scaling to #2 on the rock radio chart and #5 on the dance club play list in Billboard magazine. Internationally, the single went to #1 Down Under in Australia, and top-10 in Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and Sweden. In their home country, it topped out at #17 (their follow-up single, "There Must Be An Angel", though, shot to #1).

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The pair performed the song at the 1985 MTV Video Music Awards show, though I'm sadly surprised they lipsynched...

Here they are actually live in 1987...

Up tomorrow: A funkster sings about a fruity hat.