Songoftheday 7/10/14 - I can't understand it why you want to hurt me after all the things I've done for you...

Eddie Murphy - "Party All The Time"
from the album How Could It Be (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (3 weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14

Today's Song of the Day is by a man better known for his comedy than for his singing talent, Eddie Murphy, who catapulted to A-list fame with his stint on Saturday Night Live in the first half of the 80s. He went from there to the movies, starring in hugely successful films like Beverly Hills Cop and 48 Hrs. While he was on SNL, he released a couple of successful comedy records, which even had music within, and he landed a minor R&B hit in 1982 with "Boogie In Your Butt".

In 1985, after his SNL was done, Eddie hooked up with funk master Rick James, and recorded an album of his singing called How Could It Be. The first single pulled from the project, "Party All The Time", was a by-the-book "Super Freak"-ish jam with Murphy's whiny vocals on top...

"Party All The Time" became Eddie's first big hit, going all the way to the runner-up spot on the American pop chart in December of 1985, while also hitting #8 on the R&B chart. The record also climbed to #19 on the dance club play chart in Billboard. Internationally, while the single went to #3 down in New Zealand, it mercifully stalled down at #87 in Britain. Perhaps Eddie's success with the song, which did much better than any of James' own hits, caused a falling out, since this was the only record the two collaborated on.

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In 2006, dance music producer Sharam interpolated the record for his own top-10 pop hit in the UK, "PATT"....

Six years later, "blue-eyed" rapper Asher Roth sampled "Party" on his single "Party Girl", which "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #120....

...and finally, this past spring the cast of Glee with Gwyneth Paltrow covered "Party All The Time" that managed to be worse than Eddie's...

Up tomorrow: An eccentric Englishwoman moves quickly on the mount.