Songoftheday 2/22/16 - Oh I count to ten, but I don't know how,and I don't know when to open my eyes...

"Monkey" - George Michael
from the album Faith (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's song of the day is by George Michael, whose first solo album Faith had already spun off three #1 pop hits in the U.S. with "One More Try", "Father Figure", and the title track (along with the #2 "I Want Your Sex"). The fifth single released from the record was the anti-drug bopper "Monkey", written by George and sporting a different mix on the single done by Janet Jackson's go-tos Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. That added perk caused fans to rush out to buy the single, which helped its success greatly. It also doesn't hurt being one of the most infectious songs on the album...

"Monkey" became the fourth #1 pop hit from Faith in the U.S. in August of 1988. The song also was his first to go to #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart, and crossed over to #8 on their R&B chart as well. Internationally, the single spent two weeks atop the pop chart in Canada, and made the top ten in Switzerland (#5), the Netherlands (#6), Ireland (#8), and New Zealand (#9). In his native Britain the track peaked at #13, while is also hit the top 20 in Australia (#12) and Italy (#13), and stopped at #24 in Germany and #34 in France.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's the 12" remix of "Monkey" that topped the club charts (and I still own)...

...and lastly, a grainy clip of George performing "Monkey" live on the Faith tour in 1988...

Up tomorrow: A folk hero drives away quickly.