Songoftheday 3/3/17 - It was a rainy night when he came into sight, standing by the road no umbrella no coat...

"All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" - Heart
from the album Brigade (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13

Today's song of the comes from the rock band Heart, who after going through personnel changes in the mid-80s came back as a mainstream hit-making machine, with two consecutive albums that spun off multiple pop hits. Their 1987 album Bad Animals contained their of them, including "There's The Girl", "Who Will You Run To", and the #1 single "Alone". Three years later, the group, fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, released their tenth album Brigade. The first single from the record was the mid-tempo adult-rock nugget "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You". Written by "Mutt" Lange, who had come off a very successful stint with producing and co-writing Def Leppard's Hysteria album. A story song with a "twist", it put itself off as a female empowerment anthem with Ann, as the protagonist, seeming in control of her sexuality. But as with a lot of Lange's work, underlying the lyrics in what a man thinks female empowerment is, selecting a mate and conning him into barebacking a baby. But also like Lange's work, it's insanely infectious, and the melody winnows its way into your brain like the leech in that woman's esophagus (do not YouTube it)...

"All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You" became Heart's ninth (and so far, last) top ten pop hit in the U.S. in May of 1990. The single also spent a week at #2 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart, and peaked at #6 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") list. Internationally, the song topped the chart in Canada and Australia, and reached the top ten in Sweden (#2), Norway (#3), Belgium (#4), the Netherlands (#4), New Zealand (#4), and the UK (#8).

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"All I Wanna Do..." was actually an old song, which Lange wrote back in the 70s, and first recorded by soul singer Dobie Gray in 1979. It didn't have the babymaking plot, but the chorus is undeniable...

Here's the band on tour in 1990. They've mostly refrained from the song, objecting to the lyrical content...

 In 2011, hard rock band Halestorm covered the song admirably for a covers EP...

 ...and finally, Heart again for MTV Unplugged in 1995...

Up tomorrow: Pop/soul superstar is, well, okay.