Songoftheday 10/24/17 - I can't believe that it's real the way that you make me feel, the burnin' deep down inside the love that I cannot hide...
from the album Labour of Love II (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12
Today's song of the day comes from the British reggae band UB40, whose second album of cover songs, Labour Of Love II, had scored them their second top ten pop hit in the U.S. with their version of the Temptations' Motown classic "The Way You Do The Things You Do". Their next American release would be a cover of a Stax Records song, this time Al Green's "Here I Am (Come And Take Me)". The original, written by Green with Teenie Hodges, had went to #2 on Billboard's R&B chart and #10 on their pop Hot 100 in 1973...
The easy-going rhythm of the song lent to a smooth transition to the reggae time signature, and the band found themselves with another radio success...
"Here I Am (Come & Take Me)" became UB40's third top ten pop hit in the U.S. in July of 1991. The song also crossed over to Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio list at #6, while popping onto their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #44. Internationally, the record went to #3 in Australia, while reaching the top-40 in New Zealand (#6), The Netherlands (#9), France (#14), and Ireland (#22). However, in their native Britain, where it was the second single after the UK top ten "Homely Girl", failed to reach the top 40 at #46, though two other tracks from the record were bigger, including "Kingston Town" (#4) and "Wear You To The Ball" (#35). Meanwhile, in the States the song "Groovin'" originally from Byron Lee was released, and was a minor pop hit at #90.
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and here's the band live in the Netherlands in 2003...
Up tomorrow: Arena rock band falls pretty quickly.
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