Songoftheday 7/30/18 - You were the sweetest thing that I ever knew, but I don't care for sugar honey if I can't have you...

"Walking On Broken Glass" - Annie Lennox
from the album Diva (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 19

Today's song of the day comes from Annie Lennox, who had taken a break from her iconic new wave duo Eurythmics and released her debut album Diva. The first single from the record, "Why", reached the top-5 in her native Britain and was her second solo-billed top-40 hit in the summer of 1992. A second single was released in the UK, the stellar "Precious" (by far my favorite track on her Diva album), which went to #23 on the British chart. But it was her third release from the record (the second in America) that would be her most successful solo recording. "Walking On Broken Glass", written by Lennox and produced by Stephen Lipson, has Annie pine for a previous lover, which was visually transformed into a period piece for the music video, featuring actors Hugh Laurie and John Malkovich holding a royal-ish court as she goes drunk and mad. It's notable to be one of the few pop singles to spot a musical hook from a string section (or synth recreation of one)...

"Walking On Broken Glass" became Annie's third top-40 pop hit in the U.S. in November of 1992. The song also climbed to #6 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart, and made it to #7 on their Modern Rock format tally. Internationally, the single spent a week at #1 in Canada, and peaked at #8 on both Ireland and the UK. It also reached the top-40 in New Zealand (#23), Sweden (#31), and Belgium (#37).

While the song was peaking late in the States, the song "Cold" was put out as a fourth single internationlly, and went to #26 in the UK. The fifth and final release from Diva, "Little Bird", was her biggest international hit from the record, hitting #3 in the UK and Ireland, and #7 in Canada, but in the U.S., it peaked just under the top-40 at #49 (though it was a #1 dance hit here).

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Here's Annie previewing the song on Arsenio Hall...