Come On Eileen

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“Come On Eileen”
“Come On Eileen” cover
Single by Dexys Midnight Runners & The Emerald Express
from the album Too-Rye-Ay
B-side "Dubious"
Released 1982
Genre Pop
Length 4:28
Label Mercury
Writer(s) Kevin Rowland, "Big" Jim Paterson, Billy Adams
Producer Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
Dexys Midnight Runners singles chronology
"The Celtic Soul Brothers"
(1982)		 "Come On Eileen"
(1982)		 "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)"
(1982)

"Come On Eileen" by Dexys Midnight Runners was the biggest-selling British single of 1982. The song was written by Kevin Rowland, "Big" Jim Paterson, and Billy Adams; it was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. It originally appeared on the album Too-Rye-Ay. The song has had lasting appeal and is often heard in retro clubs and on 80s compilation CDs.

Contents

[edit] Composition

The song begins with Celtic-style fiddle played over a drum beat, with the bass guitar and piano providing accompaniment. An extended version has an additional intro of a Celtic fiddle solo, playing the Irish song "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms", by Matthew Locke.

The chorus was loosely inspired by the song "A Man Like Me" by the 1960s British soul group Jimmy James and the Vagabonds.[1]

The bridge of "Come On Eileen" features an improvised counter-melody which begins in a slow tempo and gets faster and faster over an accelerando vocal backing. The chord sequence of the bridge is actually the same as the verses but transposed up by a whole tone.

Throughout the song, there are numerous tempo changes and key changes:

Key changes throughout the song
Section Introduction Verses Chorus Bridge
Key F major C major D major D major

[edit] Music video

Kevin Rowland in the music video of "Come On Eileen".
Kevin Rowland in the music video of "Come On Eileen".

The music video to accompany the single was directed by Julien Temple. It features members of the band wearing sleeveless shirts and overalls. Drummer Seb Shelton was fired from the band during the filming of the music video. Rowland had ordered his bandmates not to do any bathing or shaving of any kind, in order to achieve a more gruff appearance. According to rumour Shelton did not follow the orders[citation needed], and was subsequently kicked out of the band.

The "Eileen" as featured in the video (and on the record sleeve) is Maire Fahey, sister of Siobhan Fahey, former singer with Bananarama and Shakespear's Sister. The American singer Johnnie Ray, an early rock-and-roll crooner, is also featured in the video using old film footage, and mentioned in the opening lyrics.

[edit] Chart success

In the British charts, the song spent four weeks at number one in August 1982. This success was repeated around the globe; spending five weeks as the Kent Report's number one in Australia and reaching number one in April 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The song was also successful in Ireland, where it reached number one on the charts and spent a total of eleven weeks in the charts.

It is a common example of a one-hit wonder in the U.S., as the band failed to reach similar popularity with any of their future songs, though in the UK they had already reached number one two years earlier with "Geno", and went on to have further hits.

In a poll by the UK TV Channel, Channel 4, the song was placed at number 38 in the 100 greatest number 1 singles of all time.[2] A similar poll by the music channel VH1 placed the song at number 3 in the 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders of all time.[3]

[edit] Cover versions

The song has been covered by several artists, including the ska band Save Ferris (which replaced the strings with a horn section), heavy metal Skyclad, French art band Nouvelle Vague, the Atlantic Canadian folk rockers Kilt, Blackthorn, the Japanese band nil, and Badly Drawn Boy. In June 2004 in the UK, the tune was used for the song "Come on England", by a group of football fans calling themselves "4-4-2". The song was intended to support the England football team during the Euro 2004 competition. In 2006, a cover version by Hermes House Band was released as a single in France. The song was also sung by David Spade and Chris Farley in the movie Tommy Boy. A cover of the song was released by Reel Big Fish and another version has been released by the band Fall Out Boy.

[edit] References in popular culture

  • The AFL Footy Show showed the music video of "Come On Eileen" in the 'Sam's Mailbag' part of the show as Kevin Rowland was a look-a-like to co-host Garry Lyon. After the music video was performed, another video was shown with hosts Garry Lyon (as Kevin Rowland), James Brayshaw (as Banjo player), Sam Newman (as Violin player) and Trevor Marmalade (as Accordion player) performing a copy of the original video as themselves.
  • The title of the song was mentioned in an episode of Will & Grace. Grace has bought a dog against Will's will, and when trying to convince him to keep the dog, she says "Come on, Eileen!”
  • The song was used as the Space Shuttle Discovery crew wake-up call in August 2005, on STS-114 Flight Day 14, in honour of the flight commander, Eileen Collins. The ground control team selected the song to remind the crew "that it is time for your return back home to planet Earth" (a return which turned out to be delayed by a day due to weather).
  • The phrase "Come On Eileen" is used as the refrain in the song "Me and my Black Metal Friends" by Atom And His Package.
  • The song's title was parodied in Clerks as a porno film entitled "Cum On Eileen". There is also a real porn site with this title.
  • The song was used briefly in the hit British cult sitcom Spaced.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" Lisa remarks that Homer's barbershop quartet, the Be Sharps, beat Dexys Midnight Runners for a Grammy Award to which Homer replies, "Well, you haven't heard the last of them." This is an ironic reference to Dexys Midnight Runners' one hit wonder status in the US.
  • The song is referenced in an episode of the television series American Dad, when Francine inspires them to sing about her, they not catching her name.
  • The song was used in an episode of the ABC television series Carpoolers.
  • The song was played during the Jackass 24-hour takeover of MTV.
  • Kevin Rowland was parodied at the end of an episode of Big Train, created as a sort of Frankenstein's monster.
  • The song was played during the cold open to the episode "Epiphanies" of the popular British television series Spaced, in which a flashback to 1983 shows Brian Topp dancing to the song in a club until he knocks the drink out of the hands of another raver and gets punched in the face.

[edit] Musicians (band members)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Audio - www.dexys.co.uk
  2. ^ http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/G/greatest/singles/results.html Channel4
  3. ^ http://www.danboe.net/articles/975/vh1s-top-100-one-hit-wonders VH1's Top 100 One-Hit Wonders


Preceded by
"Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson		 Billboard Hot 100 number one single
April 23, 1983		 Succeeded by
"Beat It" by Michael Jackson
Preceded by
"Fame" by Irene Cara		 UK number one single
August 1, 1982		 Succeeded by
"Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
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