Foolish Heart (song)

"Foolish Heart"
Single by Steve Perry
from the album Street Talk
Released 1984
Format 7"
Recorded Record One in Los Angeles, California
Genre Rock
Label Columbia
Writer(s) Randy Goodrum
Steve Perry
Producer Steve Perry
Steve Perry singles chronology
"Strung Out"
(1984)
"Foolish Heart"
(1984)
"You Better Wait"
(1994)

"Foolish Heart" is a rock song written by Steve Perry, formerly of the band Journey and Randy Goodrum, and was performed by Perry from his first solo album, Street Talk. It was released as the fourth single from the album in November 1984 and peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Adult Contemporary chart in February 1985.

Contents

Music video

The music video for "Foolish Heart" is unique in the fact that it is one continuous shot from beginning to end. The setting is a darkened hall with the camera overlooking a balcony rail towards the stage. On the stage, in a spotlight, is a boom mic and a stool. Perry walks onto the stage, sits and the song begins. Over the course of the video, the camera pans towards the stage, pauses a brief moment on Perry and then slowly returns to its original position over the balcony rail. At the end of the song, Perry walks off stage.

There is an alternate 'holiday' ending to this video which is rarely included. A second camera shot shows Steve Perry walking off the stage towards the camera. The rest of the members of Journey (Neal Schon, Jonathan Cain, Steve Smith, Ross Valory) greet Steve as he approaches. With champagne in hand, the band wishes their fans a Happy Holiday and Happy New Year. Steve Perry then says "Let's go cut a track" and they exit via the stage. Many believe this is a nod to the fans that Steve Perry is now returning to write and perform with Journey.

Nina version

"Foolish Heart (Nina version)"
Single by Nina
from the album Heaven
Released April 2003
Genre Pop, R&B
Length 4:35
Label Warner Music
Producer Ferdie Marquez
Nina singles chronology
"Jealous"
(2003)
"Foolish Heart"
(2003)
"Loving You"
(2003)
Music sample
"Foolish Heart"

"Foolish Heart" was covered by Filipino singer Nina and was released as the third commercial single from her 2002 debut album Heaven. The construction of the song's remake was far more different than that of the original, as the melody was completely played through an acoustic guitar.[1] The song was a hit, topping Philippine charts for four weeks. The song was released to digital download on January 23, 2007 via iTunes and Amazon.com.[2][3]

Background

After college, Nina recorded an amateur demo CD with the help of a friend. It was composed of "Foolish Heart" and two other songs, "Breathe Again" and "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)", recorded in a home studio with only a guitar for accompaniment. After listening to the demos, Warner Music managing director at that time, Ricky Ilacad wanted to sign her up even without seeing or hearing her in person. Two months after her father died of heart attack in the United States, she signed her first contract with Warner Music.[4]

Critical reception

In a review by Baby A. Gil of The Philippine Star for Heaven (the album), she gave a positive reaction to the song, stating "Proof of Nina’s musicality is the inclusion of Steve Perry’s "Foolish Heart", one of the songs she included in the demo that got her the Warner contract. If the way she sings it in the album is in any way similar to what she did in the demo, then I am not at all surprised that Warner got interested in her. She sounds fantastic!"[5]

Music video

The video depicts Nina in a flower shop attending to a male customer. She becomes bored being alone, thus she results to singing and counting the days passing by as to how she would get the man's attention. Each day has an introductory line—Monday ("that cute customer"), where she meets a cute guy who ignores her; Tuesday ("you again?"), where she takes off her eye glasses to catch the guy's attention, but she fails to do so; Wednesday ("glasses are for nerds!"), where a female customer later enters the shop and gets the guy's attention instead of Nina, who doesn't wear her glasses anymore; Thursday ("all dressed up"), where she dresses up just to find out that the guy is not coming at all. In the end—Friday ("a pleasant surprise"), he comes to her in the shop and invites her to watch a concert by Barbie's Cradle.[6]

Live performances

Heaven was the first album of Nina as a debut artist, making her unfamiliar to everyone at that time. To gain fans and promote her album, she has done concert performances, bar gigs and TV appearances. In 2003, she had a back-to-back major concert with Kyla entitled Cold War at Ratsky Morato. The concert began when rivalry sparked between the two artists, and its production was full of showdowns and face-offs. Their rivalry was so strong, it was even compared to that of Nora Aunor and Vilma Santos.[7] She also performed as special guest on Paolo Santos' concert, Acoustic Night Out, singing the song, and "Power of Two" with Santos. She performed the same single, as well as "Jealous", on Freestyle's Acoustic Night Out concert at OnStage. She has also performed Heaven singles on MTV Live and on the first ever MYX Mo!.

Official versions

Version Length Album
Album version 4:35 Heaven
Vibe Mix 4:34
Closure Lounge Remix 4:23 Nina in the Mix: The Dense Modesto Remixes

Other covers

Former lead singer of the R&B group Atlantic Starr, Sharon Bryant, had a solo hit with the song when she covered it in 1989, reaching the top ten on the Billboard R&B chart and number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Filipino R&B band Side A covered their version from their 10th anniversary live album, Side A Live!: The 10th Anniversary Album in 1995.

References

  1. ^ Almond N. Aguila (April 03, 2005). "What Nina Gave Up for Singing". The Philippine Star. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=272500. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 
  2. ^ "Nina - Heaven". Amazon.com. January 23, 2007. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001LGAX8G. Retrieved 2001-05-03. 
  3. ^ "Nina - Heaven". iTunes. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/heaven/id14785154. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 
  4. ^ "Nina: Soothingly Belting Out". koleksyon.com. http://www.koleksyon.com/showbiz/reviews/music_news/nina.asp. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 
  5. ^ Baby A. Gil (September 06, 2002). "Welcome to Nina’s Heaven". The Philippine Star. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=174892. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  6. ^ j0mai (Jun 7, 2007). "NINA FOOLISH HEART". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWgm4oiZ3GU. Retrieved 2011-05-03. 
  7. ^ Veronica R. Samio (May 03, 2003). "Parang Nora/Vilma sina Kyla/Niña". The Philippine Star. http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=204730. Retrieved 2011-05-03.