| "Waiting For a Star to Fall" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Boy Meets Girl | ||||
| from the album Reel Life | ||||
| A-side | "Waiting For a Star to Fall" | |||
| B-side | "No Apologies" | |||
| Released | September 1988 | |||
| Format | 7" single, 12" single, CD single | |||
| Recorded | 1988 | |||
| Genre | Pop | |||
| Length | 4:32 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Shannon Rubicam, George Merrill | |||
| Producer | George Merrill, Arif Mardin & Thomas Hart | |||
| Boy Meets Girl singles chronology | ||||
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Waiting For a Star to Fall is a song released by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl in 1988. A worldwide hit, it became the duo's signature song.
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The song was inspired by an actual falling star that Shannon Rubicam had seen at one of Whitney Houston's concerts at the Greek Theatre. Initially the duo did not consider to record it, and instead submitted the song to Clive Davis for consideration on Whitney Houston's next album, but he rejected it, citing it didn't suit her. The song was then offered and recorded by Belinda Carlisle for her 1987 release Heaven On Earth at the insistence of her label. But Carlisle disliked the song, and she ultimately refused to include it on the album, though it has circulated in her trading circles for years on a disc of that album's outtakes.
Merrill and Rubicam decided to record the song themselves for their second album Reel Life. Released as a single on September 1988, the song became a hit in the United States, slowly climbing the charts and eventually reaching #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December, and #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart.[1] Released in the UK on November 30, 1988, the song reached number 9 in the UK charts during January 1989, having entered the chart in December 1988.[2] It also reached #35 on Australia's ARIA Charts in April 1989.
The song was used as the closing track to the 1990 movie Three Men and a Little Lady, and the single was re-released as a movie tie-in, with a new picture sleeve featuring the actors of the film. It peaked at #76 in the UK.
The videoclip, directed by Australian director Claudia Castle, features scenes of the duo singing the song on a beach, and scenes of the duo singing inside a house with Merrill also playing the piano. Also featured are scenes of a group of children playing with bubbles. One of those children is Merrill and Rubicam's daughter, Hilary.
| Chart (1988) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart[3] | 9 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 25 |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart | 35 |
| Irish Singles Chart | 5 |
| German Singles Chart | 22 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 62 |
| Chart (1991) | Peak position |
| UK Singles Chart[3] | 76 |
| "Star to Fall" | |
|---|---|
| Single by Cabin Crew | |
| Released | 2005 |
| Format | CD |
| Genre | Dance-pop, Electropop |
The song has been remixed three times, resulting, each time, in new interest in both the original and the Boy Meets Girl duo. The dance outfit Cabin Crew remixed the song as "Star to Fall," although it could be argued that it is a cover due to the re-recording of the lyrics for the remix. Their remix made number 4 in the UK charts in March 2005. In the same month another remix, by Sunset Strippers, made number 3 under the name "Falling Stars." The Sunset Strippers remix, unlike the Cabin Crew one, used the original recording. This caused some confusion at the time, with two songs being released into the charts at the same time that sounded essentially the same. Dan Winter recorded another remix in 2007; his version is titled Carry Your Heart.
A song titled "In My Arms" sampled this song and was featured on the album Destroy Rock & Roll, which Scottish electronic musician Mylo released. This version also sampled the instrumental of Kim Carnes's version of "Bette Davis Eyes," and it made #13 in the UK, also in 2005.[4]
| Preceded by "Giving You the Best That I Got" by Anita Baker |
Billboard Adult Contemporary (chart) number-one single December 17, 1988 |
Succeeded by "Two Hearts" by Phil Collins |