Escape (The Piña Colada Song)

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Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
  UK 23 01/12/1980 (7 weeks)
  US 1 10/20/1979 (21 weeks)

Escape (The Piña Colada Song) is a 1979 song by Rupert Holmes , written and produced by him and Jim Boyer. It appeared on the album Partners in Crime .

history

Escape (The Piña Colada Song) is divided into three verses and three choruses. It is about a man who is bored in his current love affair because it has become routine and he wants a change. One day he reads the personals in the newspaper and comes across an ad that caught his attention: a woman looking for a man who likes piña colada (which explains the title). Fascnated, he cuts the ad out of the newspaper and makes an appointment with the woman in a bar called O'Malleys, only to find out that the woman turns out to be his current partner. The song ends well and shows the couple that they have more in common than they thought and don't have to look for what they already have in their relationship.

Originally the chorus began with "If you like Humphrey Bogart" (German: If you like Humphrey Bogart ...), but Holmes replaced the actor with the exotic cocktail, as he said it went well with the music.

"The chorus originally started with" If you like Humphrey Bogart ", which Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music. The original lyrics said, "If you like Humphrey Bogart and getting caught in the rain."…
As I was getting on mic I thought to myself, I've done so many movie references to Bogart and wide-screen cinema on my earlier albums , maybe I shouldn't do one here.
I thought what can I substitute? Well, this woman wants an escape, like she wants to go on vacation to the islands. When you go on vacation to the islands, when you sit on the beach and someone asks you if you'd like a drink, you never order a Budweiser, you don't have a beer. You're on vacation, you want a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple with the flags of all nations and a parasol. If the drink is blue you'd be very happy. And a long straw. I thought, What are those escape drinks? Let's see, there's daiquiri, mai tai, piña colada… I wonder what a piña colada tastes like? I've never even had one.
I thought that instead of singing, "If you like Humphrey Bogart," with the emphasis on like , I could start it a syllable earlier and go, "If you like piña -a coladas."
(German: "The original refrain was:" If you like Humphrey Bogart and like to stand in the rain ... "
When I stood at the microphone, I thought to myself: I have built in so many references to Bogart and widescreen cinema in my earlier albums, maybe I should leave that here.
My thought: How can I replace it? Well, the woman wants to escape as if she wants to go on vacation to the islands. When she goes on vacation to the islands, she sits on the beach and the bartender asks her what she wants to drink, she never orders a Budweiser, you don't have a beer. You are on vacation, you order a drink in a hollowed out pineapple with the flags of all nations and a parasol. If the drink is blue, you are happy - and with a long straw. I thought: What are escape drinks? Let's see: There is the daiquiri, mai tai, piña colada ... I really wonder how a piña colada tastes. I had never drank something like that. I thought: instead to sing "If you like Humphrey Bogart "(German: If you like Humphrey Bogart ...), you start a syllable earlier and emphasize:" If you like Piña Coladas "(analogously in German: Do you like Piña Coladas)."

- Rupert Holmes

Escape was released on October 19, 1979, and the soft rock number became a number one hit in the United States and Canada . It was the last song at the top on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 1970s in December 1979, dropped to number 2 for two weeks in January 1980, and rose again to number 1. Thus, Holmes is the only artist who has managed to join one song to reach the top of the US charts in two different decades. The song has been used in many films and television series: Shrek - The Daredevil Hero , Guardians of the Galaxy , Grownups , Like the Father… , Third Watch - Operation at the Limit , It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and The Goldbergs .

Cover versions

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chart placements: chartsurfer.de accessed March 25, 2020
  2. ^ Translation on Golyr.de
  3. ↑ Holmes, Rupert. Interview by Carl Wiser. Rupert Holmes ("Pina Colada Song") . September 19, 2003.
  4. ↑ Template: Cite AV media