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Thursday, January 31, 2008

Coverage.

Going about my business today I heard Rupert Holmes' 1979(just barely) hit "Escape," aka "Escape(The Pina Colada Song)," playing over the PA in a shopping mall. Thinking about the song I mused that it's a surprise someone hasn't done a new version and had a hit with it. There have been at least a couple of covers of the tune but they weren't done by artists who would be given any sort of radio push. Plenty of other old songs have been covered and generated contemporary interest. Perhaps it's seen as too '70s-ish for contemporary audiences. Interestingly his song "You Got It All" was recorded by Britney Spears for her Oops!...I Did It Again album, having been a hit for the R&B group the Jets in the late '80s.

Although Holmes is best known for "Escape" he had an extensive career as a song writer, session musician, and recording artist, with "Escape" coming from his fifth album Partners In Crime. He has gone on to write Broadway musicals, the television series Remember WENN, and two novels. But as he reportedly once joked his tombstone will probably be a pineapple because of that song. And he doesn't even like pina coladas.

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