SPANISH
EDDIE
LAURA
BRANIGAN
SONGWRITERS:
DAVID PALMER & CHUCK COCHRAN
COUNTRY:
U. S. A.
ALBUM:
HOLD ME
LABEL:
WARNER MUSIC GROUP
GENRE:
POP
YEAR:
1985
Hold Me is the fourth
studio album by American singer Laura Branigan. It was released on July 15,
1985, by Atlantic Records. The album peaked at number 71 on the US Billboard 200,
though it fared better internationally, reaching the top 10 in Sweden and
Switzerland, and the top 15 in Norway.
The album's lead single,
"Spanish Eddie", earned Branigan her sixth top-40 entry in two and a
half years, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was moderately
successful outside the United States. Subsequent singles "Hold Me"
and "I Found Someone" failed to make an impact, peaking at numbers 82
and 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively. Nevertheless, "Hold
Me" reached number 39 on Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart, while
"I Found Someone" reached number 25 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart.
The track "When the
Heat Hits the Streets" was used in a television advertising campaign for
the Chrysler Laser, with Chrysler serving as a sponsor for Branigan's 1985–1986
Hold Me tour (a Chrysler Laser was prominently displayed in the "Spanish
Eddie" music video).
Laura Ann Branigan (July
3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Her
signature song, the platinum-certified 1982 single "Gloria", stayed
on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for 36 weeks, then a record for a female artist,
peaking at No. 2. It also reached number one in Australia and Canada. In 1984,
she reached number one in Canada and Germany with the U.S. No. 4 hit "Self
Control". She also had success in the United Kingdom with both
"Gloria" and "Self Control" making the Top 10 in the UK
Singles Chart.
Seeing her greatest level
of success in the 1980s, Branigan's other singles included the Top 10 hit
"Solitaire" (1983), the U.S. AC chart number one "How Am I Supposed
to Live Without You" (1983), the Australian No. 2 hit "Ti amo"
(1984), and "The Power of Love" (1987). Her most successful album was
1984's platinum-selling Self Control. She also contributed songs to motion
picture and television soundtracks, including the Grammy and Academy
Award-winning Flashdance soundtrack (1983), and the Ghostbusters soundtrack
(1984). In 1985, she won the Tokyo Music Festival with the song "The Lucky
One". Her chart success began to wane as the decade closed and after her
last two albums Laura Branigan (1990) and Over My Heart(1993) garnered little
attention, she generally retired from public life for the rest of the 1990s. She
began returning to performing in the early 2000s, most notably appearing as Janis
Joplin in the off-Broadway musical Love, Janis. As she was recording new music
and preparing a comeback to the music industry, she died at her home in August
2004 from a previously undiagnosed cerebral aneurysm.
Branigan and her music saw
renewed popularity and public interest in 2019 in the US after "Gloria"
was adopted by the NHL's St. Louis Blues as their unofficial victory song while
they completed a historic mid-season turnaround to win their first Stanley Cup in
franchise history, leading to the song entering ice hockey lore as an
"unlikely championship anthem". Branigan's legacy manager and
representative Kathy Golik embraced the trend and traveled to St. Louis to
publicly represent Branigan among the Blues fanbase during the 2019 Stanley Cup
Playoffs, later stating her belief that Branigan and "Gloria"
"will forever be intertwined" with the Blues and the city of St.
Louis.
There was heat in the air
Cops everywhere you looked
There wasn't a lot
The breaks that you got
You know you took
And I remember wonderin'
Where you've been
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio
The night Spanish Eddie
Fell from grace
There was amazement on his face
On the night that Eddie failed
Sanity prevailed
It was June or July
When the heat from above beat down
It was famine or drought
When the brothers went out of style uptown
And we was mixin'
Vicks with lemon gin
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio
The night Spanish Eddie
Made front page
His revolution came of age
He wrote "surrender" on the wall
The night he took the fall
I heard someone say
"He's tryin' to fly"
Like Eddie used to say
"We'll do when we die"
I know someone turned you
For a spin
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio
The night Spanish Eddie
Fell from grace
There was amazement on his face
On the night that Eddie failed
Sanity prevailed
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio
The night Spanish Eddie
Cashed it in
They were playin'
"Desolation Row" on the radio.