Musical Monday - Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The week of April 23, 1983.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The week of April 23, 1983.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: August 7, 1982 through August 28, 1982.

In a small bit of irony, one can sing "Covid-19" to the tune of Come On Eileen.

The hidden secret of this song is that it's lyrics are quite racy. Basically, the song is about a guy trying to convince Eileen to take off her clothes so they can have some sexy times. That is pretty much the entirety of the song. There is a little bit at the beginning about Johnnie Ray and how much older women loved him back in the day, but the rest of the song is basically pleading with Eileen to take off her dress.

The really interesting thing about this song is that it took nearly a year for it to reach the United States. It hit the top of the U.K. charts in August of 1982, but didn't peak in the U.S. until April of 1983. This kind of delay in cultural transmission would be almost unthinkable now - the internet has ensured that once something breaks out in one area of the world, it is pretty much instantly known everywhere else. Songs like Come On Eileen taking months to wend their way from the U.K. to the U.S. is probably an artifact of the past at this point, although who knows, maybe the global pandemic will be devastating enough to isolate countries from one another again.

Previous Musical Monday: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

Subsequent Musical Monday: Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Beat It by Michael Jackson

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Mr. Roboto by Styx

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Fame by Irene Cara

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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