Debbie Harry 'French Kissin' In The USA'

Chart Peak: 8
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Blondie had five British No. 1's in less than two years between February 1979 and November 1980. This solo single was released in early November.

Slightly surprising that Blondie themselves have never appeared on a main-series Now album. Obviously their initial run of hits was too early (and BMG presumably refused to licence 'Maria' in 1999) but there were several remixed and re-issued hits from the Now era that might have shown up. Anyway they didn't so Debbie Harry is represented only by her two major solo hits.

'French Kissin' In The USA', which apparently lost the second half of its title when actually released in the USA, was not her own composition but was written by comedy writer Chuck Lorre, who later created such sitcoms as Grace Under Fire, Cybil and Two And A Half Men. I don't think the song itself is supposed to be funny but it is presumably meant to be some sort of fluffy pastiche. It doesn't quite work though, possibly because she doesn't have the right sort of voice or because the production (by one of the J.Geils Band who wasn't J.Geils or the lead singer) doesn't really fit. Or maybe the song just isn't any good.

Also appearing on: Now 16
Available on: An 80s Summer

Deborah Harry 'I Want That Man'

Chart Peak: 13

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This is her 2nd big solo hit in Britain - had reached No. 14 by 22nd October 1989... Debbie Harry was, of course, the lead singer of Blondie who had 13 Top 20 hits (including no less than 5 No. 1s) in this country between 1978 & 1982.

To settle the question of nomenclature first, the single was originally credited to Deborah Harry, and is listed as such on the sleeve here, but I've tagged this entry with the name by which she's most commonly known. Actually, it's interesting to look back now and see how little success she had as a solo artist; it's well-known of course that she spent a significant amount of the 1980s distracted by Chris Stein's illness, but even so it's remarkable how few of even the singles she did release were major hits: this is one of only two Top 20s and just two more reached the Top 40. Blondie were obviously very successful in the UK and it's fair to say that Harry was very much the focal point of the band, so it's curious that she seemed to bring so little of the fanbase with her. Perhaps it proves that the band split (and reformed?) at the right time.

It may or may not be coincidence that both the major hits she did manage came from outside songwriters. 'I Want That Man' was penned by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie of the Thompson Twins, who were at the time a married couple. Despite this (and the fact that Harry herself is obviously a woman) it has a definite "gay anthem" feel about it, which is interesting in that you don't often hear about Blondie as being a big act in the gay clubs, though I'm not sure whether that's because they weren't or just because it's drowned out by Harry's heterosexual male audience. Either way, she camps it up heroically here, but is perhaps somewhat undercut by the stompy stadium-rock production, when you'd think something more high-NRG would suit the target audience better. Perhaps the 12" mix went down better, but in case it didn't EMI opportunistically commissioned some new remixes a decade later in the wake of the Blondie comeback, taking advantage of the lyric "here comes the twenty-first century". Cash-in or not, those seem to avoid falling between two stools better than this original.

Also appearing on: Now 8
Available on: Most Of All - The Best Of