Boris Gardiner 'I Wanna Wake Up With You'

Chart Peak: 1 [3 weeks]
YouTube

Charted at No. 50 on 22nd July, had rocketed to No. 1 by 19th August where it stayed for 3 weeks. The follow-up 'You're Everything To Me' made the Top 20 in October.

The odd one out among the three chart-topping singles on Now 8 as the only not to show up on a CD spin-off. EDIT 21st of March: That previous sentence was entirely wrong, but I'm not pretending I didn't make the mistake so I've just crossed it out - this is in fact the closing track on Now '86.
Needless to say, when I was eight years old I didn't entirely grasp the implications of the song but I did think this song was the soppiest load of nonsense possible. I must be getting old because I think I've warmed to it a little over the years. Mind you, I think that may be less because of the song itself - which borders on the inane and certainly doesn't have enough to it to justify a four-minute running time - than because I quite like the idea of a man having his first Number One single at the age of 43. It does have a certain sweetness about it, but it'd be very generous to say I actually liked it.

Available on: Reggae Collection [+digital booklet]