Great Songs from My Favorite Year in Music: 1985, Part 61

Paul Young - "Every Time You Go Away"



(Single Release: February 1985)
As you can plainly see, I have no problem qualifying cover songs as great songs of 1985. Of course, somehow, I never knew this was a cover until very recently, despite my unironic love of Hall and Oates. Though the H&O album on which it appears contains "Kiss on My List" and "You Make My Dreams," it still came at a time when deep album cuts didn't get much play. Though Hall & Oates never released it as a single, and I'm not sure why they didn't, it finally got its due five years later through this cover by Paul Young. Young was another blue-eyed soul songster who had started his career by doing covers of songs by Marvin Gaye ("Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)") and the Four Preps ("Love of the Common People"). "Every Time You Go Away," which I simply must say is one of Daryl Hall's best written songs, became synonymous with Young and was his only #1 hit. I'm hard pressed at this point to tell you which version I prefer, because, although I love Hall & Oates, and they did the original, Paul Young certainly belts this one out with gusto and passion. I really enjoy the direct, Motown-style conversational aspect of the lyrics, with Hall or Young addressing a significant other, "Baby, if we can't solve any problems / Then why do we lose so many tears". And, guess what? As a theme that tends to be going through these blog posts, it is included in a great soundtrack, and not just any soundtrack, a John Hughes soundtrack. Though I wouldn't count Planes, Trains, and Automobiles as part of Hughes' span of teen comedies, I can't look past the fact that this song makes me well up at the end of the movie, which is a feat for a zany John Candy and Steve Martin vehicle (forgive the pun).