Someone's Looking at You
"Someone's Looking at You" | ||||
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Single by The Boomtown Rats | ||||
from the album The Fine Art of Surfacing | ||||
B-side | "When the Night Comes"[1] | |||
Released | 18 January 1980 (UK)[1] | |||
Genre |
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Length | 4:27 | |||
Label | Ensign Records (UK)[1] Columbia Records (USA) | |||
Songwriter(s) | Pete Briquette & Bob Geldof | |||
Producer(s) | Robert John "Mutt" Lange[1] | |||
The Boomtown Rats singles chronology | ||||
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"Someone's Looking at You" was the third and final single from The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing.[3] It peaked at number two on the Irish Singles Chart and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1980.[4]
It is an organ-based song that paints a humid picture of 1984-style government surveillance and has been described as a "gently humorous song about paranoia".[5] The second verse starts "They saw me there in the square when I was shooting my mouth off about saving some fish. Now could that be construed as some radical's views or some liberals' wish". This refers to singer Bob Geldof's participation in a Greenpeace anti-whaling rally in London's Trafalgar Square.[5] Geldof's website describes the song as a personal statement on fame.[6]
Charts
Chart (1980) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] | 86 |
Ireland (IRMA)[8] | 2 |
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] | 48 |
Norway (VG-lista)[10] | 6 |
UK Singles (OCC)[11] | 4 |
References
- ^ a b c d "Boomtown Rats, The - Someone's Looking At You (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ^ DeGagne, Mike. "Someone's Looking at You by The Boomtown Rats - Track Info | AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ William Ruhlmann. "The Boomtown Rats | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 71. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ [1] Archived July 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9488b." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Someone's Looking At You". Irish Singles Chart.
- ^ "The Boomtown Rats – Someone's Looking At You" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ^ "The Boomtown Rats – Someone's Looking At You". VG-lista.
- ^ "Boomtown Rats: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
External links
- Official live video on YouTube
- v
- t
- e
- "Lookin' After No. 1"
- "Mary of the 4th Form"
- "She's So Modern"
- "Like Clockwork"
- "Rat Trap"
- "I Don't Like Mondays"
- "Diamond Smiles"
- "Someone's Looking at You"
- "Banana Republic"
- "Up All Night"
- "The Elephant's Graveyard (Guilty)"
- "Charmed Lives"
- "Tonight"
- "Drag Me Down"
- "A Hold of Me"
- Ratrospective
- The Boomtown Rats' Greatest Hits
- Loudmouth – The Best of Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats
- The Best of The Boomtown Rats
- Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits