Come On Eileen

"Come On Eileen"
Single by Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express
from the album Too-Rye-Ay
B-side
  • "Dubious" (7-inch in most countries & 12-inch)
  • "Let's Make This Precious" (US 7-inch)
  • "Liars A to E (New Version)" (12-inch)
ReleasedJune 25, 1982 (UK)
January 1983 (US)
Genre
Length4:12 (single version)
4:07 (without fiddle intro)
4:47 (with a cappella coda)
3:48 (video version)
3:28 (special DJ edit)
LabelMercury
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Dexys Midnight Runners singles chronology
"The Celtic Soul Brothers"
(1982) 		"Come On Eileen"
(1982) 		"Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)"
(1982)

"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group Dexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982[4] as a single from their second studio album Too-Rye-Ay. It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980's "Geno". The song was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley and was initially claimed to be written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed to Kevin Archer.[5]

"Come On Eileen" won Best British Single at the 1983 Brit Awards, and in 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's sixth favourite 1980s number one single in a poll for ITV.[6] It was ranked number eighteen on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s"[7] and was Britain's best-selling single of 1982.[8]

  1. ^ Mann, Brent (2003). 99 Red Balloons...and 100 Other All-Time Great One-Hit Wonders. Citadel Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-8065-2516-7. New Wave spawned some of pop music's classic one-hit wonders, artists who are vividly remembered today: Dexys Midnight Runners ("Come on Eileen"), Nena ("99 Luftballons"), and Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me with Science"), to name just a few.
  2. ^ a b c Huey, Steve. "Dexys Midnight Runners – Artist Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 28 July 2013. "Come on Eileen," a distinctive fusion of '80s pop, Celtic folk, and blue-eyed soul.
  3. ^ Billboard Staff (19 October 2023). "The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List". Billboard. Retrieved 19 February 2024. The deliriously upbeat, fiddle-and-banjo fueled confession of thoughts that "verge on dirty," transforming an Irish folk tune into a pop-rock classic.
  4. ^ "New Musical Express". NME. London, England. 19 June 1982. p. 34.
  5. ^ Moyes, Jojo (21 January 1997). "Rock star admits stealing song". The Independent. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  6. ^ Westbrook, Caroline (25 July 2015). "The Nation's Favourite 80s Number One: 12 more classic 80s chart-toppers which didn't make the cut". Metro. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference VH1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Copsey, Rob (12 March 2021). "The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1982". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 March 2021.