About Swept Away

[Albator]

2 questions about the song.

1/ does she sing "nothing lasts forever" or "nothing less forever"?

2/ do we know who sings with her for the last part of the song. I don't recognise Daryl Hall voice.

[sup_fan]

it's the first - nothing lasts forever. and i always just assumed it was some studio singer accompanying her. like Your Love Is So Good For Me

[Deepdishus2001]

It’s Daryl Hall singing with her

[vgalindo]

Sounds just like Daryl Hall to me.

[Albator]

Thanks.
I'v just noticed that the single mix is different from the LP with her vocals more up front.

[midnightman]

Yeah Daryl is singing on it with her.

The reason the lyric "nothing lasts forever" sounds like "less" has a lot to do with the production than anything. Almost all of her RCA recordings had that sound where even the basic lyric sounded indecipherable.

[gman]

it is my fav DR RCA era cut...but only the LP version...I like the 12" but there is a bit too much going on there.

[TheMotownManiac]

2 questions about the song.

1/ does she sing "nothing lasts forever" or "nothing less forever"?

2/ do we know who sings with her for the last part of the song. I don't recognise Daryl Hall voice.

nothing lasts forever

That is Daryl Hall. At one point the billing was going to be Diana Ross featuring Daryl Hall I don’t know why it didn’t happen that way. I believe he recorded more vocals for it that weren’t used, but I don’t know if there was any actual interplay between the two of them intended, recorded or not. I know he was thrilled to be working with her, I assume everything went well, I’ve never heard one way or the other.

[Ollie9]

A duet with Daryl Hall would most likely have have garnered more interest and publicity, though might have made it more difficult when performing the song live.

[reese]

A duet with Daryl Hall would most likely have have garnered more interest and publicity, though might have made it more difficult when performing the song live.

It would be nice to hear more of the Daryl vocals, if they indeed exist. Hall and Oates were hotter than hot in the early 80s so it could only have helped Diana's record. That said, maybe she or RCA felt that one duet [ALL OF YOU] on the album was enough.

[sup_fan]

yeah i bet having two duets on the lp would have been a problem. he was already the producer for this track so she probably wasn't wanting to hand over any more of the revenue

i think the timing of the singles hampered their chart rankings. you had All Of You and Swept Away both vying for attention and air play. Diana wasn't a powerful enough star to command two simultaneous singles. not like in 80 with Upside Down and I'm Coming Out.

had they been timed properly, both singles probably could have crept to Top 10 rather than Top 20.

[reese]

yeah i bet having two duets on the lp would have been a problem. he was already the producer for this track so she probably wasn't wanting to hand over any more of the revenue

i think the timing of the singles hampered their chart rankings. you had All Of You and Swept Away both vying for attention and air play. Diana wasn't a powerful enough star to command two simultaneous singles. not like in 80 with Upside Down and I'm Coming Out.

had they been timed properly, both singles probably could have crept to Top 10 rather than Top 20.

There might have also been some timing issues regarding the release of ALL OF YOU over which Diana had no control.

Fairly recently, an old article on Diana was posted. In it, Diana mentioned the duet with Julio. The interesting thing was the article was done around the time that Diana did her big concert at Giants Stadium, which was July 4th, 1982.

So the recording possibly stayed in the can for a while. Or possibly the idea for the pairing began in 1982. I can't find the article at the moment but that's what I remember.

[sup_fan]

There might have also been some timing issues regarding the release of ALL OF YOU over which Diana had no control.

Fairly recently, an old article on Diana was posted. In it, Diana mentioned the duet with Julio. The interesting thing was the article was done around the time that Diana did her big concert at Giants Stadium, which was July 4th, 1982.

So the recording possibly stayed in the can for a while. Or possibly the idea for the pairing began in 1982. I can't find the article at the moment but that's what I remember.

it might be that the idea was starting out in 82. but then tours, schedules, contractual agreements between the two labels, etc probably took some time. the song was eventually released in June 84, not sure when they recorded it.

[TheMotownManiac]

A duet with Daryl Hall would most likely have have garnered more interest and publicity, though might have made it more difficult when performing the song live.

I I think the fact that she had not had a top 10 record in two years, nor a top 30 record for that matter, I duet with Daryl Hall would’ve been advised. I like the record the way it is, and since it was going to read quote, featuring Daryl Hall” maybe that didn’t indicate a duet as much as augmentative vocals. Did I just make up a word?

[Spreadinglove21]

Maybe she was afraid that radio DJs would refer to the song as by "Hall and Ross", relegating her to "Oates" second billing?

[Albator]

The 82 article mentioned that she actually had recorded her duet with Julio. In fact she recorded her part in NY.

That's probably why she had So Close remixed by Richard Perry around the same time.


"Swept away" is a strange song. Probably one of my favorite.
think the album contains some of her best vocals ever. Her voice has reached its peak.

[sup_fan]

Swept Away is a solid album and one i enjoy quite a bit from her RCA period. the title track is strong but for whatever reason i just don't play it much. this is one of her best vocals while at RCA and the production of the track is flawless. but it just never one that i listen to, i often advance ahead if it comes on in the car, and it's never top of mind for me.

Touch By Touch is another gem and frankly a lost hit IMO. this is just perfect 80s pop and should have been a hit for her if they'd released it early. but maybe the "caribbean beat" sound was just too close to Lionel's All Night Long which was massive the year before.

Rescue Me is unfortunately a throw away track. she does a decent job on it but including Fight For It would have been better

It's your move - another stand out. this might have also been a solid single choice

Missing You - glorious. frankly should have charted higher.

all of you - another great one. but the competition against the title track held both songs back on the charts. both should have been bigger hits.

Telephone and Forever young - i dislike her vocals on both. on telephone she's too high and whiny. on Forever she's too whispy and breathy.

no one makes me crazy - lol ok i like this one! lol i know a lot of people hate it but i think it's kinda fun. definitely not a single

Children - ok this is absolutely 80s cheese but i don't totally hate it. the out of tune children's choir is dreadful. but take them out and it's ready to be used in some montages sequence of some silly 80s movie. it has an anthem-ish quality and works

[RanRan79]

Rescue Me is unfortunately a throw away track. she does a decent job on it but including Fight For It would have been better

I think this might be the worst cover song she's ever done, "My Guy" included. Fontella Bass should have showed up at a Diana concert and knocked her off the stage for the butcher job.

[RanRan79]

I think this might be the worst cover song she's ever done, "My Guy" included. Fontella Bass should have showed up at a Diana concert and knocked her off the stage for the butcher job.

I take that back. "Mr. Lee" was worse than "Rescue Me", but she still should have left "Rescue Me" alone. I'd rather she had remade one of her own throwback songs.

[sup_fan]

I take that back. "Mr. Lee" was worse than "Rescue Me", but she still should have left "Rescue Me" alone. I'd rather she had remade one of her own throwback songs.

haha - wow! i don't know if Rescue Me is quite THAT bad lol. it's a lazy vocal but not terrible. I don't love Mr Lee [[although i don't like the song anyway) but at least within the context of RHRAB and the tv special, it works.

here it's just another reminder that Diana was old. that she wasn't 22 like Madonna or some hot young artist. she had already done WDFFIL, then So Close. and in the future had Chain Reaction and then whole RHRAB. it wasn't necessary to always include an oldies song or a song that was a tribute to the motown sound.

Fight For It is a good song. and i get it that she needed to make room on the lp for All Of You but Fight wasn't the one to sacrifice.

[rovereab]

Touch By Touch is another gem and frankly a lost hit IMO. this is just perfect 80s pop and should have been a hit for her if they'd released it early. but maybe the "caribbean beat" sound was just too close to Lionel's All Night Long which was massive the year before.

Touch By Touch was released as a single in the UK and a few other European countries. It wasn't a big hit in the UK from recollection.

[Ollie9]

Touch By Touch was released as a single in the UK and a few other European countries. It wasn't a big hit in the UK from recollection.

I hated the song then and still to. It found success in some parts of Europe, but received a lukewarm reception here in the UK. Doubt it would have done much in the USA.

[sup_fan]

i like Touch By Touch better than SA, mostly because i just enjoy it better. as stated above, I think SA was a great track and sounded exciting. but i just never listen to it.

but i don't think TBT should have been the lead single instead of SA. they did the right thing. if my memory serves me right, i think All of You was released first and they should have been patient and waited with SA. then once AOY was done, go with SA. and Missing you was the perfect follow up.

TBT is fun and all but i do recognize that to release it as essentially the 4th single off this album is expecting a lot of it. if the other tracks hadn't been there, maybe TBT would have been single #2 and done well.

[Ollie9]

i like Touch By Touch better than SA, mostly because i just enjoy it better. as stated above, I think SA was a great track and sounded exciting. but i just never listen to it.

but i don't think TBT should have been the lead single instead of SA. they did the right thing. if my memory serves me right, i think All of You was released first and they should have been patient and waited with SA. then once AOY was done, go with SA. and Missing you was the perfect follow up.

TBT is fun and all but i do recognize that to release it as essentially the 4th single off this album is expecting a lot of it. if the other tracks hadn't been there, maybe TBT would have been single #2 and done well.

I do prefer it to “Girls”, but we are talking close margins here.

[TheMotownManiac]

Maybe she was afraid that radio DJs would refer to the song as by "Hall and Ross", relegating her to "Oates" second billing?

that might not be far from the truth. I’ve considered that, not that the billing would be reversed, that’s wishful thinking by some, but that she might not want to share billing. However, it would’ve been wise to do it that way to get her name on the lips of teenagers, as she had not had a top 10 record in 18 months. although she had four in the previous 18 months, and three additional the year before that, the pop music market is forever growing and changing. I think it would’ve been very helpful for her to have done that. And maybe it would’ve hit.

[Spreadinglove21]

that might not be far from the truth. I’ve considered that, not that the billing would be reversed, that’s wishful thinking by some, but that she might not want to share billing. However, it would’ve been wise to do it that way to get her name on the lips of teenagers, as she had not had a top 10 record in 18 months. although she had four in the previous 18 months, and three additional the year before that, the pop music market is forever growing and changing. I think it would’ve been very helpful for her to have done that. And maybe it would’ve hit.

Oh I'm sure the official billing would have been Diana Ross with Darryl Hall or something like that. But I can imagine a local radio DJ introducing the song "And here's Swept Away by Hall and Ross! Not Oates, Ross!"

[Ollie9]

I think the inclusion of Daryl’s Hall’s voice adds a lot to the success of the song.
It seems strange the single was never released in the UK, with EMI perhaps put off by the poor chart performance of “Mirror Mirror”.
Personally i consider “ Swept Away” a far more exciting song that deserved to have done even better.