Eurythmics transformed adversity into triumph with the synthesized new wave electronica of this dark and dreamy dance pop declaration. Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart met in 1975 and became romantically involved. Within a year they had formed the trio the Catch with Peet Coombes and released one single 'Borderline' before morphing into the Tourists with the addition of the rhythm section of Eddie Chin on bass and Jim Toomey on drums. After three contentious albums Lennox and Stewart sought more creative control and decided to form the duo Eurythmics.
They got a deal with RCA Records and recorded 'In the Garden' in Cologne with Conny Plank who had produced some of the sessions for the Tourists. The album featured Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit of Can, Clem Burke of Blondie, Robert Görl of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft, Tim Wheater, and songwriting collaborations with Roger Pomphrey.
The album was a commercial failure; but Lennon and Stewart secured a bank loan to create their own 8-track studio above a picture framing factory at Chalk Farm in London. The sessions were produced by Dave Stewart with Robert Crash and Adam Williams and featured Annie Lennox on vocals, keyboards, synthesisers, and flute; and Dave Stewart on guitar, keyboards, synthesisers, programming, and backing vocals with Robert Crash on guitar, e-drums, synth, and robotic vocals; Dick Cuthell on trumpet; Adam Williams on bass and synthesiser; Andy Brown on bass; Reynard Falconer on synthesisers; John Turnbull on guitar; and a guest vocal from Scritti Politti's Green Gartside. Their first few singles ('This Is the House', 'The Walk', and 'Love Is a Stranger') floundered on the charts while all of the stress led Lennox to suffer a nervous breakdown while Steward had to be hospitalized for a collapsed lung.
It was the release of the title track 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' that finally provided Eurythmics with their big breakthrough. The single and it's iconic music video made them international superstars.
Lennox would admit: “It annoys me sometimes that people tend to focus on me as the centre of the band, but Dave really has most of the ideas for the music and the videos. He’s the real strength.”
Stewart defered: “Oh no, everything’s shared in this partnership. Right down the middle: Sixty-Forty. Even though our relationship was over, we were so creatively linked together that we never even considered splitting up musically. Although we did think about getting married once.”
Lennox: “You know the way Abba always used their love lives for publicity? Well, RCA offered that if we would get married, they’d hire a ship and fly journalists out to it for a huge reception. We considered getting married and then starting divorce proceedings the next day, but it didn’t seem worth it...The thing is, we had been so stitched up when we started out as the Tourists in ’78, and even as Eurythmics at the beginning, we just had to take things into our own hands. That line in ‘Sweet Dreams’ about being ‘used and abused’ refers directly to my own experiences. Not just in love, but in this business too. Right at the beginning Dave said to me, ‘Annie we must have a manifesto’, so we wrote down all the things we liked to do on a big sheet of paper.”
Stewart: "That way we’d be sure that if we got famous it would be on our terms, doing something we enjoyed.”
Lennox: "What I like is performing, changing my image, writing lyrics, making videos, so I’m always in the forefront...”
Stewart: “...whereas I prefer fiddling around in studios until the early hours of the morning, making funny noises, building up backing tracks, dreaming up ideas for videos...”
Lennox: “So when we get together, we’ve always got a lot to discuss. That’s how we write the songs too...”
Stewart: “I have a sort of collage of musical ideas and she has a lot of words and images and we just sort of marry it all together in the studio."
'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' went to number fifteen in the US, ten in the Netherlands, nine in Austria, eight in Switzerland, six in Canada and Germany, four in France, three in the UK, and number two in New Zealand.
http://eurythmics.com/
The single for 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)' was a top ten smash around the globe, hitting number nine in the Netherlands; eight in Switzerland; six in Australia; four in Germany; two in Ireland, New Zealand, and the UK; and number one Canada and the US. It was the only time the group hit number one in the US. It had been held off at number two by the Police's 'Every Breath You Take' before finally making it to number one. It was their first single released in the US. The music video directed by Chris Ashbrook became a staple on MTV.
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Hold your head up, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up
Some of them want to use you
Some of them want to get used by you
Some of them want to abuse you
Some of them want to be abused
Hold your head up, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up, movin' on
Hold your head up, movin' on, keep your head up
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
Sweet dreams are made of this
Who am I to disagree
I travel the world and the seven seas
Everybody's looking for something
This is the alternative music video with the duo on a train.
'Love Is a Stranger' was re-released after the success of 'Sweet Dreams' and went to number twenty-three in the US, twenty in New Zealand, seventeen in Australia, fifteen in Canada, thirteen in the Netherlands, twelve in Germany, six in the UK, and number four in Ireland.
Love is a stranger in an open car
To tempt you in and drive you far away
Love is a stranger in an open car
To tempt you in and drive you far away
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
Love is a danger of a different kind
To take you away and leave you far behind
And love, love, love is a dangerous drug
You have to receive it and you still can't get enough of the stuff
It's savage and it's cruel and it shines like destruction
Comes in like the flood and it seems like religion
It's noble and it's brutal, it distorts and deranges
And it drenches you up and you're left like a zombie
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you
It's an obsession
It's guilt edged, glamorous and sleek by design
You know it's jealous by nature, false and unkind
It's hard and restrained and it's totally cool
It touches and it teases as you stumble in the debris
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
And I want you, and I want you, and I want you so
It's an obsession
'Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)'full album:
1. 00:00 "Love Is a Stranger" 3:43
2. 03:44 "I've Got an Angel" 2:45
3. 06:29 "Wrap It Up" (featuring Green Gartside)3:33
4. 10:02 "I Could Give You (A Mirror)" 3:51
5. 13:55 "The Walk" 4:40
6. 18:34 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" 3:36
7. 22:16 "Jennifer" 5:06
8. 27:20 "This Is the House" 4:56
9. 32:24 "Somebody Told Me" 3:29
10. 35:51 "This City Never Sleeps" 6:33
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