"Welcome to Paradise" by John Waite

Song#:  2499
Date:  10/19/1985
Debut:  89
Peak:  85
Weeks:  4
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Waite was having a tough time following up his iconic #1 song "Missing You." He'd get four singles on the Pop chart after that hit, but none of them could even get close to the Top 10. This second single from his album Mask of Smiles didn't do anything to turn the tides. It spent a month at the bottom of the Pop chart while completely missing the Rock chart. The album made it to #36, but failed to go gold like his previous effort No Brakes.

ReduxReview:  Is it me or does a good chunk of the verse sound a bit like "Purple Rain?" It has that same feel and small parts even seem to almost replicate the Prince track. The rest of the tune is unremarkable and I'm a bit surprised this was selected to be a single. There is little here that would draw in a pop radio listener. It's pretty forgettable. As an album track it worked fine, but it had no business being a single.

ReduxRating:  3/10

Trivia:  For his 2011 album Rough & Tumble, Waite's manager kept bugging him to record a song that had been making the rounds in Nashville. Waite wasn't all that thrilled with the song, titled "If You Ever Get Lonely," and kept turning it down. He like the chorus but felt the balance of it wasn't as good. Later on in the studio with his producer Kyle Cook (a member of Matchbox 20), the pair revisited the song and decided to see if they could adjust it to their liking. After making changes (and getting songwriting credit along the way), they recorded the song and it not only made it on the album, but was also released as a single. Neither the album nor single charted, but that version found its way to the up-n-coming country duo Love and Theft. They recorded it for their self-title 2012 album. The track was then selected to be the third single released from the album in 2013. It was able to reach #43 on the Country chart. The Love and Theft album would reach #4 on the chart mainly thanks to the #1 Country single, "Angel Eyes."

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