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Tuesday, May 24, 2022

"I Only Wanna Be with You" by Samantha Fox

Song#:  3837
Date:  03/18/1989
Debut:  86
Peak:  31
Weeks:  13
Genre:  Dance-Pop, Hi-NRG


Pop Bits:  Fox's third album, I Wanna Have Some Fun, would follow the results of her first two and also go gold (#37). It got there mainly on the strength of the title track single, which made it to #8 Pop (#2 Dance/#19 R&B). It would also be a gold seller. To follow it up, this cover tune was selected. It would just miss out on the Pop Top 30 while peaking at a low #46 on the Dance chart. It would end up being Fox's last single to reach a US chart.

ReduxReview:  The Full Force written/produced "I Wanna Have Some Fun" got the album kicked off in a good way. The team gave Fox a more modern dance/R&B sound and it suited her well. However, she was still working with the Stock Aitken Waterman team as well and this second single was one of their concoctions. Although SAW was still having success in the US with their manufactured tracks (via Rick Astley and Kylie Minogue), the sound was wearing thin on US listeners and it made this track seem like a step backwards for Fox. She actually sounded kind of bored on it. There was little spark to the endlessly chuggin' tune and save for perhaps the nostalgia factor for those that remembered the original, there wasn't much here to attract a big audience. I was surprised it even made the Top 40. After this misstep, Fox wasn't able to recover and her hit making days came to a surprisingly abrupt end.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Double Shot!  1) This is a remake of a song originally recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield. Her 1963 version, titled "I Only Want to Be with You," would be her first solo hit reaching #12 Pop (#4 UK). Many artists would cover the song with four of them able to put a version on the US Pop chart. Scottish pop band Bay City Rollers would do a version in 1976 and release it as a single. Oddly, it replicated the peaks of Springfield's original in both the US (#12) and the UK (#4). The next three covers of the song to reach the Pop chart all did so in the 80s. The pre-Eurythmics band The Tourists took their take to #83 in 1980. In 1982, singer Nicolette Larson made it to #53 with a version. Then finally Fox was able to be the third artist to crack the Top 40 with the song.  Also in the 80s, Mexican singer Luis Miguel would cover the song for his '87 debut album. Released as "Ahora te puedes marchar," the single would get to #1 on the US Hot Latin Tracks chart.  2) Fox would release her fourth album, Just One Night, in 1991. As she did with her previous two albums, Fox would work with the songwriting/production team of Full Force for some of the tracks. However, she chose to not work with the Stock Aitken Waterman team who she had also worked with on her previous albums. Instead, she worked with a variety of producers including Robert Clivillés and David Cole who had just scored a big hit with their own group C+C Music Factory ("Gonna Make You Sweat," #1, platinum, 1990). Yet despite her previous success and the star producers on board, the album completely flopped. None of its singles charted and that left the album disappearing quickly. Along with it went Fox's recording contract. Since then she has only recorded a couple of indie albums in '97 and 2005. In the 2000's, Fox would appear on several celebrity-based reality shows including the UK version of Big Brother.

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