Escape (The Piña Colada Song)

"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" is a song written and recorded by British-born American singer Rupert Holmes for his album Partners in Crime. As the lead single for the album, the pop song was recommended by Billboard for radio broadcasters on September 29, 1979,[3] then added to prominent US radio playlists in October–November.[4] Rising in popularity, the song peaked at the end of December to become the final US number one song of the 1970s.

"Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"
Single by Rupert Holmes
from the album Partners in Crime
B-side"Drop It"
ReleasedOctober 1979[1]
Recorded1979
GenreSoft rock[2]
Length4:36 (album version)
3:50 (single version)
LabelInfinity Records
Songwriter(s)Rupert Holmes
Producer(s)Rupert Holmes, Jim Boyer
Rupert Holmes singles chronology
"Let's Get Crazy Tonight"
(1978)		 "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"
(1979)		 "Him"
(1980)

The song is featured in many films and TV shows such as Shrek, Guardians of the Galaxy, Grown Ups, Like Father,[5] Third Watch, The Goldbergs, Splitting Up Together, Living with Yourself, Better Call Saul and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.[6]

Content

The song speaks, in three verses and three choruses, of a man who is bored with his current relationship because it has become routine and he desires some variety. One day, he reads the personal advertisements in the newspaper and spots an ad that catches his attention: a woman seeking a man who, among other little things, must like piña coladas (hence it being known as "the piña colada" song.) Intrigued, he takes out an ad in reply and arranges to meet the woman "at a bar called O'Malley's", only to find upon the meeting that the woman is actually his current partner. The song ends on an upbeat note, showing the two lovers realized they have more in common than they had suspected and that they do not have to look any further than each other for what they seek in a relationship.

Reception

The song shot up through the US charts, becoming the country's last number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit of 1979 and of the 1970s. "Escape" was knocked out of the top spot but returned to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the second week of 1980, having been displaced for a week by KC and the Sunshine Band's "Please Don't Go".[7] It was the first pop song to ascend to #1 on the Billboard pop chart in two different decades.[8]

The song was the US's 11th-best-selling single of 1980 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9]

In 2019 the band Sugar Ray released a cover version on their album Little Yachty, duplicating Holmes's rhythm and feel.

The song was featured in radio and supermarket commercials for Bounty paper towels in 2019 and 2020.[10]

Background and writing

Recorded for Holmes's Partners in Crime (1979) album, the song came from an unused track for which Holmes wrote temporary or "dummy" lyrics:

This version, "The Law of The Jungle", was released as part of his Cast of Characters (2005) box set and was inspired by a want-ad he read whilst idly scanning the personals one day. As Holmes put it, "I thought, ‘what would happen to me if I answered this ad?’ I'd go and see if it was my own wife who was bored with me." The title of the song was originally going to be "People Need Other People", and was later to be revealed that it was a true story.

The chorus originally started with "If you like Humphrey Bogart", which Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music.

The original lyrics said, "If you like Humphrey Bogart and getting caught in the rain."…
As I was getting on mic I thought to myself, I’ve done so many movie references to Bogart and wide-screen cinema on my earlier albums, maybe I shouldn’t do one here.
I thought, What can I substitute? Well, this woman wants an escape, like she wants to go on vacation to the islands. When you go on vacation to the islands, when you sit on the beach and someone asks you if you’d like a drink, you never order a Budweiser, you don’t have a beer. You’re on vacation, you want a drink in a hollowed-out pineapple with the flags of all nations and a parasol. If the drink is blue you’d be very happy. And a long straw. I thought, What are those escape drinks? Let’s see, there’s daiquiri, mai tai, piña colada… I wonder what a piña colada tastes like? I’ve never even had one.
I thought that instead of singing, "If you like Humphrey Bogart," with the emphasis on like, I could start it a syllable earlier and go, "If you like piña-a coladas."

— Rupert Holmes[11][12]

Holmes noted in 2019 that he still does not drink piña coladas.[13]

Personnel
  • Rupert Holmes – vocals, keyboards, synthesizer
  • Dean Bailin – guitar
  • Frank Gravis – bass
  • Leo Adamian – drums
  • Steve Jordan – "double drumming" with Adamian

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[25] Gold 400,000
United States (RIAA)[26] Gold 1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

gollark: Yes, like that.
gollark: Some hypothetical systems could be really terrible and we can tell that easily.
gollark: I don't think that's right, Aty.
gollark: Or watch probably several thousand different TV shows and movies because technology can do that now.
gollark: You can read *fiction* or something, instead of... communist propaganda.

See also
  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1979
  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980

References
  1. https://www.45cat.com/record/inf50035
  2. "VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs". Stereogum. SpinMedia. May 31, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  3. "Top Single Picks". Billboard. 91 (39): 74. September 29, 1979.
  4. "Singles Radio Action: Playlist Top Add Ons". Billboard. 91 (45): 21. November 10, 1979.
  5. "Like Father". Soundtrack.net. Retrieved August 14, 2008.
  6. "Jenna Fischer's 'Splitting Up Together' Blog: Things Get Hot in the Season Finale!". TV Insider. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  7. "The Hot 100". Billboard. January 12, 1980.
  8. If a decade is measured instead by the traditional definition of a ten-year period starting on 1 January in a year whose last digit is "1" and ending on 31 December in a year whose last digit is "0", then Chubby Checker's "The Twist" is the only pop song to ascend to #1 on the Billboard pop charts in two different decades, once on 19 September 1960 (inside the decade 1 January 1951 - 31 December 1960), and again on 13 January 1962 (inside the decade 1 January 1961 - 31 December 1970).
  9. "Top 100 Songs of 1980 - Billboard Year End Charts". Bobborst.com. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
  10. "Piña Colada song Bounty ad". YouTube. Retrieved 2020-05-09.
  11. Holmes, Rupert (September 19, 2003). "Rupert Holmes ("Pina Colada Song")" (Interview). Interviewed by Carl Wiser. Songfacts.
  12. Holmes, Rupert (October 15, 2012). Rupert Holmes at Rockers On Broadway talks about & plays Escape (The Piña Colada Song). 3B Productions (on YouTube).
  13. https://www.naplesnews.com/story/entertainment/arts/2019/01/06/rupert-holmes-brings-theatrezone-pina-coladas-other-sweet-surprises/2336989002/
  14. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 141. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  15. "Radio2 top 30: 15 oktober 2016 | Radio2". Top30-2.radio2.be. Archived from the original on 2012-04-09. Retrieved 2016-10-15.
  16. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Rupert Holmes" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  17. "Charts.nz – Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Piña Colada Song)". Top 40 Singles.
  18. "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  19. Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  20. Canada, Library and Archives (17 July 2013). "Image : RPM Weekly".
  21. "Kent Music Report No 341 – 5 January 1981 > National Top 100 Singles for 1980". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved December 9, 2019.
  22. "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". www.collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2017-01-26.
  23. "Pop Singles" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10
  24. "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  25. "British single certifications – Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 1, 2019. Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Escape (The Pina Colada Song) in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  26. "American single certifications – Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Pina Colada Song)". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved November 1, 2019. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH. 
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