Today’s classic mid-80s song of the day is by another Brit singer, John Waite. This track, released in June of 1984, peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the Cash Box Top 100 and was a top ten international hit in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the UK. The single was nominated for a Best Male Pop Performance Grammy in 1985. (It lost to “Against All Odds” by Phil Collins.)
“Missing You” was written by John Waite, Mark Leonard, and Charles Sanford. Waite says it was inspired by three women in his life: his wife, who he was divorcing; an old flame in New York; and his current lover. The lyric is a little clever in the way that the protagonist denies that he’s missing the woman in the song:
I spend my time
Thinking about you
And it’s almost driving me wild
And that’s my heart that’s breaking
Down this long distance line tonight
I ain’t missing you at all
Since you’ve been gone away
I ain’t missing you
No matter
What my friends say
I’m particularly fond of that later bit that goes “I hear your name in certain circles.” I like “certain circles,” it has a nice flow.
Prior to his solo career, John Waite was the lead singer and bass player for the band the Babys. That band had two top twenty hits with “Isn’t It Time” (1977) and “Everytime I Think of You” (1979), from which “Missing You” took its opening line. Waite had several other minor solo hits then joined the supergroup Bad English, who had a #1 hit in 1989 with “When I See You Smile.” That group broke up in 1992 and Waite continued as a solo artist, continuing to tour to this day.
Interestingly, Waite recorded a duet version of “Missing You” with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss in 2006. That version reached #34 on the Billboard Country chart. It’s not bad.
