S.O.D. "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes

6/20/2015     As is the tale of many songs, last-minute changes brought this tune to what it is today.  Originally "People Need Other People" was to be the song's title and the first line; "If you like Humphrey Bogart."  Holmes then replaced the actor with the first exotic cocktail he could think of even though he said he does not like the drink and it reminded him of Kaopectate.  

     The story is sort of corny as the narrator, while reading the personal advertisements, spots an ad of a woman seeking a man who among other things must like piña coladas.  They arrange to meet by writing and lo and behold they're already dating, now understanding there is no need to search outside the relationship.  

     Reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1979, it became the last #1 hit of the 70s. It then dropped back but climbed the chart again to #1 in the 2nd week of 1980 making it the only song in pop music history (to date) to become a #1 hit in two different decades.  Although the tune made him wealthy and famous, he claims that it pulled him away from his more serious musical works.  Holmes is also an actor, playwright and author and won a Tony award in 1985 for his musical Drood.  Rupert Holmes was born in England in 1947 under the name David Goldstein.  LMAO!