THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

996-A Flock of Seagulls-Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You.)

1982-Number 10 single.

Best Bit-At 0.08. If I ever get around to compiling a best ‘intro’s’ list, this could well be the Number 1.

A Flock of Seagulls are a New Wave, Synth/Pop band who were formed in Liverpool, England, in 1979, by Mike Score, his brother Alistair, and Frank Maudsley, in total there have been 29 different members come and go, with Mike Score remaining as the bands one constant. The band were active between 1979-1986, and then reformed in 1988, and are still active at the time of writing. A Flock of Seagulls took their name from the English Punk Rock group ‘The Stranglers’ (see also best songs 607) 1978 song ‘Toiler on the Sea,’ from their Album ‘Black and White,’ whose lyrics include ‘A flock of seagulls.’ Mike Score has said that the bands name was also influenced by the 1970 novel ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull,’ by the author Richard Bach. In a scene from the iconic 1994 movie ‘Pulp Fiction,’ (see also best songs 882 and 301) the actor Samuel L. Jackson can be heard during one of his killing sprees name checking ‘A Flock of Seagulls.’

The discography of A Flock of Seagulls includes seven studio Albums released between 1982-2021, and 25 singles issued between 1981-2022. In the UK, four of those singles have reached the top 40, with this song being the most successful, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles top 40, they have charted on three occasions, with their most successful song being ‘I Ran (So Far Away,’) which failed to chart in the UK, but reached Number 9 on Billboard in 1982, and is the song that they are best remembered for in that country, while ‘Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You’) only made Number 26 there.

‘Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You’) was the first of four singles released from A Flock of Seagulls second studio Album ‘Listen,’ from April 1983, and was written by the four members of the band at that time, Mike Score, Paul Reynolds, Frank Maudsley, and Alistair Score, with the production being by Mike Howlett, who had also produced the bands self titled debut Album in 1982. Howlet was a much sort after producer in the late 1970’s, and throughout the 1980’s, working with artists such as ‘Martha and the Muffins,’ and ‘Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (see also best songs 748 and 720.)

Mike Score who is one of the bands founding members, and also the groups main songwriter was born on November 5th, 1957, in Beverley, England, as well as appearing on all of the ‘A Flock of Seagulls’ seven studio Albums, he also released a solo Album ‘Zeebratta in 2014. In the early 1980’s Score was known for his striking signature back combed haircut, which once seen was never forgotten, he has said,’My mom used to say, ‘Don’t copy people, try to be yourself because then people will remember you. There was a little bit of David Bowie and Alice Cooper in the band’s appearance, without copying them.’ It is said that Score based his haircut on the look of David Bowie’s ‘Ziggy Stardust’ character. His distinctive hairstyle is referred to in the 1998 film ‘The Wedding Singer.’

Mike Score has also explained how ‘Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You’) came about. ‘Wishing’ is about a real person, it was the eve of the first trip we ever took to America, and I had met a girl. We went out for the night, and I didn’t want to forget her, so I said, ‘We’re going on tour and I’ll be back. I’d like to get a photograph of you, if I could get one.’ and she said, ‘No, because you’re going to go on to be famous, and you’ll forget me.’ It appears that their meeting had no fairy tale ending, the girl was right, they never met again.

‘It’s not the way you look,it’s not the way that you smile, although there’s something to them. It’s not the way you have your hair, it’s not that certain style, it could be that with you.’