THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

276-Rupert Holmes-Escape (The Piña Colada Song.)

1979-Number 23 single.

Best Bit-At 2.32. They have both just found out that their partner has been cheating on them, so what do they do? They laugh for a moment and say,’ I never knew that you liked Pina Colada.’

Rupert Holmes was born David Goldstein on February 24th, 1947, in Northwich, Cheshire, England, at the age of six he emigrated with his family to Nanuet, New York, United States. He took his stage name from the English poet Rupert Brooke, (1887-1915) and ‘Holmes’ was a nod to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, created by the British author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930.) Rupert Holmes is a composer, singer/songwriter, playwright, and an author, he also plays keyboards, saxophone, and is a vocalist. His songs have been recorded by many of the worlds top artists including Barbra Streisand, (see also best songs 699 and 145) and Dolly Parton, (see also best songs 704) and as a music producer he has worked with artists including Sparks, (see also best songs 840) producing their 1976 Album ‘Big Beat.’ Holmes is also a playwright, he made his professional debut as a playwright in 1985 with the musical ‘The Mystery of Edwin Drood,’ in total he has worked on 18 musicals. Rupert Holmes has also written for film and television, most famously the American comedy drama series ‘Remember WENN,’ writing all 56 episodes, he has also written three books. Holmes has said of his varied career, ‘I have a feeling that if I saved an entire orphanage from a fire and carried the last child out on my shoulders, as I stood there charred and smoking, they’d say,’Aren’t you the guy who wrote the pina colada song?’

The discography of Rupert Holmes includes 16 Albums released between 1974-2012, and 18 singles released between 1974-1983. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, three of his singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) peaking the highest at Number 1, while in the UK, he has charted twice within the top 40, with ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) reaching Number 23 in 1979, and it;s follow up ‘Him,’ making Number 31 in 1980.

‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) was the first of three singles released from ‘Partners in Crime,’ the fifth studio Album by Rupert Holmes, from August 1979, the song was written by Rupert Holmes, with the production being by Holmes, and Jim Boyer (1951-2022.) Jim Boyer was born James Boyer on May 19th, 1951, in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, United States, he died on June 15th, 2022, at the age of 71. Jim Boyer who was a music producer and audio engineer, got his first job at Phil Ramone’s (1934-2013) ‘A&R Recording Studios,’ where he was hired by Don Frey as an assistant engineer, with his first credit with Ramone being on the 1976 film ‘A Star is Born’ with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024) (see also best songs 341.) Jim Boyer worked as an engineer or producer for many of the worlds top artists, including on eight of Billy Joel’s (see also best songs 810 and 215) studio Albums between 1977-1987.

Rupert Holmes got the initial idea for ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) after seeing the personal columns in the American news and culture publication ‘The Village Voice’. He got to thinking what it would be like to arrange a meeting with a complete stranger, and then he let his imagination run wild, what if the stranger turned out to be his partner. It had been a last minute decision to introduce pina colada into the song. The original lyrics written by Holmes were ‘If you like Humphrey Bogart and getting caught in the rain’, but Holmes felt that someone yearning escapism would want something more exotic sounding, and also more modern. Holmes thoughts turned to escaping to a vacation on a beach where you may order a pina colada, he has acknowledged that the last minute decision to change the lyrics changed his life.

‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) is the tale of a man who reads the personal advertisements in the newspaper and spots an ad that catches his attention, a woman seeking a man who among other things enjoys pina colada’s. He replies to her ad, and they arrange to meet, where on meeting they are both shocked to realise that they are each others partners. The morale of the story is give your relationship every chance to blossom, before looking elsewhere. The song was the last Number 1 on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart for the 1970’s, and after being knocked off the top spot the following week, regained the Number 1 spot again for the second week of 1980. At the time of writing the song is the 357th best selling song on Billboard since it’s inception in 1958. Rupert Holmes has said about ‘Escape (The Piña Colada Song’) ‘It’s tough when you have this one thing that pulls focus from all these other things that you’ve done, yet every songwriter lives to have a song that most everybody knows.’

‘So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place. I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face. It was my own lovely lady, and she said, ‘Oh it’s you,’ and we laughed for a moment, and I said ‘I never knew.”