Déjà Vu (Dionne Warwick song) explained

Déjà Vu
Cover:deja_vu_single_cover.jpg
Type:Single
Artist:Dionne Warwick
Album:Dionne
B-Side:All the Time
Released:November 1979
Genre:
Length:5:06 (CD version)
4:06 (album version)
3:40 (single edit)
Producer:Barry Manilow
Prev Title:I'll Never Love This Way Again
Prev Year:1979
Next Title:After You
Next Year:1980

"Déjà Vu" is a hit 1979 ballad written by Isaac Hayes with lyricist Adrienne Anderson, recorded by Dionne Warwick for her album Dionne which Barry Manilow produced. The song won Warwick a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 22nd Grammy Awards.

Background

Isaac Hayes had written the tune for "Déjà Vu" in 1977 while touring with Warwick on the A Man and a Woman Tour: Warwick would recall then hearing Hayes play the tune – which he had entitled "Déjà Vu" without writing lyrics – and as she and Barry Manilow began preparing for the January 1979 recording sessions for the Dionne album, Warwick solicited a tape of "Déjà Vu" from Hayes to play for Manilow, who recruited his own regular lyricist Adrienne Anderson to write the words.[1]

Chart performance

Issued in November 1979 as the album's second single – following up Warwick's top ten comeback hit "I'll Never Love This Way Again" – "Déjà Vu" rose to number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 25 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart,[2] and number one on the Adult Contemporary chart in early 1980.[3] "Déjà Vu" was Warwick's fifth and last Top 40 single of her 1970s period and her second top 40 single following the release of "I'll Never Love This Way Again" in the five years since her number-one single, "Then Came You", featuring The Spinners.

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1979–80)Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 69
Canadian Top Singles (RPM)34
Canadian Adult Contemporary (RPM)[5] 7
US Cashbox Top 100[6] 11

Year-end charts

Chart (1980)Rank
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 84
US Cashbox Top 100[8] 73

Other versions

The song has also been recorded by Ethel Ennis (album Live at the Maryland Inn/ 1980),[9] Jack Jones (album Don't Stop Now/ 1980),[10] Trudy Kerr (album Déjà Vu: Songs From My Past/ 2008),[11] and by guitarist Peter White (album Playin' Favorites/ 2006) with vocalist Kiki Ebsen.[12]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Grein . Paul . Warwick Comeback on Records Indicating 'People Still Care' . . 4 August 1979 . 32.
  2. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004. Joel Whitburn . 2004 . Record Research . 610.
  3. Book: Whitburn, Joel . Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–2001. Joel Whitburn . 2002 . Record Research . 254.
  4. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book. St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6.
  5. Web site: Item. 17 July 2013. Bac-lac.gc.ca. 23 April 2021.
  6. Web site: Top 100 1980-02-16 . . 2015-01-03 .
  7. Web site: Top 100 Hits of 1980/Top 100 Songs of 1980 . Musicoutfitters.com . 2016-10-14.
  8. Web site: Top 100 Year End Charts: 1980 . . 2015-07-22 . 2012-09-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120915071244/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/1980YESP.html . dead .
  9. News: 'Prez' and Accounted for - the Washington Post . . 2019-08-15 . 2019-08-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190815225809/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1981/02/11/prez-and-accounted-for/28273cd3-50cc-479f-8edd-f58dc90b2356/ . dead .
  10. Pittsburgh Press 10 August 1980 "'No Night' Newest Hit For Dionne" by Lee W. Collins p.J-7
  11. Web site: Trudy Kerr - Deja Vu: Songs from My Past | Review | The Jazz Mann. Thejazzmann.com. 23 April 2021.
  12. Web site: Peter White – Playin' Favorites (2006, CD). 23 April 2021. Discogs.com.