Heartlight (song) explained

Heartlight
Cover:	Heartlight single cover.jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	Neil Diamond
Album:	Heartlight
B-Side:	You Don't Know Me
Released:	September 1982
Genre:	Pop
Length:	4:25
Label:	Columbia
Prev Title:	Be Mine Tonight
Prev Year:	1982
Next Title:	I'm Alive
Next Year:	1983

"Heartlight" is a song written by Neil Diamond, Carole Bayer Sager and her then-husband, Burt Bacharach,^[1] and recorded by Diamond in 1982. It is the first track on Diamond's 1982 album, also titled Heartlight, and reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his thirteenth (and last) top 10 hit on the chart. It also spent four weeks atop the adult contemporary chart in late 1982, and was the last of his eight #1s on that chart.^[2] Reportedly, it was inspired by the 1982 film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Diamond allegedly settled with MCA/Universal for $25,000, due to its supposedly drawing on the material of the film.^[3]

Cash Box said that the song "will unquestionably stick in the minds of adult pop and A/C listeners like a piece of ear candy."^[4] Billboard described it as a "pretty, romantic ballad with a light, lilting melodyline."^[5]

Personnel

• Burt Bacharach – orchestra arrangements and conductor
• Paulinho da Costa – percussion
• Neil Diamond – lead vocals, guitar (uncredited)
• David Foster – piano
• Craig Hundley – synthesizer
• Jim Keltner – drums
• Richard Page – backing vocals
• Linda Press – backing vocals
• Stephanie Spruill – backing vocals
• Neil Stubenhaus – bass guitar
• Julia Tillman Waters – backing vocals
• H.L. Voelker – backing vocals
• Marty Walsh – guitar
• Maxine Waters Willard – backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1982–83)	Peak position
Australia^[6]	29
Belgium	23
Canada RPM Top Singles^[7]	6
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary	1
UK^[8]	47
US Billboard Hot 100	5
US Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks	1
US Cash Box Top 100^[9]	10

Year-end charts

Chart (1982)	Rank
Australia	177
Canada ^[10]	55
U.S. (Joel Whitburn's Pop Annual)^[11]	34
U.S. Cash Box ^[12]	67

See also

• List of number-one adult contemporary singles of 1982 (U.S.)

External links

• Songfacts - Heartlight by Neil Diamond

Notes and References

1. Web site: William Ruhlmann . Neil Diamond | Biography & History . . 2016-10-31.
2. Web site: Neil Diamond - Biography . Billboard . 2016-10-31.
3. Web site: Andy Greene . Flashback: Neil Diamond's E.T. Ode 'Heartlight' Causes Legal Skirmish . 17 December 2019 . .
4. Reviews. Cash Box. September 4, 1982. 2022-07-07. 10.
5. Billboard. September 4, 1982. 2023-01-29. 63. Top Single Picks.
6. Web site: ARIA Charts - End Of Year Charts - Top 50 Singles 1988 . Aria.com.au . 2016-10-31 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140204042257/http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50-singles-1988.htm . 2014-02-04 .
7. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 2016-10-31.
8. Web site: NEIL DIAMOND | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company . Officialcharts.com . 2014-10-22 . 2016-10-31.
9. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending November 13, 1982 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120921090816/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/19821113.html . Cash Box Magazine . November 13, 1982 . 2012-09-21 . 2018-10-11.
10. Web site: Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada . Collectionscanada.gc.ca . 2016-10-31 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160811145442/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.6167&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062 . 2016-08-11 . dead .
11. Book: Whitburn, Joel . 1999 . Pop Annual . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin . Record Research Inc. . 0-89820-142-X.
12. Web site: Top 100 Year End Charts: 1982 . . 2015-07-08 . 2012-09-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120921090617/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/80s_files/1982YESP.html . dead .