It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back) Explained

It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)
Cover:Eurythmics ItsAlright.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Eurythmics
Album:Be Yourself Tonight
B-Side:Tous les garçons et les filles
Released:30 December 1985
Recorded:1985
Length:3:45
Label:RCA
Producer:David A. Stewart
Prev Title:Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves
Prev Year:1985
Next Title:When Tomorrow Comes
Next Year:1986

"It's Alright (Baby's Coming Back)" is a song written and recorded by the British pop music duo Eurythmics. It was released as the fourth and final single from their 1985 album Be Yourself Tonight. The song was produced by Dave Stewart, and the song's brass arrangement was devised by Michael Kamen.

The single became Eurythmics' tenth Top 20 hit in the UK where it peaked at number 12, but was less successful in the United States, stalling at number 78 on the Billboard Hot 100. As songwriters, Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart received the 1986 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[1]

Composition

The song is a blend of R&B and electronica[2] in the key of D♭ Major, with a tempo of 93 beats per minute. The intro and chorus repeats the chords D♭ Major, C♭ Major, G♭ Major and F♭ Major over a bass pedal point of D♭, while the bridge remains on E♭ minor throughout.

Reception

Cash Box said it "carries on the soul groove of earlier outings."[3]

Track listings

7"

12"

Music video

The song's music video, directed by Willy Smax,[4] is a combination of live shots and computer animation, an innovative look for a music video in the mid-1980s. The video depicts a story in which Annie Lennox is in a car accident at the beginning of the video and her partner, portrayed by Dave Stewart, is so connected to her that he can instantly tell that something is wrong and immediately travels from the Orient to get to her. She is seen lying in a hospital bed with a heart monitor in the background. She performs the song as an out of body experience. The main focus of the video is Stewart's race to get to Lennox's side, which he finally does by the end of the video. When he opens the door to her hospital room, her eyes instantly pop wide open and the two embrace and then turn into pieces of abstract animation.

Personnel

Eurythmics
Additional Personnel

Charts

Chart (1986)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[5] 32
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[6] 14
US Cash Box Top 100 Singles[7] 79

Notes and References

  1. Lister, David, Pop ballads bite back in lyrical fashion, The Independent, 28 May 1994
  2. Web site: Gerard . Chris . 11 February 2022 . The Case for Eurythmics' Induction Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220416081537/https://www.popmatters.com/case-for-eurythmics-rock-hall/2 . 16 April 2022 . 18 May 2022 . . 2.
  3. Single Releases. Cash Box. February 8, 1986. 2022-08-03. 9.
  4. Web site: Willy Smax Official Site . willysmax.com. 2016-11-09.
  5. Book: Kent, David . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 . illustrated . St Ives, N.S.W. . Australian Chart Book . 1993 . 105 . 0-646-11917-6.
  6. European Hot 100 Singles . . 3 . 7 . 22 February 1986 . 11 . 29800226 . World Radio History.
  7. Web site: Cash Box Top 100 Singles – Week ending March 8, 1986 . . 30 May 2020.