| Lost Weekend | |
| Cover: | Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Lost Weekend 1985 single cover.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Lloyd Cole and the Commotions |
| Album: | Easy Pieces |
| B-Side: | Big World |
| Released: | [1] |
| Studio: | Westside Studios (Shepherd's Bush, London) |
| Length: | 3:14 |
| Label: | Polydor |
| Producer: | |
| Prev Title: | Brand New Friend |
| Prev Year: | 1985 |
| Next Title: | Cut Me Down |
| Next Year: | 1986 |
"Lost Weekend" is a song by the British pop and rock band Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, released in 1985 as the second single from their second studio album Easy Pieces. The song was written by band members Neil Clark, Lloyd Cole and Lawrence Donegan, and produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. It peaked at number 17 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 75 for seven weeks.
Cole was inspired to write the lyrics to "Lost Weekend" after he fell ill during a visit to Amsterdam. He told The Mouth Magazine in 2020, "As I remember it, I was going over to sort of rendezvous there with my girlfriend of the time. I got ill, properly ill and was confined to hotel quarters."[2]
Speaking of the influence that Iggy Pop's 1977 song "The Passenger" had on "Lost Weekend", Cole recalled in 2010, "It just went that way in rehearsal and while we were aware that the rhythm part was the same, the chords and everything else was different, so we weren't bothered. Gosh, I wish it owed more – 'The Passenger' is a fantastic track, 'Lost Weekend', to my ear, is a decent tune done overly quirkily."[3]
Upon its release as a single, Tom Hibbert of Smash Hits commented, "This is lovely – chiming guitars sturdily jaunting and winking at an idea based on Iggy Pop's 'The Passenger' with customary jumbly vocal delivery". He added, "It all sounds uncharacteristically merry until one starts to pick up the words which appear to be about contracting pneumonia in Amsterdam, almost dying and then undergoing a religious conversion."[4] Mat Snow of NME described it as "an agreeable piece of fluff worth at least five plays, if only to spot the 'influence', in this case Iggy's 'The Passenger'".[5]
Malcolm Dome of Kerrang! called it "catchy, sub-Buddy Holly pop/rock" which is "by no means awesome yet certainly invigorating".[6] Dave Ling of Number One felt the song is "forgettably pleasant in a whimsical sort of way" and noted that "a fair amount of thought has been put into the lyrics", but added "it's not the sort of record I'd want to be subjected to more than once".[7] Mike Mitchell of Record Mirror was critical, stating there's "too much jingle [and] not enough song".[8]
7–inch single (UK, Europe and Australasia)[9] [10]
10-inch limited edition single (UK)[11]
12-inch single (UK, Europe and Australasia)[12] [13]
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
Additional musicians on "Lost Weekend"
Production
Other
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[14] | 49 |
| Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[15] | 57 |
. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 69.