| Vacation | |
| Cover: | VacationGoGos.jpg |
| Caption: | Standard picture sleeve |
| Border: | yes |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | the Go-Go's |
| Album: | Vacation |
| B-Side: | Beatnik Beach |
| Released: | July 20, 1982 |
| Recorded: | 1982 |
| Genre: |
|
| Length: | 2:59 |
| Label: | I.R.S. |
| Producer: | Richard Gottehrer |
| Prev Title: | We Got the Beat |
| Prev Year: | 1982 |
| Next Title: | Get Up and Go |
| Next Year: | 1982 |
"Vacation" is a 1982 single released by the all-female rock band, the Go-Go's. The song was the first single from the album, Vacation.
The song became one of the Go-Go's highest charting singles, reaching No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1982, being the band's second and final US top-10 hit. The song was released on 7" vinyl format, with the surf rock song "Beatnik Beach" as the single's B-side. "Vacation" carries the distinction of being released as the first known cassette single or "cassingle" as trademarked by I.R.S. Records.[1]
Billboard called it a "perfect summer record" saying it is "uptempo, optimistic and the aural companion for lazy days at the beach.[2] Cash Box called it "propulsive power pop."[3]
A previous version of "Vacation" written solely by Kathy Valentine was an EP and later 45 by the earlier band she was in, The Textones. Both the EP and 45 were on Chiswick Records in the United Kingdom.
The video, which was directed by Mick Haggerty and C.D. Taylor, starts by showing the song's title on a photo in a travel brochure. It depicts the band waiting on a pile of luggage at an airport after Belinda Carlisle arrives in a taxi. Gradually it changes to show them performing, then ends with a section in which they appear to be water-skiing in formation, as on the album cover. All the band members smile and mug for the camera in individual closeups. The photo then freezes and zooms out to be shown in another travel brochure on the floor, which an unseen janitor sweeps up, with other trash (most likely from the airport portion of the video).
It was shot in one very long day on a $50,000 budget, large for the time, and the band was coming off a debut album that had reached no. 1. "We still saw videos as an annoying waste of time," recalls Jane Wiedlin. "After seven or eight hours we sent out someone to sneak in booze." Kathy Valentine says they drank "lots of champagne. Lots." Wiedlin says the effects are evident during the closeups of the women at the end: "... if you look at our eyes, we're all so drunk. We didn't even try to make it look like we were really waterskiing."[4]
7-inch and cassette single[5] [6]
A. "Vacation" – 2:59 (2:55 on cassette)
B. "Beatnik Beach" – 2:52 (2:45 on cassette)
The song was later included in the jukebox musical Head over Heels that debuted on Broadway in 2018.
The Go-Go's performed "Vacation", "Our Lips Are Sealed", and "We Got the Beat" during the 2021 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.[7]
"Vacation" was used in two Klasky-Csupo animated series; Duckman in the episode “In The Nam of the Father”, and Rugrats in the episode “Vacation”. The song was played in The Simpsons season 16 episode "Mobile Homer". The song was also used in the trailer for the 2007 comedy film, Mr. Bean's Holiday.
The song was played during the end credits of the 2019 Marvel Studios movie, .[8]
A parody of the song was sung several times during the Brooklyn Nine-Nine Season 6 episode "Casecation".
The song is played over a montage towards the end of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 7 episode 2, The Gang goes to the Jersey Shore.
| Chart (1982) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (Kent Music Report)[9] | 43 | |
| US Cash Box Top 100[10] | 6 |
| Chart (1982) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| American Top 40 Year-End[11] | 76 | |
| US Billboard Hot 100[12] | 87 | |
| US Cash Box[13] | 39 |