Day After Day: Johnny and Mary

Day After Day is an ambitious attempt to write about a song every day in 2024 (starting on Jan. 4).

Johnny and Mary

Robert Palmer was a man of many sounds. Throughout his career, he never really stuck with one style. He had been around a lot longer than people think, especially those who knew him as the "Addicted to Love" guy. He played in some English bands in the late '60s/early '70s before embarking on a solo career in 1974. He worked with Little Feat and the Meters and had some minor success with the songs "Sneakin' Sally Through the Alley" and "Sailin' Shoes," as well as the Caribbean-sounding "Every Kinda People" a few years later. 

But my first time really paying attention to Palmer was in 1979 when he had a hit with "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)," a song written by Moon Martin. Living in the Toronto area at the time, I heard it constantly on the AM station I used to listen to, 1050 CHUM, and it even hit #1 on the singles chart in Canada. It was a hard rocking ripper that made it to #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and did well for Palmer in other countries as well. 

Palmer's next album, Clues, was released in the summer of 1980. It features guest appearances by Gary Numan and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads and is probably best known for the excellent sort-of-title song, "Looking for Clues," a new wave jammer with a killer xylophone solo. The song's video was played on Day 1 of MTV in August 1981. But the real grabber for me was the first single "Johnny and Mary," a sad synth-pop number about a troubled couple who can't seem to make the relationship work. It's very unlike the other songs he had previously had success with and didn't make the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., but it did reach #18 on the Club Play Singles chart. It fared better elsewhere, like in Canada where I was still living. The song reached #32 on the Canadian singles chart, #44 in the U.K. and #1 in Spain. 

French automaker Renault used the song in numerous ads in the '80s and '90s. The song has been covered several times, most notably in 2014 by Norwegian DJ Todd Terje, with vocals by Bryan Ferry of all people. I had no idea this cover existed before an hour ago, but it's not bad. See below for the video.

Palmer went on to have middling success on his next few albums before teaming up in 1985 with Andy Taylor and John Taylor of Duran Duran and drummer Tony Thompson of Chic to form the Power Station. The sound combined heavy rock with horn-driven funk, powered by big guitar riffs and Thompson's massive drumming. Power Station had two top 10 hits in the U.S. with "Some Like It Hot" and a cover of T. Rex's "Get It On." Palmer performed with the band on Saturday Night Live, but he dropped out of a planned tour at the last minute to go back to his solo career. It ended up being a good move, because the resulting album, Riptide, featured "Addicted to Love" and the video with the female models pretending to be his backup band. The song went to #1 in the U.S. and he had more hits with "Simply Irresistible" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On." Wearing his trademark suave suit at all times, Palmer was a fixture on MTV in the last half of the '80s. The '90s were less successful for Palmer but he kept at it with covers and standards albums, even reuniting with the Power Station for an album in 1996. 

Sadly, he died from a heart attack at the age of 54 in 2003. Reportedly, he was a big smoker, getting up to as many as 60 cigarettes a day. I honestly don't know how that's possible, but whatever the case, it couldn't have been good for him. Thankfully, he left behind a fine and varied catalog, but the peak for me was "Johnny and Mary."