Day After Day #276: Johnny Come Home

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

Johnny Come Home (1985)

Becoming a successful band is difficult and rare. Walking away at the height of their fame is even more rare. Fine Young Cannibals were on top in the late '80s and within a few years were done. And amazingly, over 30 years later, they still haven't reunited, which is also pretty rare.

The group was formed in 1984 by David Steele (bass) and Andy Cox (guitar), former members of the Beat, who teamed up with singer Roland Gift (formerly of ska-punk group the Akrylykz). The band struggled to get a record deal, but after their video for "Johnny Come Home" was played on the British show The Tube, they suddenly received offers. 

"Johnny Come Home" was released in May 1985, well ahead of their self-titled debut album, which came out in December. The song mixes rock and ska, much like Steele and Cox's work with the Beat, but adds in some jazzy trumpet and the unique vocals of Gift, whose quavering voice set the group apart. The guy is instantly identifiable. 

The song tells the tale of a young runaway, switching perspectives from the runaway to his parents.

"Nobody knows/The trouble you feel/Nobody cares/The feeling is real/Johnny, we're sorry/Won't you come on home?/We worry/Won't you come on?/What is wrong in my life that I must get drunk every night?/Johnny, we're sorry."

The song was a top 10 hit in the U.K., getting up to #8 on the U.K. Singles chart, but it only got to #76 on the Billboard Hot 100; "Johnny Come Home" hit #9 on the Billboard dance chart, however.

"Use the phone/Call your mom/She's missing you badly/Who do you know?/Where will you stay?/Big city life/Is not what they say/Johnny, we're sorry/Won't you come on home?/We worry/Won't you come on?/What is wrong with my life that I must get drunk every night?/Johnny, we're sorry."

The album went to #11 in the U.K. and #2 in Australia, but got as high as #49 in the U.S. A cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" was also a hit in the U.K.

FYC appeared in the 1987 Barry Levinson film Tin Men as a club band and included songs on the soundtrack, including "Good Thing." Steele and Cox also released an instrumental house single called "Tired of Getting Pushed Around" in '87 under the name Two Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet. Gift, who was also an actor, appeared in the Stephen Frears movie Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

Two years later, the group released The Raw and the Cooked, which totally blew up, especially in the U.S. "Good Thing" and "She Drives Me Crazy" both went to #1. Some of the album was already recorded, including the three songs from Tin Men and a cover of the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)." 

The band was hoping to have Prince produce the second half of the album, but he was unavailable, so the band was paired with producer David Z, who had worked with Prince and was the brother of Bobby Z of the Revolution. The subsequent album combined the band's retro soul leanings with modern dance sounds to huge effect, going to #1 in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia and Austria. After spending seven weeks at #1 in the U.S., the album was bumped by Prince's Batman soundtrack.

 

A remix album, appropriately dubbed The Raw & the Remix, was released in 1990. But after this, there was very little FYC activity. The band contributed a Cole Porter cover to the Red Hot + Blue AIDS benefit album in 1990 and then split up in 1992. Disagreements between the band members led to the breakup, although they did briefly get together in 1996 to record a song for a greatest hits collection. Gift released a solo album in 2002 and has made occasional acting appearances in U.K. movies and TV shows. Steele has worked as a producer and has played on a number of albums by other artists; Cox has been less active, releasing an album as Cribabi with Japanese singer Yukari Fujiu in 2002.

All these years later, it doesn't appear an FYC reunion is in the offing, but I suppose you never know. All we have are the two albums they made in the '80s and those are very good indeed.