"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English groupDexys Midnight Runners (credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982[4] as a single from their second studio albumToo-Rye-Ay. It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980's "Geno". The song was produced byClive Langer andAlan Winstanley and was credited toKevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed toKevin Archer.[5]
"Come On Eileen" wonBest British Single at the1983 Brit Awards, and in 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's sixth favourite1980s number one single in a poll forITV.[6] It was ranked number 18 onVH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s"[7] and was Britain's best-selling single of 1982.[8]
The 1982 music video was directed byJulien Temple and filmed in the inner south London district ofElephant and Castle in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then Austral Street and Holyoak Road. The character of "Eileen" in the music video, as well as on the single cover, is played by Máire Fahey, sister ofSiobhan Fahey fromBananarama.[10]
Archival footage ofJohnnie Ray arriving at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 was featured in the video.[11]
In a 2000 poll byChannel 4, the song was placed at number 38 in the 100 greatest number one singles of all time.[12] Similar polls by the music channelVH1 placed the song at number three in their "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders" of all time,[13] number 18 in their "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s"[7] and number one in their "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s".[14] (While the group had a previous number one single in the UK with "Geno" in 1980 as well as several other Top 40 singles, "Come On Eileen" was their only US hit.) As of June 2013, "Come On Eileen" had sold 1.33 million copies in the UK.[15]
The song reached number one in the United States on theBillboard Hot 100 chart during the week ending 23 April 1983. "Come On Eileen" preventedMichael Jackson from having back-to-back number-one hits in the US: "Billie Jean" was the number-one single the previous seven weeks, while "Beat It" was the number-one song the ensuing three.
^Mann, Brent (2003).99 Red Balloons...and 100 Other All-Time Great One-Hit Wonders.Citadel Press. p. 46.ISBN978-0-8065-2516-7.New Wave spawned some of pop music's classic one-hit wonders, artists who are vividly remembered today: Dexys Midnight Runners ("Come on Eileen"), Nena ("99 Luftballons"), and Thomas Dolby ("She Blinded Me with Science"), to name just a few.
^Billboard Staff (19 October 2023)."The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List".Billboard. Retrieved19 February 2024.The deliriously upbeat, fiddle-and-banjo fueled confession of thoughts that "verge on dirty," transforming an Irish folk tune into a pop-rock classic.
^"New Musical Express".NME. London, England. 19 June 1982. p. 34.
