The recording was credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express
Single:
Come On Eileen entered the Australian singles chart* on 4 October 1982 and peaked at #1. It was #2 on the Top 100 of 1982.
Album:
The song is on Too-Rye-Ay which entered the Australian albums chart* on 11 October 1982 and peaked at #2.
Songwriters:
Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson, Billy Adams, Kevin Archer
Producers:
Clive Langer, Alan Winstanley
Record label of Australian release:
Mercury
*Kent Music Report / Australian Chart Book. See About.
Songfacts:
This song is based on a true story. Eileen was a girl that Kevin Rowland grew up with. Their relationship became romantic when the pair were 13, and according to Rowland, it turned sexual a year or two later.
Rowland was raised Catholic and served as an altar boy in church. Sex was a taboo subject, and considered “dirty” – something that fascinated him. When he wrote this song, Rowland was expressing the feelings of that adolescent enjoying his first sexual relationship and dreaming of being free from the strictures of a buttoned-down society:
You in that dress
My thoughts I confess
Verge on dirty
The song describes the thin line between love and lust.
Read more: www.songfacts.com/facts/dexys-midnight-runners/come-on-eileen
Lyrics:
Poor old Johnnie Ray
Sounded sad upon the radio
Moved a million hearts in mono
Our mothers cried
Sang along, who’d blame them?
Click for full lyrics
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