"Someone's Looking at You" was the third and final single from The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing.[3] It peaked at number two on the Irish Singles Chart and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1980.[4]
| "Someone's Looking at You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Boomtown Rats | ||||
| from the album The Fine Art of Surfacing | ||||
| B-side | "When the Night Comes"[1] | |||
| Released | 18 January 1980 (UK)[1] | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:27 | |||
| Label | Ensign Records (UK)[1] Columbia Records (USA) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Pete Briquette & Bob Geldof | |||
| Producer(s) | Robert John "Mutt" Lange[1] | |||
| The Boomtown Rats singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
It is an organ-based song that paints a humid picture of 1984-style government surveillance and has been described as a "gently humorous song about paranoia".[5] The second verse starts "They saw me there in the square when I was shooting my mouth off about saving some fish. Now could that be construed as some radical's views or some liberals' wish". This refers to singer Bob Geldof's participation in a Greenpeace anti-whaling rally in London's Trafalgar Square.[5] Geldof's website describes the song as a personal statement on fame.[6]
Charts edit
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[7] | 86 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[8] | 2 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] | 48 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[10] | 6 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[11] | 4 |
References edit
- ^ a b c d "Boomtown Rats, The - Someone's Looking At You (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ^ DeGagne, Mike. "Someone's Looking at You by The Boomtown Rats - Track Info | AllMusic". allmusic. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
- ^ William Ruhlmann. "The Boomtown Rats | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-04-10.
- ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 71. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ [1] Archived July 9, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 9488b." RPM. Library and Archives Canada.
- ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Someone's Looking At You". Irish Singles Chart.
- ^ "The Boomtown Rats – Someone's Looking At You" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ^ "The Boomtown Rats – Someone's Looking At You". VG-lista.
- ^ "Boomtown Rats: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
