Escape (The Piña Colada Song)

THANK YOU for watching! Tonight's feature on Monday Night Vinyls is a famous one-hit wonder that reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 in late 1979 and early 1980 - "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes.

Interesting facts:
1. This song was the final US number-one song of the 1970s.
2. Initially, the chorus started with the line "If you like Humphrey Bogart", which Rupert Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music.
3. It is the first pop song to ascend to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart in two different decades.

More:
The song shot up through the US charts, becoming the country's last number-one Billboard Hot 100 hit of 1979 and of the 1970s. "Escape" was knocked out of the top spot but returned to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the second week of 1980, having been displaced for a week by KC and the Sunshine Band's "Please Don't Go". It is the first pop song to ascend to No. 1 on the Billboard pop chart in two different decades. The song was the 11th best-selling single of 1980 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

The song follows a three-act narrative with three verses and choruses.

It is told from the perspective of a man bored with his partner. While she sleeps, he reads the personals column in the newspaper and sees an ad from a woman seeking a carefree man who, among other things, enjoys piña coladas. Planning to cheat on his partner, he replies and arranges a secret meeting—only to discover the woman is his current partner, who had also planned to cheat on him. The song's narrative puts a positive spin on this encounter, where the man realizes that they had more in common than they thought, and that all they needed was already in front of them.