Touch Me (All Night Long)

Album: Move to This (1991)
Charted: 5 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Touch Me (All Night Long)" was written by Cathy Dennis (but based on a 1984 song by the group Wish), who had already shown a great deal of promise when this single hit from her debut solo album. Previously she had been with the group D Mob, where their 1989 single "C'mon and Get My Love" had already hit #15 on the UK charts. Previously, she had literally been discovered as a teenager playing piano in her dad's restaurant at age 17; the record producer who signed her was Simon Fuller, the artist manager who also founded the Pop Idol series of TV shows, including American Idol.
  • Not only is "Touch Me (All Night Long)" a love song, but it hints at an illicit tryst as well. Repeatedly there's the line "let your conscience go," and one verse indicates that the singer "wouldn't know what's right from wrong." Even the repeated request to "make me" shows that this is a very submissive song on the feminine part.
  • Dennis scored a worldwide hit with this single, which peaked #1 on the US Dance Chart, #32 on the US Adult Contemporary, and #16 on Australian Singles, besides the hit on US and UK Singles charts.

    While Cathy Dennis continued to score chart-busting hits throughout the 1990s, she's gotten even greater success as a songwriter. She's written songs for the who's-who of the pop world: Spice Girls, Idol contestants, Will Young, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Carrie Underwood, Janet Jackson, Pink... the list would fill this page. Her honors including a Grammy and an Ivor Novello Award.

Comments: 2

  • Mark from CaliforniaCathy Dennis' "Touch Me (All Night Long)" peaked at #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 for two weeks, 18 and 25 May 1991; the #1 record for the former week was Hi-Five's "I Like the Way (The Kissing Game)" and the #1 record for the latter week was Mariah Carey's "I Don't Wanna Cry".
  • John Poole from Ardmore, PaCathy Dennis's 1991 Too Many Walls seemed to hint at transgressive erotic attraction. Today it is almost a mandatory trait for being "normal" . Quite an odd social change in 25 years.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.

Jonathan Cain of Journey

Jonathan Cain of JourneySongwriter Interviews

Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees

Jack Blades of Night Ranger and Damn YankeesSongwriter Interviews

Revisit the awesome glory of Night Ranger and Damn Yankees: cheesily-acted videos, catchy guitar licks, long hair, and lyrics that are just plain relatable.

Chris Isaak

Chris IsaakSongwriter Interviews

Chris tells the story of "Wicked Game," talks milkshakes and moonpies at Sun Records, and explains why women always get their way.

80s Video Director Jay Dubin

80s Video Director Jay DubinSong Writing

Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.