Let Me Tickle Your Fancy

Album: Let Me Tickle Your Fancy (1982)
Charted: 18
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Songfacts®:

  • This was another hit from Jermaine Jackson's solo career during the early 1980s. It's a pretty typical "take an interest in me, let's hook up" song. If something "tickles your fancy" it appeals to you. >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Mike - Santa Barbara, CA
  • Let Me Tickle Your Fancy was Jackson's final album with Motown before departing for Arista Records. He had been with the label since The Jackson 5 signed with Motown in 1968.
  • This features Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale of Devo, credited as Spud and Pud, on backing vocals. It was an odd choice for a Motown-bred soul singer to hook up with new wave punk rockers - so odd, in fact, that the group thought Jackson was joking when he rang them up with the pitch. When news of the collaboration hit the public, it left a lot folks scratching their heads. Jackson recalled in a 1984 radio interview: "A lot of people said 'Jermaine Jackson and Devo?' but that's what I wanted people to say because when it's just off the wall like that, if it's great, then that's going to make it the biggest thing ever."
  • Jackson says Motown is to blame for the single petering out at #18 when it was predicted to go even higher. "[It] carried Billboard's red dot symbol, signifying it was a 'bullet' set to climb," he explained in his book You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through A Brother's Eyes. "But Motown didn't harness the momentum. The song lost the bullet and started falling. I remember wandering around London at the time, feeling despondent and marooned."
  • This peaked at #8 on the R&B chart.

Comments: 1

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 4th 1982, Jermaine Jackson performed "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    Two months earlier on July 18th, 1982 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #75; and on September 19th, 1982 it peaked at #18 {for 2 weeks} and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100...
    It reached #5 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart...
    The rock band Devo provided backing vocals on the record...
    Jermaine La June Jackson will celebrate his 60th birthday in three months on December 11th {2014}.
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