All the Way from America

Album: Me Myself I (1980)
Charted: 54
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Songfacts®:

  • Most of Joan Armatrading's songs are not personal, but this one is an exception. "That song was somebody who was in America who was trying to persuade me to go out with them and would call all the way from America when I got back to the UK," she said in a Songfacts interview.

    This explanation is as much as she's willing to divulge about the song, since she is an intensely private person.
  • Released in the UK as the second single from her Me Myself I album (following the title track, "All the Way from America" stands up as one of Armatrading's most enduring songs, and one that she consistently performs at her live shows.
  • Calling "all the way from America" to the UK might not seem like a big deal today, but in 1980 a call of this nature was very expensive - depending on the time of day, a 20-minute conversation could easily run $100, and the quality of the connection was iffy. Unless you were rich, you were very careful when calling overseas, keeping an eye on the clock for fear of the phone bill.

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