Spanish Eddie by Laura Branigan

Album: Hold Me (1985)

Charted: 40

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This was rumored to be about Spanish Eddie Vincente of the YSA's Bronx gang crisis squad and his failed attempt to broker a city-wide gang truce beginning with the Hoe Avenue peace meeting in 1971. >>
Suggestion credit:
lisa - NYC, CA
A very odd song, this combined lyrics about gangs and street life with a very '80s synth-dance beat. There's also a strange mention of the Bob Dylan song "Desolation Row" in the chorus.

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Comments: 2

Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn this day in 1985 {July 13th} Laura Branigan performed "Spanish Eddie" on the Dick Clark ABC-TV Saturday-afternoon program, 'American Bandstand'...
Two weeks later the song entered Billboard's Hot Top #100 chart at position #84, and on September 1st, 1985 it peaked at #40 {for 2 weeks}, it spent eleven weeks on the Top 100...
It made the Top 10 in Austria were it reached #8 on the Austrian Top 40 Singles chart...
And on the same 'Bandstand' show she also performed "Hold Me", it reached #82 {for 2 weeks} on October 20th, 1985 and stayed on the Top 100 for four weeks...
Between 1982 and 1990 the Brewster, New York native had thirteen records on the Hot Top 100 chart, three made the Top 10, "Gloria" {#2* for 3 weeks in 1982}, "Solitaire" {#7 for 2 weeks in 1983}, and "Self Control" {#4 for 2 weeks in 1984}
Sadly, Laura Ann Branigan passed away at the young age of 52 on August 26th, 2004 {brain aneurysm}...
May she R.I.P.
* "Gloria" peaked at #2 for three weeks, the first two weeks it was at #2, the #1 record for both those weeks was "Truly" by Lionel Richie, and for it's third week, Toni Basil's "Mickey" was in the top spot...
Lisa from Nyc, CaThe Vicks & Lemon Gin line probably refers to a practice common the 1960s of soaking the cotton inserts from Benzedrine nasal inhalers in alcohol and then imbibing the godawful result in order to get buzzed and drunk at the same time. Vicks Inhalers are no longer made with Benzadrine but do contain a very mild stimulant in addition to the Camphor & Menthol scent. If you were to try that trick today, all you would get is minty breath and a bad hangover so don't waste your time!

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