Lead Me On

Album: Lead Me On (1979)
Charted: 5
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Songfacts®:

  • This was written by Allee Willis and David Lasley. Willis also wrote the hit songs "Neutron Dance" and "Boogie Wonderland." She explains: "I really was in one of those relationships. It wasn't a bad relationship, but it was one that obviously wasn't gonna work. It was someone that couldn't commit. And I really was a wreck. But I had just started having hits, so at least I was a wreck in a very exciting time in my life. David Lasley was one of the first people I ever collaborated with, and there was a song out at that time that the Bee Gees had written and produced. It was by an artist named Samantha Sang, 'Emotion.' So we wanted to write a song that was in kind of that tempo that had that feel, and I don't remember if it was David or me that just said, 'Lead me on.' You know, tease me all night long. I don't care, I want to be in this relationship, you can give me s--t, I'm staying here. It was a very mentally unhealthy state to be in.

    That song was written very, very fast. That and 'Neutron Dance' were both written in under an hour. But I think it was because in both those cases they were extremely autobiographical. And 'Lead Me On' was the first record that I sang background on, so 100% of those backgrounds are me. I shied away from singing, which is what I really wanted to do, but it took me 32 years to get back to it - I'm finally doing it again now. But I was pretty excited about that record. It was a hit at the exact same time as 'Boogie Wonderland.' So they kind of chased each other up the charts." (Read more in the Allee Willis interview, and at her website: alleewillis.com.)
  • This song so thoroughly dominated the Adult Contemporary charts, that in 2011 when Billboard listed their top 100 AC songs of all time, this was #2, beaten only by Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply."

Comments: 1

  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn July 28th 1979, Maxine Nightingale performed "Lead Me On" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...Two months earlier on May 20th, 1979 it entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #89; and on September 9th, 1979 it peaked at #5 {for 2 weeks} and spent almost a half-year on the Top 100 {23 weeks}...And on July 1st, 1979 it reached #1 {for 7 non-consecutive weeks} on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...Between 1976 and 1979 she had four Top 100 records; with two reaching the Top 10, her other Top 10 record was "Right Back Where We Started From", it peaked at #2 {for 2 weeks} on April 25th, 1976.Maxine Nightingale, her real birth name, will celebrate her 62nd birthday this coming November 2nd, 2014...
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