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."