Heartbeat

Album: single release (1981)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Written by Kenton Nix and arranged by Dennis Weeden, this post-disco dance track became a hot single after it was mixed by DJ Larry Levan. Known as the "club version," it peaked at #10 on the R&B chart and #6 on the dance chart.
  • Levan wasn't happy with the original record and brought in pal Michael "Mafia" de Benedictus, his Peech Boys bandmate and fellow resident at the New York club hotspot Paradise Garage, for advice. de Benedictus explained to New Musical Express in 1983: "Levan said to me, come on this record needs something. I don't know what it is but come on let's go. We messed around with it and it came out like that. Slightly out of tune and out of time. No way did we expect it to be such a success but the public, because they had been used to all this sterilized stuff, just said, 'Oh, what a refreshing record.'"
  • Dance-pop/urban contemporary trio Seduction covered this in 1990 for their debut album, Nothing Matters Without Love. Their version peaked at #13 on the pop chart and #21 on the soul chart.
  • Gardner's version has been sampled by several artists, including Eazy-E in "Radio" (1988), De La Soul in "Buddy" (1989), and DMX "It's All Good (Love My Niggas)" (1998).
  • This was featured in the 2000 comedy 3 strikes, starring Brian Hooks.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Adele

AdeleFact or Fiction

Despite her reticent personality, Adele's life and music are filled with intrigue. See if you can spot the true tales.

Bob Daisley

Bob DaisleySongwriter Interviews

Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.

Second Wind Songs

Second Wind SongsSong Writing

Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul Station

Paul Stanley of Kiss, Soul StationSongwriter Interviews

Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.

Songs About Movies

Songs About MoviesSong Writing

Iron Maiden, Adele, Toto, Eminem and Earth, Wind & Fire are just some of the artists with songs directly inspired by movies - and not always good ones.

When Rock Belonged To Michelob

When Rock Belonged To MichelobSong Writing

Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.