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:: Photoglo - Steal Away ::

There once was a feller named Robbie Dupree who wrote and sang a song called Steal Away. It was a big hit in 1980, but it was a total rip-off of another hit song from the previous year called What A Fool Believes by Michael McDonald and the Doobie Bros. Well, Steal Away was a different song, but the arrangement used the same distinctive keyboard/rhythm pattern idea. It's the age old trick in Pop Music: Recognize a formula that sells, and exploit the hell out of it. Of course another ironic twist to this particular rip-off is the fact the song is called "Steal Away".



About the same time Robbie Dupree was preparing to ride Michael McDonald's formidable wake toward a Grammy nomination, another wannabe mellow popster named Jim Photoglo was grinding out his debut album somewhere across town. One of the songs Jim and his producer, Brian Neary had written for the album was called... Steal Away. Aw, it was sure to be a hit, they probably thought. For a little insurance, they borrowed the rhythm track and part of the melody from a song that was a huge hit about 4 years previous: Lowdown by Boz Scaggs. Alas, this Steal Away did not have the good fortune the other Steal Away had, which just goes to show: You can steal away all you want, but not everyone can be Robbie Dupree.

Then there's Billy Ocean...


Mike

This entry was posted on Friday, October 14, 2005 at 8:01 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.