Make Me Lose Control (song)

"Make Me Lose Control"
Single by Eric Carmen
from the album The Best of Eric Carmen (1988)
B-side "That's Rock 'n' Roll"
Released May 1988
Format 7" (45 rpm)
Genre Pop rock, adult contemporary
Length 4:47
Label Arista
Writer(s) Eric Carmen, Dean Pitchford
Producer(s) Jimmy Ienner
Eric Carmen singles chronology
"Hungry Eyes"
(1987)		 "Make Me Lose Control"
(1988)		 "Reason To Try" (1988)

"Make Me Lose Control" is a 1988 Billboard Hot 100 #3 hit single (see 1988 in music) written and performed by the singer-songwriter Eric Carmen. It was co-written by Dean Pitchford. It is one of two major hits written by the duo, the other being the 1984 song "Almost Paradise" by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson.

Released a few months after the success of "Hungry Eyes", Carmen's song from the film Dirty Dancing, which peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Make Me Lose Control" also reached the Top 5 on the Hot 100, topping out at #3.[1] On the Sales chart the song spent a week at #1 while on the Airplay chart it reached #4. The song spent 13 weeks in the Top 40. In addition, "Make Me Lose Control" spent three weeks at #1 on the adult contemporary chart, the singer's second song to do so (following "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" from 1976).[2]

Carmen stated in the liner notes to a compilation album that "Make Me Lose Control" was an "odd record because it was all by itself. The song wasn't part of an album, but it was an interesting experience to jump back into the studio with Jimmy Ienner after ten years".[2] The B side was Carmen's original 1975 recording of his song which became a major hit in 1977 for Shaun Cassidy, "That's Rock 'n' Roll".

"Make Me Lose Control" did not originally appear on any of Carmen's studio albums; the song would later surface on various "greatest hits" releases. In keeping with its nostalgic feel, richness of harmony and underlying yearning for the "sweet songs" of the 1950s and 1960s, references four other songs from that era: "Uptown" (whether the song indicates the song recorded by Roy Orbison or the one recorded by the Crystals is unclear), "Stand by Me" by Ben E. King, "Be My Baby" by The Ronettes and "Back in My Arms Again" by the Supremes. Of the seven times Carmen's compositions have reached the Top 10, it is the only song that has been released by no other artist besides him.

It was featured in the Showtime TV series Dexter in a season one episode called "Shink Wrap", being enthusiastically sung into a police trophy by Debra Morgan (Jennifer Carpenter), while she danced in her bra in front of a mirror.

Music video

The music video features Kid Leo, a radio personality who got his start in Cleveland, Carmen's hometown. The video references the film American Graffiti by re-creating the scene in which the blonde in the white T-Bird (Suzanne Somers) tells Curt (Richard Dreyfuss) "I love you" and his near-misses with her thereafter. In the video, a mysterious young blonde pulls up beside Carmen's car and tells him "I love you." Like Dreyfuss' character, Carmen will only see a T-Bird in passing for the remainder of the video.

Chart performance

Weekly singles charts

Chart (1988) Peak
position
Australia [3] 8
Canadian RPM Top Singles 2
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary [4] 1
New Zealand [5] 29
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [6] 3
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks 1
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 [7] 4
UK 93

Year-end charts

Chart (1988) Position
Australia [8] 46
Canada [9] 30
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 [10] 38
U.S. Cash Box Hot 100 [11] 43

Album

Album title: The Best of Eric Carmen [Arista] Year: 1988 Track listing:

References

  1. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1996). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 6th Edition (Billboard Publications)
  2. 1 2 Hyatt, Wesley (1999). The Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contemporary Hits (Billboard Publications)
  3. ↑ http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Eric+Carmen+with+Merry+Clayton&titel=Almost+Paradise&cat=s
  4. ↑ http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.8571&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=giuebp2ludgve4d5sn29no1s64
  5. ↑ http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/singles?chart=3316
  6. ↑ [Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2002]
  7. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/80s_files/19880813.html
  8. ↑ http://www.aria.com.au/pages/aria-charts-end-of-year-charts-top-50-singles-1988.htm
  9. ↑ http://hitsofalldecades.com/chart_hits/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=175&Itemid=49
  10. ↑ http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1988.htm
  11. ↑ http://50.6.195.142/archives/80s_files/1988YESP.html
Preceded by
"Make It Real" by The Jets		 Billboard Adult Contemporary (chart) number-one single
July 16, 1988 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Roll With It" by Steve Winwood
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