If You Leave (song)

"If You Leave"
Single by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
from the album Pretty in Pink soundtrack
Released April 21, 1986 (1986-04-21)
Format 7", 12"
Recorded 1986
Length 4:30
Label Virgin Records (UK)
A&M Records (US)
Writer(s) Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Martin Cooper
Producer(s) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Tom Lord-Alge
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark singles chronology
"La Femme Accident"
(1985)		 "If You Leave"
(1986)		 "(Forever) Live and Die"
(1986)

"If You Leave" is a 1986 song by the British synthpop group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD). It was recorded for the soundtrack to the film Pretty in Pink (1986), in which it is played prominently during the final scene.

It is the band's highest-charting single in the United States, where it reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in May 1986. The song was also a Top 5 entry in Canada and New Zealand, and charted at number 15 in Australia. Tampa Bay Times critic Kevin Wuench called the track "a signature song of the '80s that will never leave the radio".[1]

Composition

The band wrote "If You Leave" after John Hughes decided to change the ending to Pretty in Pink after poor test audience reactions. Hughes had asked the band for a song for the new ending two days before they were due to begin a tour, and "If You Leave" was written and recorded in under 24 hours as a result.[2] The song was deliberately written at a tempo of 120 BPM, to match the speed of "Don't You (Forget About Me)", which the dancers in the scene had initially danced to.[3] despite this songwriter Andy McClusky later noted that an editing error meant that the dancing appears out of sync regardless.[3] The original ending featured another OMD song, "Goddess of Love", which was released on The Pacific Age later in 1986.[2]

Reception and legacy

Stereogum critic Ryan Leas considered "If You Leave" to be among "the best songs of the '80s", and described its intro/chorus synthesizer melody as "one of the best sounds ever".[4] Andrew Unterberger in Stylus Magazine said that the "gorgeous" track makes the final scene of Pretty in Pink "one of the best in cinematic history".[5] AllMusic journalist Mike DeGagne wrote: "Even though 'If You Leave' was the highlight of Pretty in Pink's soundtrack, its adult feel and smooth transition from stanza to chorus makes it [OMD's] most memorable song".[6] DeGagne's AllMusic colleague Dave Thompson, however, found the track to be overproduced with a lacklustre melody, albeit bolstered by a "rich arrangement".[7] Ian Cranna in Smash Hits said the song is "false and contrived and seems to last about 3 years", and preferred to review B-side "88 Seconds in Greensboro" instead, describing it as "OMD at their blazing best".[8]

Hugo Lindgren in The New York Times Magazine argued that the stateside popularity of "If You Leave" – as well as that of the similarly pop-oriented Crush (1985) – "obscured OMD's legacy as musical innovators" from US audiences, adding that the release of the single marked the point "when making music to satisfy their own youthful curiosities finally and irrevocably gave way to making music for whoever signed the checks".[2] Many of the group's fans disliked the song; listeners in OMD's native UK – where the band had gained an audience with edgy, experimental music – were particularly resistant to the track.[7]

"If You Leave" has been included in various retrospective listings;[9][10][11][12][13][14] KOOL-FM named it the third-best new wave song of the 1980s,[9] while Time Out ranked it the 10th greatest song of 1980s cinema.[10]

In popular culture

The Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which was known in its early seasons for naming each episode after a 1980s hit song, named an episode after this song. On Modern Family, "If You Leave" is Phil and Claire Dunphy's song. However, Claire forgets this and thinks their song is "True" by Spandau Ballet.[15] In the Season 2 finale of The Goldbergs the song is played as Erica boards the plane on her way to her summer music school. Cover versions of the song have also been used in film and television.

Track listing

7": Virgin / VS 843 (UK)

  1. "If You Leave" – 4:30
  2. "88 Seconds in Greensboro" – 4:20

7": A&M/Virgin / AM 8669 (US)

  1. "If You Leave" – 4:24
  2. "Secret" – 3:57

7": A&M/Virgin / AM 2811 (US)

  1. "If You Leave" - 4:24
  2. "La Femme Accident" - 3:58

12": Virgin / VS 843-12 (UK)

  1. "If You Leave" (extended version) – 5:59
  2. "88 Seconds in Greensboro" – 4:20
  3. "Locomotion" (live version) – 3:50

12": A&M/Virgin / SP-12176 (US)

  1. "If You Leave" (extended version) – 5:59
  2. "La Femme Accident" (extended version) – 5:36

Chart positions

Chart (1986) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[16] 15
New Zealand Singles Chart 5
UK Singles Chart 48
US Billboard Hot 100 4
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks 24
US Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 31

Other appearances

Cover versions

References

  1. ↑ Wuench, Kevin (January 28, 2014). "Tuesday lost and found: OMD's 'Electricity'". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved October 3, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 Lindgren, Hugo (May 10, 2013). "The Plot Against Rock". The New York Times Magazine. The New York Times Company. Retrieved October 20, 2013.
  3. 1 2 Macantosh, Dan. "ANDY MCCLUSKY OF OMD". Songfacts. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  4. ↑ Leas, Ryan (February 12, 2016). "Neon Nostalgia". Stereogum. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ Unterberger, Andrew (October 3, 2003). "Top Ten Musical Moments from Pretty in Pink". Stylus Magazine. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  6. ↑ The Best of OMD at AllMusic.
  7. 1 2 "If You Leave" review at AllMusic.
  8. ↑ Cranna, Ian (May 7, 1986). "Single Reviews (OMD – '88 Seconds in Greensboro')". Smash Hits. 8 (10): 41.
  9. 1 2 "Top 15 New Wave Songs of the '80s". KOOL-FM. April 18, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
  10. 1 2 Chenr, Michael (March 18, 2014). "The 50 best songs from '80s movies". Time Out. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  11. ↑ "CBS-FM's Thanksgiving 2015 Countdown of the Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". WCBS-FM. November 16, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ Top 500 Songs of the 80's-00's. Blender. 2005. Retrieved October 23, 2012. Archived at Acclaimed Music.
  13. ↑ Terich, Terrance. The Top 200 Songs of the 80's: Part One. Treble. February 13, 2011. Retrieved October 23, 2012.
  14. ↑ "The 1001 Greatest Songs to Download Right Now!". Blender. October 2003.
  15. ↑ "Modern Family "Great Expectations"".
  16. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 224. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA from mid-1983 until June 19, 1988.
  17. ↑ Matthew Solarski (November 19, 2008). "My Brightest Diamond, Frightened Rabbit Do Covers". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved June 26, 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.