"Escape " is a song written and recorded by British-born American singer Rupert Holmes for his album Partners in Crime. As the lead single for the album, the pop song was recommended by Billboard for radio broadcasters on September 29, 1979, then added to prominent US radio playlists in October–November. Rising in popularity, the song peaked at the end of December to become the final US number one song of the 1970s. The song is featured in many films and TV shows such as Shrek, Guardians of the Galaxy, Grown Ups, Like Father, Third Watch, The Goldbergs, Splitting Up Together, Living with Yourself andIt's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Content
The song speaks, in three verses and three choruses, of a man who is bored with his current relationship because it has become routine and he desires some variety. One day, he reads the personal advertisements in the newspaper and spots an ad that catches his attention: a woman seeking a man who, among other little things, must like piña coladas Intrigued, he takes out an ad in reply and arranges to meet the woman "at a bar called O'Malley's", only to find upon the meeting that the woman is actually his current partner. The song ends on an upbeat note, showing the two lovers realized they have more in common than they had suspected and that they do not have to look any further than each other for what they seek in a relationship.
Reception
The song shot up through the US charts, becoming the country's last number-one BillboardHot 100 hit of 1979 and of the 1970s. "Escape" was knocked out of the top spot but returned to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the second week of 1980, having been displaced for a week by KC and the Sunshine Band's "Please Don't Go". It was the first pop song to ascend to #1 on the Billboardpop chart in two different decades. The song was the US's 11th-best-selling single of 1980 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2019 the bandSugar Ray released a cover version on their album Little Yachty, duplicating Holmes's rhythm and feel. The song was featured in radio and supermarket commercials for Bountypaper towels in 2019 and 2020.
Background and writing
Recorded for Holmes's Partners in Crime album, the song came from an unused track for which Holmes wrote temporary or "dummy" lyrics: This version, "The Law of The Jungle", was released as part of his Cast of Charactersbox set and was inspired by a want-ad he read whilst idly scanning the personals one day. As Holmes put it, "I thought, ‘what would happen to me if I answered this ad?’ I'd go and see if it was my own wife who was bored with me." The title of the song was originally going to be "People Need Other People", and was later to be revealed that it was a true story. The chorus originally started with "If you like Humphrey Bogart", which Holmes changed at the last minute, replacing the actor with the name of the first exotic cocktail that came to mind and fit the music. Holmes noted in 2019 that he still does not drink piña coladas.
