Dexys Midnight Runners "Come On Eileen"

Well today on the muzak system at work I heard a song I loved in my senior year of college. It was Dexys Midnight Runners and it was called Come On Eileen. The songwriter is talking about his relationship with his first girlfriend. What has kept the song and the group in my mind for so long since they only had this one hit in America? Well it is something that I heard that the leader of the group was suppose to have said. He is suppose to have said if he ever had a song go to number one in America that he would quit the music business. I took it to mean that was his goal to have a number one song in the US. Sure enough their first song in the USA was "Come On Eileen" and for one week in April of 1983 it was the number 1 song in the country on the Billboard charts. All these years I thgought that Kevin Rowland, the songwriter and leader of the group, kept his word as they were never heard from again in the USA. Since the group was from England and big in Europe I think they just stayed overseas. I recently found a quote from Mr. Rowland and I believe this is the real quote. "I promised myself that if Come On Eileen didn't do well I'd find another way of making money. I don't want to be in a loser group touring around everywhere, suffering for my art. It doesn't mean a think because if the music doesn't relate to people and win success, it's a waste of time." There may be some starving musicians who have a different point of view but that is what he said. Not that he would retire after a number one record in America. The song came out when Michael Jackson was rising in his bid for "king of pop" and this was the song that bumbed Billie Jean off the number 1 spot. Mr. Jackson fought back with Beat It. I got the above photo from this auction on e-bay. This is an auction for the 12 inch disc of the song that they would play in Disco's and later they sold in music stores.