Big in Germany... But Not Here

Hi everyone-

I've been trying to find an English-sung song that I hear all the time in Germany, but never in the U.S. I am always in a place where it is too noisy to hear most of the lyrics. Here's what I know:

The song is probably in Dmaj, and has an 80's medium-tempo feel (similar groove to Gwen Stefani's "Cool," but more 80's-style up-ballad... tempo about 116 perhaps). It is a relaxed groove with steady 4/4 rhythm and some light use of string pads. It features a deeper, laid-back male vocal singing a prominent, major-tonality melody over simple rock chords, but the progression changes a bit through the form (not a three-chord wonder).

The lyrics seem to be centered around the end of the chorus... something like "Let me love you tonight," "can I see you tonight," "can I hold you tonight," "can I come over tonight," although I'm pretty sure none of these are totally correct (I looked up songs with these titles... they weren't the right ones). I believe this phrase is repeated twice at the end of the chorus (over a 2-5 progression for you musicians... Emin, A7, Dmaj).

I get the feeling this English-speaking group is played often in Germany... I think I have heard other songs by them, but couldn't hear the lyrics to them either. Any help you could give me is MOST APPRECIATED! Even if you can just suggest artists/songs that fit this vibe... I'm not an 80's expert! Wish I was.

Thanks everyone-
heyfortunato

Your musical description went way over my head.

I DOUBT that it's this one, but is this the kind of music you're thinking of?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awUFFNr3imY

Wow, great lead! This is really, really on the right track, that's pretty much the sound, although not quite the right song. I'm going to do some more searching using OMD as a seed and see what I find. Clearly my description wasn't that far over your head at all, thanks so much!

Well, fortunately, I took piano lessons for 6 years so I was able to recreate the chord structure you said.

Let's see... here are other 80s songs with a similar feel.

So Alive by Love and Rockets is similar style-wise: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IB8KJyO8p9k

This is probably too slow but In the Air Tonight by Phil Collins is worth a shot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjvmNSKJzd4

It's not this mystery song, is it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr8y9VAA_Ok This song was already looked for on this forum a few months ago. It's sort of the thing you're looking for. Apparently it's very big in other countries.

The Love and Rockets song is really, really on the right track... my track doesn't have female background voices, but the voice and instrument mix sound really close. Thanks so much for all these great leads, this is better information than I've gotten from any of my friends!

Haha, 80s music was like all I listened to for two years. I'm sorry to say this, but you've got a song with a very typical 80s sound and the song could have been any artist.

Here's some more similar songs you might want to listen to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pybSRca-cA -- Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds reminds me of the chord structure you said. Perhaps it's this one? (Ignore the movie -- this is the ONLY video I could find with the radio version of the song in it!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0U5JfGYx4c Addicted to Love was BIG in America, but perhaps you overlooked it? His voice isn't really that laid-back, though.

Hi Musiclover, I was following the thread from the beginning. And I was thinking also about the song and I also had "Don´t you" by the Simple Minds on my mind but I did not suggested it, as I thought it is far too famous, cos everybody knows it. This song was very very popular in Germany, I guess it was 1986 / 1987.

Yup, I don't think that Don't You was quite so popular in the US though. I only learned about it from a Karaoke video game at my cousin's house years ago, and didn't hear it on the radio until the middle of last year. So I figured it was worth a shot.