"Come On Eileen" is a song by the English group

Dexys Midnight Runners Dexys Midnight Runners (currently officially Dexys, their former nickname, styled without an apostrophe) are an English pop rock band from Birmingham, with soul influences, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They a ...

(credited to Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express), released in the United Kingdom in June 1982 as a single from their second studio album '' Too-Rye-Ay''. It reached number one in the United States and was their second number one hit in the UK, following 1980's "

Geno Geno may refer to: __NOTOC__ People *Geno (given name), including a list of people with the name *Marián Geňo (born 1984), Czech footballer *Evgeni Malkin (born 1986), Russian ice hockey player nicknamed Geno Art and entertainment *Geno (son ...

". The song was produced by

Clive Langer Clive Langer (born 19 June 1954 in Hampstead, London, England) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films '' Still Crazy'' and '' ...

and

Alan Winstanley Alan Kenneth Winstanley (born 2 November 1952) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Clive Langer. His early career during the mid-1970s was as an audio engineer, working on albu ...

and was initially claimed to be written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, although Rowland later stated that the essence of the tune should be attributed to

Kevin Archer Kevin "Al" Archer (born 21 December 1958) is an English guitarist and songwriter. Career Archer played with Kevin Rowland in the punk rock group the Killjoys. In 1978, Rowland and Archer formed Dexys Midnight Runners. Archer co-wrote some of t ...

. "Come On Eileen" won Best British Single at the 1983 Brit Awards, and in 2015 the song was voted by the British public as the nation's sixth favourite 1980s number one single in a poll for

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

. It was ranked number eighteen on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" and was Britain's best-selling single of 1982.

Composition

There are various versions of the song; some, in addition to the main section, feature either a

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

fiddle-solo intro or an

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

coda, both based on

Thomas Moore Thomas Moore (28 May 1779 – 25 February 1852) was an Irish writer, poet, and lyricist celebrated for his ''Irish Melodies''. Their setting of English-language verse to old Irish tunes marked the transition in popular Irish culture from Irish ...

's Irish folk song " Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms". The main section begins with a Celtic-style fiddle played over a drum beat, with the bass guitar and piano providing accompaniment. The lyrics of the song begin with the lines:

The

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

of "Come On Eileen" features an improvised

counter-melody In music, a counter-melody (often countermelody) is a sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent lead melody. In other words, it is a secondary melody played in counterpoint with the prima ...

which begins in a slow tempo and grows faster and faster over an

accelerando ''Accelerando'' is a 2005 science fiction novel consisting of a series of interconnected short stories written by British author Charles Stross. As well as normal hardback and paperback editions, it was released as a free e-book under the CC ...

vocal backing. The chord sequence of the bridge is actually the same as the verses, but transposed up by a

whole tone In Western music theory, a major second (sometimes also called whole tone or a whole step) is a second spanning two semitones (). A second is a musical interval encompassing two adjacent staff positions (see Interval number for more det ...

. Throughout the song, there are numerous

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

changes and

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

changes: Although often believed to have been inspired by a childhood friend with whom Kevin Rowland had a romantic, and later sexual, relationship in his teens, there was actually no real Eileen. "In fact she was composite, to make a point about Catholic repression."

Music video

The 1982 music video was directed by Julien Temple and filmed in the inner south London suburb of Kennington in the vicinity of the corner of Brook Drive and Hayles Street, then Austral Street and Holyoak Road. The character of "Eileen" in the music video, as well as on the single cover, is played by Máire Fahey, sister of

Siobhan Fahey Siobhan Maire Fahey (; born 10 September 1958) is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later ...

from

Bananarama Bananarama are an English pop duo from London, formed as a trio in 1980 by friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Thei ...

. Archival footage of

Johnnie Ray John Alvin Ray (January 10, 1927 – February 24, 1990) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blu ...

arriving at London Heathrow Airport in 1954 was featured in the video.

Chart success

In a 2000 poll by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, the song was placed at number 38 in the 100 greatest number one singles of all time. Similar polls by the music channel VH1 placed the song at number three in their "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders" of all time, number 18 in their "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s" and number one in their "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s". (While the group had a previous number one single in the UK with "

" in 1980, "Come On Eileen" was their only US hit.) As of June 2013, "Come On Eileen" had sold 1.33 million copies in the UK. The song reached number one in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 charts during the week ending 23 April 1983. "Come On Eileen" prevented

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

from having back-to-back number one hits in the US: "

Billie Jean "Billie Jean" is a song by American singer Michael Jackson, released by Epic Records on January 2, 1983, as the second single from his sixth studio album, '' Thriller'' (1982). It was written and composed by Jackson and produced by Jackson and ...

" was the number one single the previous seven weeks, while " Beat It" was the number one song the ensuing three.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

"Come On England" version

In 2004, the band 4-4-2 was formed to cover the song as "

Come On England "Come On England" is a Single (music), music single by the band 4-4-2 (band), 4-4-2. The song is a re-working of the Dexys Midnight Runners hit "Come On Eileen". A Football (soccer), football-themed song, it was released on 7 June 2004 to coin ...

" with altered lyrics to support the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Engl ...

during their appearance in the 2004 European Championships.

References

{{authority control 1982 songs 1982 singles 1983 singles Dexys Midnight Runners songs Blue-eyed soul songs Brit Award for British Single Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Mercury Records singles Music videos directed by Julien Temple Number-one singles in Australia Number-one singles in New Zealand Number-one singles in South Africa Number-one singles in Switzerland Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Songs written by Kevin Rowland UK Singles Chart number-one singles Ultratop 50 Singles (Flanders) number-one singles