"Déjà Vu" is a hit 1979

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

written by

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

with lyricist Adrienne Anderson, recorded by

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles cha ...

for her album '' Dionne'' which

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

produced. The song won Warwick a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the

22nd Grammy Awards The 22nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 27, 1980, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1979. This year was notable for being the ...

Background

Isaac Hayes had written the tune for "Déjà Vu" in 1977 while touring with Warwick on the ''A Man and a Woman'' Tour: Warwick would recall then hearing Hayes play the tune – which he had entitled "Déjà Vu" without writing lyrics – and as she and Barry Manilow began preparing for the January 1979 recording sessions for the ''Dionne'' album, Warwick solicited a tape of "Déjà Vu" from Hayes to play for Manilow, who recruited his own regular lyricist Adrienne Anderson to write the words.

Chart performance

Issued in November 1979 as the album's second single – following up Warwick's top ten comeback hit "

I'll Never Love This Way Again "I'll Never Love This Way Again" is a song written and composed by English musician Richard Kerr and American lyricist Will Jennings, and first recorded by Kerr himself for his album ''Welcome to the Club'' as "I Know I'll Never Love This Way A ...

" – "Déjà Vu" rose to number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number 25 on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, and number one on the

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart in early 1980. "Déjà Vu" was Warwick's fifth and last

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

single of her 1970s period and her second top 40 single following the release of "

" in the five years since her number-one single, " Then Came You", featuring The Spinners.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other versions

The song has also been recorded by

Ethel Ennis Ethel Llewellyn Ennis (November 28, 1932 – February 17, 2019) was an American jazz musician whose career spanned seven decades. Ennis spent the majority of her life in her hometown of Baltimore, Maryland, where she was affectionately known as t ...

(album ''Live at the Maryland Inn''/ 1980),

Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...

(album ''Don't Stop Now''/ 1980), Trudy Kerr (album ''Déjà Vu: Songs From My Past''/ 2008), and by guitarist Peter White (album ''Playin' Favorites''/ 2006) with vocalist Kiki Ebsen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deja Vu 1979 singles 1979 songs 1970s ballads Dionne Warwick songs Pop ballads Rhythm and blues ballads Songs written by Isaac Hayes Songs written by Adrienne Anderson Arista Records singles