"Family Man" is a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

song written by

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

, Tim Cross,

Rick Fenn Richard Fenn (born 23 May 1953) is an English rock guitarist. He has been a member of the band 10cc since 1976 and has also collaborated with Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Hollies singer Peter Howarth, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. Hist ...

, Mike Frye,

Morris Pert Morris David Brough Pert (8 September 1947 – 27 April 2010) was a Scottish composer, drummer/percussionist, and pianist who composed in the fields of both contemporary classical and jazz-rock music. His compositions include three symphonies, p ...

, and

Maggie Reilly Maggie Reilly (born 15 September 1956) is a Scottish singer best known for her collaborations with the composer and instrumentalist Mike Oldfield. Most notably, she performed lead vocals on the Oldfield songs " Family Man", " Moonlight Shadow", ...

. It became a hit song in 1982 for Mike Oldfield with Maggie Reilly as the vocalist.

Hall & Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

achieved success a year later with their cover version. In 2009, Maggie Reilly recorded another version of the song for her solo studio album ''Looking Back Moving Forward''.

Mike Oldfield version

Background

The song "Family Man" was first recorded and released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

by musician

in 1982 on

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), Tom Newman. It ...

. It was taken from his studio album ''

Five Miles Out ''Five Miles Out'' is the seventh studio album by English recording artist Mike Oldfield, released on 19 February 1982 by Virgin Records in the UK. After touring in support of his previous album, '' QE2'' (1980), ended in mid-1981, Oldfield sta ...

'', with vocals performed by

. In the UK the single was released as a standard black 7-inch vinyl and a 7-inch

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

featuring a photographic portrait of Oldfield. The single cover depicts a scene where a gentleman in a black suit sitting at a bar, being approached from behind by a woman in a red outfit.

Lyrical content

According to an interview in 1998, Oldfield wrote all of the music for the chorus, and verses were written by the other writers. Tim Cross has also claimed to have written the majority of the lyrics for the song, and cited

as the inspiration of the "family man" mentioned in the song. The song is about a man who is being solicited by a prostitute and his protestations because he is a "family man." The original version has the woman storming off after his rejection.

Track listing

# "Family Man" – 3:45 # "Mount Teide" – 4:10

Chart performance

Hall & Oates version

Background

The American duo

Daryl Hall & John Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

covered "Family Man" for their '' H₂O'' studio album and it reached number 6 on the

US Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

in June 1983. Their version of the song has some altered lyrics, including a line in which the man finally gets the nerve to take up the woman's offer, but she has left, and he screams out the chorus. '' Cash Box'' praised the vocal performance and the guitar solo. The song appears on the Flash FM radio station of the 2006 video game '' Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories''.

Track listing

# "Family Man" # " Maneater" # "Open All Night"

Music video

Three versions of the music video exist. The original, which uses the standard album/single version of the song features Daryl miming the song & John playing guitar in a room full of young children who are playing rambunctiously. The guitar solo features

G.E. Smith George Edward Smith ('' né'' Haddad; born January 27, 1952) is an American guitarist. Smith was the lead guitarist for the duo Hall & Oates during the band's heyday from 1979 to 1985, playing on five number one singles. After Hall & Oates went ...

performing while a group of young girls in sleep attire surround him to watch. Throughout the video, computer animated lipstick kisses appear on screen and at one point across Daryl's face. There is also a computer animated male and female figure to illustrate the characters of the song making eyes at each other, as seen on the single cover. A second version of the video was extended to match the length of the 12" extended rock mix of the song, and features a typical American family viewing the original version of the video on their television while each of their appearances slowly transform into looking like either Daryl or John. A later version turned up in some places such as the ''7 Big Ones'' music video compilation LaserDisc, which is the extended video re-edited to match the album version of the song. This results in some strange shots as the video begins to be seen through the television of the family in the aforementioned version, yet the family is not shown. When the ''7 Big Ones'' video compilation was released on DVD, the full-length extended version of the video was used.

Chart performance

References

{{authority control 1982 singles 1983 singles Mike Oldfield songs Hall & Oates songs Maggie Reilly songs Songs written by Maggie Reilly Songs written by Mike Oldfield Virgin Records singles RCA Records singles 1982 songs Songs about prostitutes