"Swept Away" is a song by American R&B singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups o ...

for her album of the same name. Ross released the song as the album's second single on August 14, 1984 by the

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

. It was written by

Daryl Hall Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B and soul singer and musician, best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Daryl Hall and John Oates (with guitarist and ...

, Sara Allen and produced by Hall and Arthur Baker. Ross wrote the spoken lyrics at the beginning of the song and Hall also provided background vocals on it. The song talked about how the narrator thought she was in love with a special person only to find out that she had just been "swept away" after catching her lover cheating on her sending her into a rage and panic. Baker had been a club DJ turned

remixer A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

who was just breaking into production, and the twelve-inch version became one of Ross' most successful, reaching number one on the Billboard Dance/Disco chart and #3 on the Cash Box 12" singles sales chart. The single also reached nineteen on the US

pop singles chart 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 ...

and number three on the

R&B singles chart 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 p ...

Music video

In the sensual music video, directed by Dominic Orlando in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and on location in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, Diana is seduced by a Frenchman and falls in love with him only to find out, after arriving unannounced in a bar, that he's cheating on her with another French girl in a stylized

Apache Dance Apache, or La Danse Apache, Bowery Waltz, Apache Turn, Apache Dance and Tough Dance is a highly dramatic dance associated in popular culture with Parisian street culture at the beginning of the 20th century. In fin de siècle Paris young members ...

. She then confronts the man - hitting him repeatedly - who ends up being knocked unconscious by the singer. Later in the video, the Frenchman tries to fight his way back into her life only to have Ross push him from a lighthouse tower into the water. It was one of her most popular videos, and her first to air on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

. The music video was blown up to 35mm for projection during Diana Ross' live performances at

Caesars Palace Caesars Palace is a luxury hotel and casino in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The hotel is situated on the west side of the Las Vegas Strip between Bellagio and The Mirage. It is one of Las Vegas's largest and best known landmarks. Caesars P ...

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. There's also an extended version of the video edited for the 12" dance club remix.

Charts

Personnel

*Lead vocals by Diana Ross *Background vocals by Daryl Hall and Diana Ross *Guitar solo by Jeff Beck *Produced by Daryl Hall and Arthur Baker

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1984 singles Diana Ross songs Songs written by Daryl Hall Dance-pop songs RCA Records singles Songs written by Sara Allen Song recordings produced by Arthur Baker (musician) 1984 songs Songs about heartache

Music video

Charts

Personnel

See also

References

External links