"The Captain of Her Heart" is a song by the Swiss duo

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

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Felix Haug Felix Haug (March 27, 1952 – May 1, 2004) was the drummer and keyboardist for the Swiss band Double from the time of its creation in 1981 to its disbandment in 1987. He died of a heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as ...

and

Kurt Maloo Kurt Maloo (born Kurt Meier, April 16, 1953, in Zurich, Switzerland) is a Swiss singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. He first achieved international success in 1986, as the singer and front man of the group Double (band), Double wit ...

) from their debut studio album, ''

Blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...

'' (1985). The song is a ballad about a woman who stops waiting for her absent lover to return. The single was an international success, reaching No. 8 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and No. 16 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, thus making Double the first Swiss act to reach the top 40 on the latter chart.

Background

Keyboardist Felix Haug had recorded a demo melody on his

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synthesizer, "very '80s style", several months before Double went into the studio to record their first album. In the studio, singer Kurt Maloo heard this melody and was interested. The sound engineer suggested Haug play it on a grand piano, instead of '80s-style synthesizer, as a guide for Maloo's vocals. However, when the piano melody was recorded, Maloo wanted it left in the way it was. Maloo said in 2013, "I wrote the lyrics to the playback in no time in the studio. Like a ghost writer. They were just there out of the blue. It was almost spooky. I never thought the lyrics would touch so many hearts around the world and I’m still overwhelmed from all the positive feedback I get through the internet." The prominent saxophone on the song was played by Christian Ostermeier.

Reception

Jerry Smith of the ''

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'' magazine considered "The Captain of Her Heart" a surprising "

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number song that doesn't rely on a tasteless disco beat", and noted that the "sparse arrangement of synths and a recurring piano motif is competently put together behind a dramatic vocal". In a retrospective review of the song,

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journalist Stewart Mason suggested that the song is "one of the great lost

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s of the mid-1980s." Mason wrote: "The Swiss duo never managed to capitalize on this song's casual sophistication and melodic grace, but it remains a glorious anomaly."

Music video

There were two different music videos produced for the song. The original Swiss version features the band performing the song in a darkened room. The US version of the video incorporates more of a storyline, with alternating location shots featuring the band members and various female models. A TV program incorporating elements from the US video made the band appear as having four members, with Felix Haug either playing drums or piano depending on the shot, and Kurt Maloo either playing guitar and singing or playing saxophone. Most shots of playing musicians just showed two of them at the same time, but a few were composite and showed all four. The original Swiss video uses a similar idea, but also sometimes makes two incarnations of the same artist appear together and does not attempt at realism. The album cover also represents each artist twice.

Track listings

*7-inch single (Polydor) #"The Captain of Her Heart" – 4:02 (Single Version) #"Your Prayer Takes Me Off" (Part II – Dub) – 4:04 *7-inch single (A&M) #"The Captain of Her Heart" – 4:02 (Single Version) #"Your Prayer Takes Me Off" (Part II – Dub) – 4:04 *7-inch single (Metronome) #"The Captain of Her Heart" – 4:35 #"Your Prayer Takes Me Off" (Part II – Dub) – 4:04 *12-inch maxi single #"The Captain of Her Heart" – 4:35 #"Your Prayer Takes Me Off" (Part II – Dub) – 4:04 #"Your Prayer Takes Me Off" (Part I) – 6:30

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Cover versions

The song has been covered by: *

Randy Crawford Veronica "Randy" Crawford (born February 18, 1952) is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has ap ...

Laurent Voulzy Lucien Voulzy (, born 18 December 1948), better known as Laurent Voulzy (), is a French singer-songwriter, composer and musician. Life and career Voulzy was born in Paris, France. He originally led the English-pop-influenced Le Temple de Vénus ...

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*Ronnie Jones and Beauty & Deep *Contemporary jazz pianist

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offered his take on the song his 2001 album ''Good to Go''. *A Spanish version called "Ancló su Corazón" was written by Cristian Rosemary in August 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Captain Of Her Heart, The 1985 singles 1985 songs Double (band) songs Polydor Records singles A&M Records singles Metronome Records singles English-language Swiss songs