"Too Many Walls" is a song by British singer-songwriter Cathy Dennis. "Too Many Walls" is a midtempo pop ballad and was co-written by Dennis and Anne Dudley, member of the avant-garde

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s a ...

musical group Art of Noise. The song was originally a composition of Dudley's with strings but no lyrics, until Dennis adapted the song and added words before it appeared on her debut album. The song was then

remix 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 ...

ed into a more radio-friendly version before being released as a single on 23 September 1991 in the United Kingdom. The song became Dennis' fourth top-10 hit on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

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 ...

, where it peaked at number eight and lasted for 20 weeks on the listing. "Too Many Walls" also spent two weeks atop the ''Billboard'' Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart in October, and in Canada, it peaked at number 10 in September. The music video was filmed at the newly opened Stansted airport, and directed by Rocky Morton and

Annabel Jankel Annabel Jankel (born 1 June 1955), also known as AJ Jankel, is a British film and TV director who first came to prominence as a music video director and the co-creator of the pioneering cyber-character Max Headroom and as co-director of the film ...

Content

In an interview with '' Rolling Stone'' magazine, Dennis stated that she thinks the ballad is "the best song on the album, especially in terms of lyrics. The other songs are fun, but they can be quite vacant." She said the song is "about when you want to be together with someone, but other people's opinions and prejudices get in the way."

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

'' wrote, "After a pair of top 10

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

tunes, Dennis drops the tempo for a nicely sung, sugary ballad. Will likely keep popsters in tow, while broadening base to include AC programmers." Mark Frith from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...

'' commented, "...this is Cathy's big ballad, a perfect end-of-summer song whether you're pining for Pedro from the Spanish swimming pool or that person with the nice eyes you met in Bridlington. Too Many Walls is a lush, low-key ballad that is the high-spot of her album and quite obviously from the heart as well."

Track listings

UK CD single #"Too Many Walls" #"Too Many Walls" (L'autre Mix) #"Too Many Walls" (a cappella) US cassette single #"Too Many Walls" (Radio Mix) #"Too Many Walls" (a cappella)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 1990 songs 1991 singles Pop ballads Cathy Dennis songs Songs written by Cathy Dennis Songs written by Anne Dudley Music videos directed by Rocky Morton