Blogocentric Formulations

Save Tonight

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Song: "Save Tonight"
Artist: Eagle-Eye Cherry
Album: Desireless


For my final entry of One-Hit Wonder Week, I'm going with Eagle-Eye Cherry's "Save Tonight" which was a hugely popular song when I was in high school, and featured on just about every mixtape I made during those years. I didn't realize until years later that he was a Swedish artist, and it wasn't until this challenge that I learned "Eagle-Eye" is actually his real name and not a pseudonym: Eagle-Eye Lanoo Cherry, born in Stockholm in 1969. When he was twelve, Eagle-Eye was sent to attend school in New York, and he remained there until the death of his father in 1995, which prompted him to return to his native Stockholm the following year, leaving behind the acting career he had been building for himself. Granted, he hadn't gotten very far; at the time he left the United States, his acting reel included highlights such as "Teenager" in Arthur 2: On the Rocks and a starring role in the short-lived NBC series South Beach, which aired all of six episodes. Hey, that's more success than some actors have!

His debut album, Desireless, was written and recorded one song at a time, using an acoustic guitar in his bedroom-turned-studio. He kept all of the work under wraps until he had enough material for an entire album. It ended up paying off; the album went on to sell four million copies worldwide and was certified platinum in the United States. "Save Tonight" has always been considered his signature song, and rose as high as No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. It even won a Rockbjörnen Award (man, Swedish awards sound so much cooler than American awards! ) for being the Swedish Song of the Year in 1997.

The music video itself is pretty fun too; it features Eagle-Eye Cherry playing a variety of roles as he moves through the Södermalm district of Stockholm on his way to a date, presented as if being done all in one take. Not too bad for a late 90s music video!