50 Daryl Hall & John Oates Songs You Better Have…Or Else
“So Close”
(1990; #11 pop)
Writer: Daryl Hall, Jon Bon Jovi, George Green, Danny Kortchmar
Producer: Jon Bon Jovi, Danny Kortchmar
from the album Change of Season
With the help of Jon Bon Jovi contributing additional lyrics and music, this Top Twenty hit aboard the Change of Season LP sports a beefy arena-rock sheen as opposed to the unplugged acoustic version harnessed to the back of the album. Like Bon Jovi’s “Livin on a Prayer,” the song begins with a story written from a third-person point of view and tells the story of a couple who meet on a dance floor and quickly depart once the music stops. The arc of the story gets interesting when she decides to “drop a coin in the jukebox not the phone on the wall.” The music becomes the healing balm, since it makes him feel closer than actually hearing the voice of her long-distance lover. The mature sound is a slight detour from the magical formula that dominated the H&O’s repertoire of the Eighties, but even pop stars needs to grow up some time. This was their way of moving into different territory, while also respecting the new season they were in. The sounds that dominated their ‘80’s craft before couldn’t be exercised and properly received in the new decade.
