50 Daryl Hall & John Oates Songs You Better Have…Or Else
“Everything Your Heart Desires (Video Mix)”
(1988, #3 pop)
Writer: Daryl Hall
Producer: Daryl Hall, John Oates, Tom “T-Bone” Wolk
from the album Ooh Yeah!
There’s a complex beauty that covers the plush design of “Everything Your Heart Desires,” the band’s finest moment in the late Eighties. Instead of leaning on Motown nostalgia and familiar templates, the two compose an accessible pop record nurtured in the contemporary science of Babyface-esque crossover r&b. At the center of this masterpiece is a brutally honest response to an uncommitted lover: “Can’t you see you have everything your heart desires/So why you want more?” Shooting to number two on the adult contemporary charts, “Everything” demonstrated a more mature and sexy Hall & Oates and defined the remaining output for most of their career. The album version may be quick to nab, but the video mix is more refined and better packaged thanks to its heavenly synth echoes and perfectly timed sound effects.
