For My Sunday Song #276, we are going to go after “Human Touch” by Rick Springfield. The song was from Rick’s 1983 album ‘Living in Oz’. The song wasn’t his biggest hit ever, but it did pretty well charting at #23 in the US giving him another Top 40 hit. Interestingly enough, the song charted at #23 in the UK and was his only Top 40 hit in the UK making him a one-hit wonder in the UK. That’s right, ‘Jessie’s Girl’ didn’t go Top 40 there.
The song was inspired by kids back in the early 80’s getting stuck in front of their computer games and forgetting how to communicate and interact with other people. That’s funny, I don’t think that has changed and now is worse with today’s phones. Rick noticed this and was reminded by how much we as human needed to communicate with each other, how much we needed to touch each other in some way. He took that thought and turned in to a love story and sexualized it a little, okay, a lot. I love how he talks about someone building up walls around themselves and the girl, Sally, calls them his prison cell. We all have those walls and only certain people can break through them, but to do that, you need to let them touch you in some way. It is pretty deep.
Musically, Rick actually recorded the song using a lot of computers which he found the contradiction to be quite funny and I agree. The song starts off with a couple of computer beeps and then a drum machine kicks in which is exactly what he says in the song that people are dancing to drum machines so why not put them in. It is basic pop and dance song and is very dated in its sound which I think now adds to its charm. Later in the song we get a saxophone which jazzes it up a little, but overall it is a very generic sounding song, but I think the meaning is way deeper and shows that Rick actually has a lot of depth in his writing. He was a man ahead of his time. He should probably redo this song today as sadly, it still applies but even more so with the pandemic and the lack of human touch for so long.
Give the song a listen and let me know what you think. Is it still charming or does it not hold up well. I still like it! Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope everyone has a wonderful and Happy Sunday. Now go get some of that human touch!
“Human Touch”
Everybody’s talking to computers,
they’re all dancing to a drum machine
I know I’m living on the outside
Scared of getting caught between
I’m so cool calculated alone in a modern world-uh huh
But Sally has a hard time holding back
The alley to her heart is a beaten track
She’s got the love monkey riding on her back
You want love I got it, come on girl
[CHORUS:]
We all need the human touch
We all need the human touch
I need it the human touch
We all need the human touch
We all need it, and I need it too
You know, I got my walls, Sally calls them prison cells
Sometimes I need protection, I’ve got the chains
I got the warning bells
I sit so snug and isolated, alone in the modern world-uh huh
But Sally has a hard time holding back
The alley to her heat is a beaten track
She’s never out of love, yeah she’s got the knack
You’ve got love I want it, come on girl
[CHORUS]
Human touch
Human touch
Human touch
Human touch
I’m so scared and isolated in the modern world
We all need
We all need the human touch
We all need the human touch
We all need the human touch
I need it the human touch
We all need the human touch
I need it the human touch
We all need it and I need it too
Human touch
Human touch
Human touch
Human touch
Human touch
Written by Rick Springfield
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
I still like the song too. I think this and Jessie’s Girl are the ones I have heard the most played on the air. Sounds a bit like Bryan Adams song.
Everybody needs human touch. Not sure that caring is included in today’s agenda though.
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It does sound a little Bryanish. And yeah, I think it fits well today.
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Man, I haven’t heard this song in decades.
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Ha! I thought it would be a good one to pull out of the mothballs.
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I would have remembered it if Twinkles had danced to it.
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LOL!! I think we all would have.
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I’m really really shy and I need human touch too, everybody needs human touch. I don’t have many friends I can confide it and I have some problems with some people.
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Everybody does need it. You are not alone with that. People can be difficult.
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But I still have music, I’ve got something to believe in. It’s the end of the year and spotify told me I’ve listened 44000 minutes of music (and I’ve got some CD’s so that’s not all). It’s something like 2h/day.
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Music is lifeblood for me. It helps me through a lot. And 44,000 minutes…that is a lot and about 30.5 days. I stream, CDs, LPs so mine is pretty high up there as well as I always seem to have something going.
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I start school at 8 a.m. and I finish at 5 p.m. with a lot of homework for the next day.
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That is a lot of school work. It can take a lot out of you. My daughter is at school like 8-3 and then homework every night, so she can relate to you on that aspect.
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My goodness, like you said with the pandemic + phones combo, are these lyrics ever relevant today!
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I agree with Mr. Stephen.
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It is scary how it could fit with today.
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This is one of those songs I’ve heard hundreds of times at least, thanks to Grand Theft Auto Vice City. And yeah, it’s probably even more relevant now than it was back then.
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Wow! I didn’t realize it was in that.
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Yep. love Rick!
Just saw this one…DD played a live concert a few days ago?
Duran Duran – Save A Prayer for Radio 2 In Concert
Not sure if this rocks your boat. Maybe Lana will like this one?
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Cool! I like DD. I have a few albums.
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I like the Chorus as it reminds me of Pat Benater and “Hit Me With Your Best Shot” in the way the music is played.
I don’t recall much of his output which is disappointing as he’s from Australia.
As usual, great selection.
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Thanks. Did he not make it big in Australia? He was only big here for a few years thanks to Jessie’s Girl and his role in General Hosptial.
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He had that whole Jessie’s Girl period of success here and then sort of disappeared. But by looking at his discography he didn’t really disappear, he kept on releasing music, but Australia audiences had moved on to either hard rock/Metal or the Duran Duran/Wham kind of pop rock.
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Yeah, I don’t think he has ever stopped, people just stopped listening. Except for me.
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I have never heard this song before. At first I thought it was gonna be a Springsteen cover lol.
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