Howard Jones – Like To Get To Know You Well
#quotefromthe80s
Don't wanna talk about the weather
Don't wanna talk about the news
Just wanna get to the real you inside
Like to get to know you well
#HowardJones #LikeToGetToKnowYouWell
What do Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, the Soviet Union, Iran, the South African Republic, Sweden, Angola, Israel and Belgium have in common? Or Pakistan, Central African Republic, Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Japan? I know, it’s a really impossible question. All these nations were united by one of the greatest artists of the 80s, Howard Jones. Yes, because at the end of July 1984 he united all these nations in the video for his new song, “Like to get to know you well”.
The song was dedicated to the Olympic spirit, and indeed if you think about it, the Los Angeles Olympics began in those days, and as we know those Olympics were boycotted by the Soviet Union and most of the Warsaw Pact countries in retaliation after the United States had boycotted the Moscow Olympics four years earlier.
The text is all about really getting to know each other, and understanding the intimate essence of people to build together something solid for the future. And to reinforce this concept, in the extended version (or remix, as we said in the 80s), Howard Jones also sings the refrain in French and German. The cover of the mix featured the phrase of the title translated into many languages, and if I’m not wrong there was some misunderstanding for a somewhat rough translation in Japanese.
But the highlight was the video, which came out on August 11, the day before the closing ceremony of those Olympics. Howard Jones, dressed in a weird suit, halfway between Boy George and the Bananarama, travels around London and throughout the video meets people of different origins and cultures. For everyone he has a greeting or a smile, and in the video we see symbols of many countries, such as flamenco dancers or people with clothes typical of Africa. And to better reaffirm his concept of universal understanding, Howard Jones had some flags sewed on his shirt, which we mentioned earlier: on the front those from Canada to Belgium, and on his back those from Pakistan to Japan 🙂
Well, maybe he wasn’t really the master of elegance and glamour in this video, but Howard Jones was really one of the great artists of the 80s, and songs like this made that period unforgettable!
Howard Jones on Wikipedia
Views: 833