Kim Wilde – You Came
#quotefromthe80s
You came, and changed the way I feel
No one could love you more
Because you came and turned my life around
No one could take your place
#YouCame #KimWilde
In July 1988, one of the most significant and successful songs by a prominent late 80s English singer was released. We are talking about Kim Wilde, a performer who initially remained confined to the English music scene until the mid-80s. She gained visibility throughout Europe starting in 1986 when the beautiful You Keep Me Hangin’ On finally brought her to the charts across half of Europe.
By 1988, Kim Wilde was no longer a newcomer. At twenty-eight and about to launch her sixth album, she was a seasoned performer, and in my opinion, very talented. Her international career was probably somewhat limited by choices made by her producers, who were family members. The main producer was Ricky Wilde, Kim’s brother, suggesting there was likely a strong alignment between their objectives and distribution strategies.
In reality, the Wilde family’s original surname was Smith, but both Kim and Ricky adopted the stage name of their father, Marty Wilde, a well-known musician in England during the 1960s.
Interestingly, in the late 1980s, Kim was often associated with the Stock, Aitken, and Waterman production team. However, she never actually worked with them. Instead, she collaborated with her brother, Ricky, who was likely influenced by their style, as many of Kim’s songs have a similar sound to those produced by Stock, Aitken, and Waterman.
Kim Wilde’s new album Close was released on June 13, and a couple of months earlier the album’s lead single, Hey Mister Heartache, had set the stage for the album’s success. On July 4, the second single, You Came was launched and it not only matched the success of the first single but also became one of Kim Wilde’s most beloved songs.
The text conveys a deep emotion about an unexpected arrival: an unspecified person enters a girl’s life, leading her to radically change her perspective. Her life is turned upside down, and many material things lose their importance, making way for joy, values, and affections. The girl then pours all her love into this new arrival.
Presented this way, it might seem like any other somewhat romanticized love story, but there’s a detail that guides us to the true meaning of the song: in one verse, it mentions a change that occurs over the span of a year. You might argue that love isn’t always at first sight and that some love stories take longer to develop, which is certainly true. However, the great Kim revealed the true meaning of this autobiographical song. Actually, there’s no doubt that Kim herself is the protagonist of the song, as it is sung entirely in the first person. So, who entered Kim’s life over the course of that year? Let me tell you.
Another Marty Wilde (or Marty Smith, by birth name) had entered Kim’s life, but he was not her father; he was her nephew, the first son of her brother and producer Ricky, who was naturally given his grandfather’s name. This explains the reference to the period of about a year in which Kim’s life as a new aunt had changed. It also makes sense of those sweet sentences where Kim is enchanted by watching the new arrival in her life while he sleeps. Kim had truly embraced the changes in her brother’s life and had taken on her new role as little Marty’s aunt with great enthusiasm.
Today, we don’t know what little Marty, now between 35 and 40 years old, is doing, but we wish him health and success. From the moment of his birth, he can say that he had an influence on the 80s, inspiring his father and aunt to compose a song. This song marked a golden period for Kim, who not only won at the Brit Awards with You Came but also opened the English dates of Michael Jackson’s Bad tour, alongside David Bowie. Kim’s golden period coincided with a darker time for other artists who relied on Stock Aitken and Waterman, such as Bananarama.
The video consists of three types of footage: scenes from Kim’s daily life, clips of her dressed in black singing in a studio, and shots of her in white performing at an outdoor concert. The latter were filmed during the early dates of the Bad World Tour, where Kim was a supporting act.
I bet Aunt Kim still sings this song occasionally, perhaps while indulging in her favorite hobby, gardening. Kim Wilde is quite well-known in the UK today for being a green finger, often appearing on television shows dedicated to gardening!
Kim Wilde on Wikipedia
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