America – You Can Do Magic
#quotefromthe80s
You took my heart, I couldn't retrieve it
Said to myself what's it all about
Now I know there can be no doubt
You can do magic
You can have anything that you desire
#America #YouCanDoMagic
In the early 1980s the name of America was known mainly… in England, and so far so good. America was a trio of guys born from English mothers and American fathers who were long-term soldiers based in England, who in the 70s made a series of fairly successful songs, according to the taste of the time. In 1977, however, one of the three members decided to leave the group to pursue a solo career and, above all, to focus on religious pop.
Since that moment things changed, because America could no longer find the success and harmony that characterized their past. Not that there were any personal dispute, but something was simply missing: they had always written the songs in three, maybe separately but each one with a personal contribute, but the contribution of Dan Peek, singer and guitarist who had left the group, was now missing, and the two remaining members could not create new successful hits.
Anyway, they found the courage and clarity to take an important decision: until now, America, as we have seen, had always composed and sung by themselves. Now, it was time to evaluate and accept songs written by other authors.
In 1980 they accepted a song that did not become fully successful, but had the merit of forging collaboration with an artist that would be crucial for the second phase of their career. That artist, in 1982, managed to do the magic, because he wrote this beautiful song, “You can do magic”, which really brought America back to fame, and indeed made them popular even to a new generation that learned to know and appreciate them.
Actually, this song was also a sort of magic spell for the composer himself, because with this success his career took a different turn, which allowed him to become an important name for the history of the 80s.
Yes, because we are talking about the great Russ Ballard, who after this song composed other pearls of the 80s such as “I know there’s something going on” by Frida (the former Abba singer, who in this song had also Phil Collins playing drums in his own peculiar way), and a couple of years later he would write and sing his most famous song, the unforgettable “Voices”.
In short, with this song Russ Ballard and America really did magic!!
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