Sometimes When We Touch

"Sometimes When We Touch" is a 1977 ballad written by Dan Hill (lyrics) and Barry Mann (music) on the album Longer Fuse, but was also released as a single in 1978. It was Hill's biggest hit, peaking at # 3 on the United States Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the Easy Listening chart.^[3] Musicians included Bobby Ogdin (piano), Larrie Londin (drums), Bob Mann (guitar), Don Potter (guitar), Tom Szczesniak (bass). The record was produced by Fred Mollin and Matthew McCauley, recorded at Manta Sound, Toronto.

Other versions

Tina Turner recorded a version for her 1978 album, Rough. An Estonian language version of the song (entitled "Puudutus") also exists. Often performed as a duet, the song has been covered by Koit Toome and Maarja-Liis Ilus among others. On Toome's acoustic greatest hits album, "Allikas", the song is present as a solo piece with the tune credited to "H. Dan".

UK dance singer Newton also took the song into the top 40 in the UK (peaking at #32 in February 1996) and to #5 in Australia, also in 1996. Newton's version went Gold in Australia.

In 2008, Daniel Evans performed the song at his first audition on series 5 of the X Factor (UK) bringing judge Cheryl Cole to tears after he sang in memory of his wife, who died shortly after childbirth. The clip has had nearly 20 million views on YouTube. He subsequently released the song on his debut album No Easy Way in 2010.

The ska band Five Iron Frenzy also did a cover of this song as part of a "Medley" during their farewell tour in 2004. There is also a version recorded in 1980 by Cleo Laine and James Galway. Tammy Wynette covered the song in 1985 with country-pop singer Mark Gray. Their duet version peaked at No. 6 on the country singles chart in 1985. British singer Rod Stewart recorded the song for his 1996 album If We Fall in Love Tonight. Veteran British entertainer Tommy Steele recorded this on his Family Album.

Manny Pacquiao sang this song^[4] on November 3, 2009 showing of the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show. This was Pacquiao's first guest appearance on an American late night TV talk show and his first singing performance on American TV. He would later revive this song on April 2011 as his single and reached number 19 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary top 20 list and has become the third most added song on radio playlists in the US. In August 2012, Dream Theater performed an impromptu short cover in Rio de Janeiro.^[5]

• 1978, Lynn Anderson covered the song in her album From the Inside.
• 1979, Ginette Reno covered the song in French ("Quand nos corps se touchent").
• 1979, Karel Gott made Czech version "Stokrát chválím čas".
• 1980, Bonnie Tyler released the song on her album Goodbye to the Island.
• 1983, An instrumental version was used as the theme to sitcom Sweet Sixteen.
• 1993, A Duet with Rique Franks released this song from his compilation album Let Me Show You (Greatest Hits and More).
• 1993, A Duet with Tammy Wynette and Michael Ball performed on his television show.
• 1996, Barry Manilow covered the song for his compilation album, Summer of '78.
• 1996, Rod Stewart covered the song in his album If We Fall in Love Tonight.
• 1999, Demis Roussos, Double Live Featuring Sometimes When We Touch (1999). Demis Roussos also covered the song in Italian in 1980.
• 2000, Engelbert Humperdinck recorded it on his album Engelbert at his very best.
• 2000, Barry Mann made his own version of the song on his solo album "Soul & Inspiration".
• 2004, Five Iron Frenzy included a portion of the song during a medley on their live album The End Is Here.
• 2007, Donny Osmond released a cover of this song on his solo studio album, Love Songs of the '70s.
• 2007, Ara Muna recorded it in Tagalog version with Kapampangan lyrics under the title "O 'Jo Kaluguran Da Ka" ("Oh My Love, I Love You").
• 2008, Olivia Ong covered the song in her album Best of Olivia.
• 2011, Manny Pacquiao released the song as a single with Dan Hill.

När vi rör varann

There is a Swedish version of the lyrics, called När vi rör varann (When we touch each other), written by Ingela "Pling" Forsman and recorded by Kikki Danielsson in 1980 and Susanne Alfvengren in 1984. När vi rör varann has become the signature song for Susanne Alfvengren. The Monica Silverstrand version was at Svensktoppen 24 February-2 March 1980, with 9th and 6th places as results there.

Swedish Opera singer Loa Falkman covered this song on his album Symfonin in 1990.

Without Words

Chinese lyrics were written for Barry Mann's music by Beijing-based director Chen Peng for his gay relationship series "Like Love" (2014) and "Nobody Knows But Me" (2015). A music video of this version was released in 2014,^[6] and another music video was released in 2015 with the words sung by Chen Peng and the actors Kong Chuinan, Huang Lige, Liu Mei Lu, Dong Yufeng and Ma Yu.^[7]

Cultural influence

In 2003, the song was used in a GEICO commercial. In May 2014, the song was shown on the Simpsons episode, The Yellow Badge of Cowardge. Despite the track's chart success and enduring cultural influence, it was placed #40 on the list of AOL Radio's 100 Worst Songs Ever.^[8]

Chart positions

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
• Pop Culture Madness website, http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/WORST.html
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd7Ezm74Tno
• "You'll never guess what Dan Hill thinks of his own song" by Dan Hill, Maclean's Magazine, January 14, 2010, http://www.macleans.ca/culture/sometimes-its-too-much/