Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne
single
CoverJimmy loves mary-anne looking glass US single variant A.png
ArtistLooking Glass
AlbumSubway Serenade
B-side"Wooly Eyes"
ReleasedJuly 1973
Recorded1972
Length3:25 (Single remix/edit)
3:37 (Album mix version)
LabelEpic Records
WriterElliot Lurie
ProducerArif Mardin
Prev year1972

"Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" is a 1973 song written and composed by Elliot Lurie and recorded by Lurie's band, Looking Glass. It was the first track on their second and final album, Subway Serenade. The title has also been spelled "Jimmy Loves Mary-Ann".

Background

The lyrics speak of hard-knock life in the inner city. Jimmy and Mary-Anne fall in love and, although they are street wise, dream of running away together and escaping their dead-end life. [citation needed]

Chart performance

The single spent a total of 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100,[1] just one week less than their number 1 hit, "Brandy". It debuted at number 93 on that chart the week of July 21, 1973 and peaked at number 33 the weeks of September 29 and October 6, 1973.[2][3] On the U.S. Cash Box Top 100, it peaked at number 31.[4] It was a bigger hit in Canada, reaching number 21.[5]

Weekly charts

Chart (1973)Peak
position
Canadian RPM 100[6]21
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[7]33
U.S. Cash Box Top 100[8]31
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary[9]16
U.S. Record World22

Year-end charts

Chart (1973)Rank
Canada[10]156
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[11]204

Chicago radio superstation WLS, which gave "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" much airplay, ranked the song as the 72nd biggest hit of 1973.[12] It peaked at number 2 on their survey of October 13, 1973.[13]

Cover versions

  • Mark Williams covered the song, retitled as "Jimmy Loves Marianne" in 1975. It was used as the B-side to his song, "Yesterday Was Just the Beginning of My Life", a number 1 hit single in New Zealand.
  • Josie Cotton released "Jimmy Loves Maryann" in 1984, again with a variant spelling. It was her second chart single in the U.S.; it reached number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

References

  1. ^ Billboard Hot 100, Week of October 27, 1973 – Billboard.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  2. ^ Billboard Hot 100, Week of July 21, 1973 – Billboard.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  3. ^ Billboard Hot 100, Week of October 6, 1973 – Billboard.com. Retrieved February 7, 2025.
  4. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 2, 1973[dead link]
  5. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  6. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  7. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 512.
  8. ^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 2, 1973[dead link]
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-1993. Record Research. p. 143.
  10. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  11. ^ "1973 Year End". Bullfrogspond.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
  12. ^ "WLS Musicradio Big 89 OF '73"
  13. ^ WLS Forty-fives, October 13, 1973: Vol. 14, No. 1