"Can't We Try" is a 1987

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

performed by

Dan Hill Daniel Grafton Hill IV (born 3 June 1954) is a Canadian pop singer and songwriter. He had two major international hits with his songs " Sometimes When We Touch" and " Can't We Try", a duet with Vonda Shepard, as well as a number of other chart ...

and Vonda Shepard. The

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

was ''Billboard''s No. 1 Adult Contemporary Song of the Year for 1987. "Can't We Try" was released as a single from Dan Hill's 1987 self-titled album. The song reached No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and also on ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'', making it Dan Hill's second-biggest hit behind "

Sometimes When We Touch "Sometimes When We Touch" is a 1977 ballad by Canadian pop rock artist Dan Hill, from his album '' Longer Fuse''. It was written by Hill and Barry Mann; Hill wrote the lyrics, while Mann wrote the music. The song was Hill's first hit, peaking a ...

", which hit No. 3 back in 1978, and was Vonda Shepard's only Top 10 Pop hit. It also reached No. 2 for three weeks on the ''Billboard''

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart (behind " I Wanna Dance with Somebody" by

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

and " Moonlighting" by

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and songwriter. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and ...

). In Canada, the song reached No. 14.

Track listing

;7" single

Chart positions

Year-end charts

Rockell and Collage version

In 1998,

Rockell Rachel Alexandra Mercaldo (born March 4, 1977, in Staten Island, New York), known professionally as Rockell, is an American freestyle, hi-NRG and pop singer and songwriter, best known for her 1997 hit single, " In a Dream". Career 1996–2001: ...

covered the song as a duet with

Collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or "to stick together") is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assembly of different forms, thus creating a new whole. (Compare with pasti ...

. It was her third single from her 1998 debut album, ''

What Are You Lookin' At? ''What Are You Lookin' At?'' is the debut album by Rockell, released on Robbins Entertainment on April 28, 1998. It includes the hit singles "I Fell in Love", "In a Dream", "Can't We Try" (featuring Collage Collage (, from the , "to glue" or ...

'' and third single overall. This song reached No. 59 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 as well as No. 11 on the

Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales The Dance Singles Sales was a record chart released weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine listing each week's best-selling Dance music, dance singles in the United States. Its previous names include Hot Dance/Disco 12-inch Singles ...

chart.

Track listing

;CD single ; Promo CD single ;US Remixes CD single

Chart positions

In popular culture

The original

version from 1987 was used for the Kelly and Jeffrey characters on the American soap opera '' Santa Barbara''. In 1988, Hong Kong singer Gina Lam and Andy Hui covered this song in Cantonese.

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1987 singles 1998 singles Dan Hill songs Rockell songs Collage (American duo) songs Columbia Records singles Male–female vocal duets Pop ballads Songs written by Dan Hill