"Him" is a song written and recorded by American singer and songwriter

Rupert Holmes Rupert Holmes (born David Goldstein; February 24, 1947) is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles " Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). He is also know ...

. It was released in January 1980 as the second single from the album, '' Partners in Crime''. The song peaked at number six on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on March 29, 1980 and remained at that position for two weeks. It was Holmes' biggest Adult Contemporary hit, peaking at number four in both the United States and Canada.

Background

Holmes had always expected "Him" to be the lead-off single to ''Partners in Crime'', but after record executives heard the album, they concluded that " Escape (The Piña Colada Song)", a song Holmes composed mainly as album filler and never expected to be a single, would be a major hit. After "Escape" proved to be a major hit, "Him" was released as a follow-up and itself became a hit. The song is sung from the point of view of a man who, when he discovers a pack of cigarettes that do not belong to him, suspects that the woman in his life is cheating on him. He has no idea who this other man may be, but he decides he must confront her; he expects her to say that the other man is "just a friend", and plans to tell her bluntly, "It's me or it's him." The midsection of this song features the

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singing over the instrumental break that is reminiscent of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

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The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from Los Angeles, California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the Billboard charts, ''Billboard'' charts (including "Windy (The Association song), Windy" ...

during the first half of the 3rd verse before jumping into "If she wants him, she can have him" in the second half.

Other versions

In 1980, Holmes re-recorded the song in French under the title "Lui" (MCA 41252) that was backed with an instrumental version of "Guitars" (his previous album had included an English vocal version of the song). The single was released only in Canada by MCA Records Canada. This French version of "Him" ("Lui") has never been released on any vinyl or CD album. Also, Mexican singer Jose Jose covered the song in Spanish language and was titled "Él", from his 1980 album ''Amor, Amor''. British singer Simone Kelsall (who recorded under the name 'Simone') released a version of the song in 1984 on Electricity Records in the UK.

Personnel

– vocals, keyboards, synthesizer *Dean Bailin – guitar *Frank Gravis – bass *Leo Adamian – drums *Victoria – percussion * Gene Orloff Section – strings

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

Him by Rupert Holmes Songfacts

* Allmusic (Partners in Crime > Overview) * {{authority control 1979 songs 1980 singles Rupert Holmes songs Songs written by Rupert Holmes MCA Records singles Songs about infidelity Songs about jealousy