"January" is a song by Scottish rock band

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

. Written by the band's guitarist and singer

David Paton David Paton (; born 29 October 1949) is a Scottish bassist, guitarist and singer. He first achieved success in the mid-1970s as lead vocalist and bassist of Pilot, who scored hits with " Magic", "January", "Just a Smile" and "Call Me Round" b ...

and produced by

Alan Parsons Alan Parsons (born 20 December 1948) is an English audio engineer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. Parsons was the sound engineer on albums including the Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' (1969) and '' Let It Be'' (1970), Pink Floyd's ''The ...

, it was released by

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

in January 1975 as the follow-up to the band's breakthrough single, " Magic". "January" gave Pilot their only number-one single in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

Background

In a video interview in 2012 for Radio Borders, David Paton explained the song was not about the month, but about a girl named January, the name being taken from a female protagonist in a book his wife was reading at the time. The verse is unrelated to the chorus and talks about the success of "Magic" and how it had opened up the world for him.

Commercial performance

"January" reached number one in the UK in February 1975 for three weeks. In Australia, the song was even more successful, staying at number one for eight weeks, and finishing as the number-two song of 1975. The song also charted in the United States in early 1976, making a minor impression on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Legacy

During January 2016, the song was used in television advertisements for

ASDA Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

supermarkets in the UK.

References

External links

Pilot - "January" (1974) song to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

1974 songs 1975 singles David Cassidy songs EMI Records singles Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Pilot (band) songs Song recordings produced by Alan Parsons Songs written by David Paton UK singles chart number-one singles {{1970s-single-stub