"Romantic Traffic" is a 1984 single by Canadian new wave band

Spoons Spoons may refer to: * Spoon, a utensil commonly used with soup * Spoons (card game), the card game of Donkey, but using spoons Film and TV * ''Spoons'' (TV series), a 2005 UK comedy sketch show *Spoons, a minor character from ''The Sopranos' ...

. It is from the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( ...

Listen to the City ''Listen to the City'' is a 1984 Canadian drama film directed by Ron Mann. Normally a documentary filmmaker, this is Mann's only fictional feature. The film stars P.J. Soles, Jim Carroll, Sandy Horne, and Michael Glassbourg. Featured in small or c ...

'' from the movie of the same name. It was released in both 7" and 12" formats: on the former, it was the A-side (with "Theme for a City" on the B-side), while on the latter it was the B-side (with "Tell No Lies" on the A-side).

Background

Originally, the opening bass riff was meant to be played on piano, but due to

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

' – who had also produced the band's third studio album ''

Talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: *Talkback (album), ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons *Talk Back (Kembe X album), ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero C ...

'' (1983) – suggestion, it was changed. The production was also "punched up" through the use of the Aubrey Juke Brass Section and the Simms Brothers' backing vocals – who had also played for the likes of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. The "doot-doots" in the chorus were added in by accident. Originally, Gordon Deppe lacked actual lyrics to add to those portions of the song. While recording, he decided to sing the "doot-doots" as a kind of filler while he tried to formulate words, but he could not come up with anything that fit. This turned out to be a positive outcome, as Rodgers found the "doot-doots" to be captivating enough to keep them in the song. Despite being made for a movie soundtrack, "Romantic Traffic" is one of the Spoons' signature songs in part because of that choice in the chorus. The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

was filmed in the Toronto subway system at the Bloor and

Sheppard Sheppard can refer to: Places * Sheppard, Wisconsin, an unincorporated community, United States * Sheppard Avenue in Toronto, Canada named for Joseph Shepard (1765-1837). Hence: ** Sheppard subway line ** Sheppard West (TTC), formerly Downsvie ...

stations. Directed by Robert Fresco with one handheld camera, the video was completely off-the-cuff with no script. Regardless of this, Sandy Horne says that it was, "the easiest video we ever did ndour most effective".

Formats

7" — Ready Records / SR 482 Canada # "Romantic Traffic" – 3:29 # "Theme for a City" – 2:46 12" — Ready Records / SRB 048 Canada # "Tell No Lies" – 6:11 # "Romantic Traffic" – 3:29 # "White Lies" – 2:47

Chart positions

Personnel

Spoons * Gordon Deppe —

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

and

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

* Sandy Horne —

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Derrick Ross —

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

* Rob Preuss — keyboards Production *

— producer * Jason Corsaro — engineer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romantic Traffic 1984 songs 1984 singles Spoons (band) songs Music videos shot in Toronto