"While You See a Chance" is a song performed by

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...

in 1980, written by Winwood and

Will Jennings Wilbur Herschel Jennings (June 27, 1944 – September 6, 2024) was an American lyricist. He was known for writing the songs " Up Where We Belong", " Higher Love", " Tears in Heaven" and "My Heart Will Go On". He was inducted into the Songwriter ...

. It was released on his album '' Arc of a Diver'' and peaked at number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 1981 and number 68 on the ''Billboard'' Top 100 for 1981. The song was a bigger hit in Canada, where it peaked at number 3. It also reached number 45 in the UK.

Background

Winwood co-wrote "While You See a Chance" with

, who came up with the song's lyrics. Jennings did not discuss the song's lyrical subject matter with Winwood, who nonetheless decided that the song was suitable to record. He said that he "learned about discipline from Will. He just came up with the lyrics and it was right for me, right for him, and right for the song." While the song was being mixed, Nobby Clark, who served as an engineer for the recording sessions, accidentally deleted the drum tracks by hitting the "record" feature on the mixing console. Attempts to fully restore the drums were unsuccessful, so Winwood took a

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

solo that he had played at the end of the song and repurposed it for the intro. According to Clark, Winwood determined that the minimoog solo would be a "perfect way to open the song". Clark stated that "the disaster turned into something really memorable. It had been a terrible two weeks trying to patch things up and we ended with pure magic." Winwood played all the instruments on the song. By 1988, the song had received enough airplay to earn Winwood the Million Play award.

Personnel

– lead and backing vocals, acoustic piano,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

, synthesizers, drums, tambourine,

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Steve Winwood 1980 songs 1980 singles Steve Winwood songs Songs with lyrics by Will Jennings Songs written by Steve Winwood Island Records singles