SONG OF THE DAY

“While You See A Chance” by Steve Winwood (Arc of a Diver, Island Records, 1980). Written By Steve Winwood & Will Jennings.

WHY

Because this is one of the greatest songs ever written, and because I simply cannot excise it from my brain on a sunny day. I wanted to incorporate this song into my wedding ceremony, but never figured out how. Bummer. This song is a lover.

INTERESTING FACTS (a la wikipedia)

– “While You See a Chance” peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1981, and also reached #68 on the Billboard Top 100 for the year 1981, however it only reached #45 in the UK.

– One of the song’s most iconic features, its keyboard introduction, was not originally intended to be part of the song. The track was thrown together fairly quickly after Winwood discovered that he had accidentally deleted his intended drum track introduction while preparing for vocals. He wrote a new introduction on the spot as a replacement.

– Many radio stations, when the song was released, played the version of the single used in the video, which cut the song’s length from 5 minutes 13 seconds to 3 minutes 53 seconds. The edit occurs in the middle of the song, immediately following the lyric “Don’t you wonder how you keep on moving? One more day, your way.” One can distinguish the two versions at this point: in the full version, Winwood follows this line by repeating the words “Oh, your way”, while in the short version, an instrumental passage follows immediately.

– Arc of a Diver is the second solo album by blue-eyed soulster Steve Winwood. The album was performed entirely by Winwood. Translation: he engineered and mixed it, and played all instruments (Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Bass, Drums, Percussion, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Lead & Backing Vocal). Translation: genius.

– Featuring Winwood’s first solo hit, “While You See a Chance” (which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States), this was Winwood’s true breakthrough album as a solo artist.

– The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 album chart, establishing him as a commercially viable act.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

The shorter, single/ video version:

The extended album cut: