If you like Piña Coladas...
How constraints and creative thinking led to a hit song
You know those memories that run in your mind like a film scene — even though they weren’t monumental events from you life?
I have one of my Aunt Sally from more than 20 years ago — when she was singing The Piña Colada Song (well, the first line of it anyway…).
I don’t remember it because she has a lovely singing voice per se — what I remember is the JOY she conveyed while she sang it during a vacation in the Caribbean.
It’s such a fun song, don’t you think?
Repetitive, sure, but there’s something about it that has made the song endearing.
And just writing about it has me picturing a beautiful white sand beach and thinking about cocktails with little paper umbrellas in them.
But how did The Piña Colada Song come to be?
I was curious.
In 1979, singer Rupert Holmes had a problem.
He was recording his fifth album, and needed some uptempo songs to go along with the ballads.
He was experimenting with a new arrangement for an uptempo song he’d written, but he wasn’t happy with the recording.
He did like 16 bars of the track, so decided to use them to create a new song. Working with his producer and engineer, they did a primitive version of sampling, duplicating the 16 bars over and over again to create a 5-minute track.
He now had a track with a good rhythm, but no lyrics.
And he had one day left in the studio.
When he went home that night, he noticed the personal ads in the Village Voice.
He started thinking about how you might write a personal ad – and what might happen if you answered one of those ads.
He decided to write a song that was a story, but with a twist ending.
He came up with a line for the chorus, ‘If you like Humphrey Bogart and getting caught in the rain’ and managed to write the lyrics before he was due at the studio the next morning.
He was worried that the twist of his story would be too obvious, and that listeners would figure it out too quickly.
So he told his engineer to record him singing the song in one take, and asked his guitarist Dean Bailin to listen closely to the lyrics, and see if he could guess the ending.
Holmes hadn’t sung the song before, but wasn’t worried about getting the vocal perfect – he just wanted to see if his twist worked.
He reviewed his lyrics as he prepared to record the song, and paused at his line ‘Humphrey Bogart.’
“Humphrey Bogart conjured a black-and-white image,” he said.
“It was noir. That didn’t feel right with the characters in this story.
“The song was called Escape.”
He began thinking about people escaping to the Caribbean, and what people drink when they’re on vacation in the islands – Mai Tais, daiquiris, piña coladas…
He had never had a piña colada, but decided on the spot to change the lyric from ‘Humphrey Bogart’ to ‘piña colada’, and added an eighth note to make it work in the music.
Then he sang the song, in one take.
Because he hadn’t checked the lyrics against the track, he realized he had too many syllables in places (‘I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon’) – or too few in others (‘I am into champagne’) – but he made it work with the music.
“The vocal you hear on the record is the first time I ever sang the song,” he said.
“What you’re hearing is me having fun, and the excitement and exuberance of telling a joke for the first time to my guitar player Dean, to see if he gets the punchline before I get to it.”
When Dean confirmed that the twist worked, Holmes suggested they set aside the vocal and work on the instrumental break.
“If I had said ‘Humphrey Bogart’, I would have wanted to add a tenor sax, but I had conjured up this idea of the islands, so I wanted the instrumental break to sound like we were in the islands.”
He added flutes, a sliding guitar, and used a synthesizer to create the sound of a rolling surf across the break. The combination created a ‘lustrous Hawaiian paradise style.’
“Had I kept the words ‘Humphrey Bogart’, I never would have made that break.”
When Holmes returned to re-record the vocal, he found he couldn’t get the energy or exuberance he had when he sang it the first time. That’s why the first take became the version on the record.
“This was never going to be a single,” he said.
“It was just some uptempo material for the album.”
Then the record label surprised him when they said they were putting Escape out as a single.
But they said people were referring to it as, The Piña Colada Song – so they suggested adding that to the title in parentheses.
Escape (The Piña Colada Song) became a #1 hit and has remained a fixture of pop culture as it has been featured in dozens of TV shows and films for more than four decades, including Shrek, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Deadpool 2.
By using his creativity, Rupert Holmes took 16 bars of usable music – and created a hit.
“This one song absolutely completely changed the course of my life – and is still having an effect on it some 40 years later.”
One more thing…
Apparently it was difficult to get a piña colada in a US bar in 1979.
But not after Rupert’s hit song…
More thoughts on curiosity!
What Do You Know to Be True?
Roger Kastner asked me this question for his podcast of the same name.
Curious what I know to be true?
Check out our conversation: “Following Your Curiosity to Find Truth and Joy with Beth Collier” on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.
And speaking of curiosity…
I had the opportunity to chat all things communication and curiosity recently with Katie Macaulay on The Internal Comms Podcast.
Have a listen and find out how my high school’s motto inspired me — and what I learned from all those high-flying execs I encountered when I was photocopying (and faxing) their documents in Hollywood.
I also share why I believe “Imposter Syndrome” is a garbage concept, and why duct tape inspires me (yes, really).
You can listen to our conversation on Spotify or Apple podcasts.
How Can I Help?
I’ll keep saying it: Communication matters.
And if you want to improve your communication (and get all the good things that come with that), I’m your gal.
So many companies could reap significant benefits – from performance and culture to retention and engagement – by improving their communication.
So, if you know someone who could benefit from some help (as even the most seasoned leaders do), please get in touch and check out my website for more information.
You can also see my Top 10 list of what I can (and can’t) do for you here.
And if you see any communication examples (the good, the bad, and the ugly) that you think are worth analyzing or sharing, please send them my way!
Until next time, stay curious!
-Beth
Fascinating, as always
I love a non-alcoholic PC