"Man Overboard" by Do-Re-Mi

Reranked Position: #7

Last updated: March 09, 2014

Appearances

• All-Time 1989: #98

To be quite honest, I'm finding it really hard to "get" Man Overboard. The music is great - especially that bass line - and the lyrics have some impact, but when everything is put together, it doesn't really do anything for me.

Listening to other songs from Do-Re-Mi, such as Adultery, Happiest Place in Town and Haunt You, show that they had better songs. Yet, Man Overboard was their biggest hit.

I'm starting to think that I have absolutely no idea about the 1980s. Great songs get completely overlooked, and bands that should have been big never got out of the popular-obscurity stage.

The sound engineer Man Overboard has done a brilliant job - you could quite easily play it next to a song from today and still have it stand out. All the instruments have a really nice separation. Everything can be heard clearly. Deborah Conway's voice is very much the highlight of this song.

Even with everything going for Man Overboard, I still can't quite get my head around the lyrics with the music. I want to place it higher, I really do. However, this is too niggling for me to let it slide. Definitely go out and hunt down everything that isn't Man Overboard, though. Do-Re-Mi are a great band.