"Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl - February 7th 80's Quest Song/Band of the Day

I really shouldn't love this little adult-contemporary hit from 1988, "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl.  It's just so damn sweet and pleasant!  And the video is all sepia toned and full of soap bubbles and children, a male singer who resembles Michael Bolton, and scenes straight out of a love song compilation album commercial....but you know what?  I do, I do!  I love this sappy little song.  Whenever I hear it, I end up cheerily singing it all day long!  Have always liked it for some reason.

Boy Meets Girl is George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, a married couple who got their start writing songs for other artists such as "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" for Whitney Houston and some other songs I don't recognize for Deniece Williams and Bette Midler.   They sang back-up on Deniece Williams' hit from the movie Footloose, "Let's Hear it for the Boy" (I hate that song!). 

Boy Meets Girl released their first album (self titled) in 1985 and had a single "Oh Girl" go to #39 on the Billboard Charts.  Three years later they released their follow-up album, Reel Life, which featured the song "Waiting for a Star to Fall".   The song was inspired by a falling star that Merrill and Rubicam had seen during a Whitney Houston concert at the Greek Theatre in L.A.  (They had submitted the song to Whitney herself, but she had rejected it. On the advice of her record label, Belinda Carlisle recorded the song for her 1987 album Heaven, but she didn't like the song and refused to include it on the album, so Boy Meets Girl used it themselves on their own album).  It peaked at #5 on the Billboard Charts, and #1 on the Adult Contemporary Charts in America, was a #9 hit in the UK, and hit the top ten in Australia.  It was featured in a movie that I never saw (I don't like movies with little kids and babies in them) called Three Men and a Little Lady which was the 1990 sequel to Three Men and a Baby both starring Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson. 

Boy Meets Girl's third album was shelved by the record company.  In the early 2000's Merrill and Rubicam divorced but continued to work together on music.  They released a fourth album on their own record label in 2003, and released their shelved album on their website in 2004. 

The UK band Sunset Strippers used samples from "Waiting for a Star to Fall" on their 2005 song "Star to Fall", and Australian artist Mylo used samples from the song along with some others from Kim Carnes hit "Bette Davis Eyes" on his song "In My Arms".  I was going to share clips of them with you, but I gave them a first time listen and both were either so thunking and techno-ey, or employed too much dropping of beats and repetition and were just horrible.  Couldn't do that to you!

Lyrics:

I hear your name whispered on the wind
It's a sound that makes me cry
I hear a song blow again and again
Through my mind and I don't know why
I wish I didn't feel so strong about you
Like happiness and love revolve around you

Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
So many people love you baby
That must be what you are

Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah

I've learned to feel what I cannot see
But with you I lose that vision
I don't know how to dream your dream
So I'm all caught up in superstition
I want to reach out and pull you to me
Who says I should let a wild one go free

Trying to catch your heart
Is like trying to catch a star
But I can't love you this much baby
And love you from this far

Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah

Waiting (however long...)
I don't like waiting (I'll wait for you...)
It's so hard waiting (don't be too long...)
Seems like waiting (makes me love you even more...)

Waiting for a star to fall
And carry your heart into my arms
That's where you belong
In my arms baby, yeah