"We Close Our Eyes" by Go West - May 2nd 80's Quest Song/Band of the Day

From 1984 – 1985 during my last year of high school, I worked after school at a part-time job after school and saved money in order to take a trip to London, England with my school’s Foreign Language Club. It was one of the best weeks of my life. While there, my friends and I were very concerned with hearing and learning about some new British bands that had not yet broken in the United States. Go West was one of those bands. They were being played all over London in April 1985, but we had not heard them played yet in the U.S. (although, subsequently they broke in the U.S. and their songs were played on American radio and MTV). The song “We Close Our Eyes” was the song that really got into our heads on that trip, and I succinctly remember singing that song along the sidewalks of London throughout our trip. I also bought their album Go West and brought it home to the States with me.

Go West was formed in England in 1982 by Peter Cox (lead singer) and Richard Drummie (rhythm guitarist and backing vocals). Cox was born in 1955 in Kingston, Surrey, England; while Drummie was born in 1959 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England.

The duo managed to land a publishing deal, but they did not have a backing band or record deal. Their manager helped them to find a producer and they recorded two songs“We Close Our Eyes” and “Call Me”. The demo containing those two songs got them signed to Chrysalis Records. They brought on guitarist Alan Murphy whose contributions helped shape the band.

“We Close Our Eyes” was released as a single in 1985 and rose to #5 on the U.K. Singles Chart (and #41 on the Billboard Hot 100 in America). The video for the song was directed by Godley & Creme and garnered a lot of play on MTV. In 1985 the band also released their debut album Go West which also contained the singles “Call Me” and “Don’t Look Down”. It was very successful in the U.K., and moderately successful in the United States. At the 1986 Brit Awards they were won the award for “Best Newcomers”. “We Close Our Eyes” ended up being their highest ranking U.K. single and the only one of their songs to appear in the U.K. Top Ten.

In 1986 their song “One Way Street” was used in the Rocky IV movie soundtrack. In 1987 Go West released their second album Dancing on the Couch. It cracked the U.K. Top 20, but the singles released from this album did not do as well as the singles on their debut did.

In 1990 Go West had a Top Ten hit in the United States with a song called “King of Wishful Thinking” which appeared on the soundtrack to the movie Pretty Womanstarring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

In 1992 Go West released their third album, Indian Summer which contained the single“Faithful” which was a #14 hit in the United States and a #13 hit in the U.K.

In 1997 Cox took a break from the band and released a self-titled solo album. In the 2000’s he released more solo albums. In October 2009 it was announced he would be the new lead singer with Manfred Mann’s Earth Band.

In March 2010 Go West released an EP called 3D. It is part of a 3-EP series. The second EP was to be released in March 2011, and the third due in 2012.


Lyrics:

Inside everyone hides one desire
Outside no one would know
Danger close to edge of the knife
Safer not to let go
And while we miss chances
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes to time slipping away

No show Wednesday girl waits with the wine
She knows just what to say
While no one listens
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes and

We can talk to strangers
We are burning with the spark
And we can walk on water
We are tigers in the dark
We are burning

We close our eyes

Heroes never give into the night
He knows how far he can run
And as he surrenders
You can almost hear time slipping away

We close our eyes we never lose a game
Imagination never lets us take the blame
We close our eyes to see the final frame
We close our eyes


Here is a photo of Go West during the 1980's on the cover of their Go West album:

And a more recent photo.  They have aged well and look pretty good! :