1980 Soft Rock Ballad Flopped-Then It Became a No. 1 Hit 5 Years Later
Not every song that flies under the radar the first time it's released ends up doomed to obscurity. Sometimes, another artist finds another way of presenting a tune that hits with listeners in a different, more chart-topping, kind of way...like Paul Young's cover of "Everytime You Go Away," which was originally recorded by Hall & Oates.
Written by Daryl Hall, "Everytime You Go Away" originally appeared on Hall & Oates's 1980 studio album, Voices, but it wasn't released as a single and didn't make much of an impact. When British soul singer Young got ahold of the tune, though, it was a different story.
Young's cover (recorded for his 1985 studio album The Secret of Association) was a slicker affair, featuring John Turnbull on electric sitar and acoustic guitar. The love-gone-wrong song shot to the top of the charts during the summer of that year, landing at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on July 27 and staying there for one week.
Interestingly enough, initially Young didn't even want to cover "Everytime You Go Away," which would end up being his only #1 hit.
"I almost passed on the song because I was getting into the relatively darker material (darker than my first CD) that was making up the album," the singer explained in a 2011 interview with the Kickin' It Old School blog.
"But when we compiled what we'd got, my manager suggested we lighten up a little," he continued. "So we went back to the cassettes of songs that we'd saved as 'likers' and what do you know? Both 'Everytime You Go Away' and 'I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down' were on the same tape from the same publisher."
"We did feel we had something special, in fact by the time we knew it would get a U.S. release, my keyboard player predicted a U.S. #1," Young added.
Daryl Hall was surprised by Paul Young's cover of 'Everytime You Go Away'
As Hall explained in an interview with Music Connection, Young's version of his song went beyond what he thought was possible for the tune.
"I never thought of it any other way than the way it was 'til Paul Young did it," he admitted, per Songfacts.
"I was just doin' a kind of gospel/soul song; that was all I had in mind for it," Hall continued. "I was really surprised to hear the production they did because it kept the elements but commercialized it - made it sound like a pop record."
Related: 1974 Disco Anthem Was a Total Flop Before It Made History as a No. 1 Hit
Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved
This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 5:28 PM.