01/13/2025
💋📜 IS "KISS ON MY LIST" HALL & OATES AT THEIR PEAK or do you have another favorite? 📜💋
On this date in 1981, HALL AND OATES released the single KISS ON MY LIST (Jan 12, 1981)
Released in 1981, this was the third single release from their ninth studio album, 'Voices' (1980), and became Hall & Oates second US Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (after "Rich Girl" in 1977). It spent three weeks at the top spot.
This is a very misinterpreted song, as many people hear the lyric as "kiss on my lips."
According to Daryl Hall, it is what he calls "an anti-love song," and the lyric, "Your kiss is on my list of the best things in life" means that the kiss is simply another item on the guy's list - and certainly not the best thing.
Said Hall: "Everyone thinks it's 'I love you and without you I would die.' It's exactly the opposite of that."
This was co-written by Janna Allen, the sister of Daryl Hall's long-term girlfriend Sara Allen. She also co-wrote "Private Eyes," which was a chart-topper later in the year for Hall & Oates, and also their Top 10 singles "Did It in a Minute" and "Method of Modern Love." Janna Allen died of leukemia at the age of 36 in 1993. She passed away at Daryl and Sara's home in Millbrook, New York.
Their musical versatility has made Hall & Oates the best-selling duo of all time, and this song is a good example of how they captured the sound of the '80s with keyboards and a big chorus.
"I think no artist wants to be put into a box and say they're limited," said John Oates.
"I think you have to be realistic. I don't think I'd ever go into jazz fusion. (laughs) That's not something that's interesting to me. But here's the thing: we started out as songwriters. And both Daryl and myself, individually and collectively, have a wide variety of musical tastes. Just because the music we made may have fallen into a certain category doesn't mean we weren't aware of and interested in other kinds of music."
In an interview with Mix magazine, Daryl Hall said: "Eddie Van Halen told me that he copied the synth part from 'Kiss On My List' and used it in 'Jump.' I don't have a problem with that at all."
Before she co-wrote this hit, Janna Allen had never written a song before. Daryl Hall has explained that he and Janna wrote the song for Janna to record, as she was hoping to become a solo artist. When they made the demo, Hall sang on it, and when the Hall & Oates camp heard it, they insisted that the duo record it, not Janna. In fact, they thought the demo was fine the way it was, so that's what was released. "What you heard was literally the demo," said Hall. "That's why the drum machine is so dicky and all that stuff. It was really not meant for prime time."
