so bizarre and powerful, so big, that David
became that superstar. Watching him, Daryl and
I realised ‘We have to jack this up a bit.’”
Second album Abandoned Luncheonette was
duly jacked-up, featuring the duo’s fi rst huge hit
She’s Gone, which remains Daryl’s favourite
song. “She’s Gone is the ultimate Daryl and
John song,” he enthuses. “I’m a more prolifi c
songwriter than John, but we wrote She’s Gone
together completely. Arif Mardin was our
mentor, and his production is perfect, while the
arrangement is so good.”
Fellow smashes Sara
Smile and Rich Girl soon
followed. “I enjoyed the
70s more than the 80s,”
admits John. “Everything
was new. You’d go to a
town with no expectations,
sleep on people’s fl oors in
cities we’d never played
before. Then suddenly you
get famous and things
change. Thank God there
were no cellphones in the
70s because, trust me, I’d
be in prison.”MOVIE MOMENTS
Just as they were getting the
hang of success, the hits dried
up with the albums Beauty On
A Back Street and Along The Red
Ledge fl opping. At the start of the
80s, however, the Voices album turned
things round again, featuring Kiss On MyList, You Make My Dreams and Everytime You Go
Away. However, it wasn’t until recently that Yo u
Make My Dreams became such a favourite. “It got
to No.5, and that’s great,” smiles John. “There’s
nothing wrong with that, but it didn’t have the
impact it does today.” Cult rom-com 500 Days Of
Summer breathed fresh life into the song in 2009,
when Joseph Gordon-Levitt dances in ecstasy
to You Make My Dreams after wooing Zooey
Deschanel. “It’s one of the best movie moments I’ve
ever seen,” says John. “I’d heard about it being in
the fi lm, but fi gured it was in the background
like usual. But then my wife, son and
I happened to be near a cinema where
it was showing one afternoon.
It was virtually empty, but at the end
of the scene this group of girls
down the front stood up and
started clapping. I thought,
‘Hmm, this doesn’t happen
very often!’ You Make My
Dreams connects with
this younger generation.
It’s simple, direct and has a
great groove.” Daryl is more
ambivalent about its fresh
impact, laughing: “It’s crazy
how You Make My Dreams
has infected the world. And
yes, I mean ‘infected’ rather
than ‘affected’. There’s
something so positive
about that song that it’s
everywhere. I wish I had
10 of them as opposed
to just that one song, but© Philip Murphy
John Oates goes country – both
literally and musically – his latest
solo album Arkansas explores his
love of traditional Americana
YO U M A K E
MY DREAMS
CONNECTS WITH
THIS YOUNGER
GENERATION.
I T ’ S S I M P L E ,
DIRECT AND
HAS A GREAT
GROOVE.
JOHN OATES