Is the story behind the biggest song of the 80s the most scandalous in rock history?
It'll be all you can think about next time you hear this track.
Of all the sublime experiences this world has to offer, screaming ‘COME ON, EILEEN!’ on a dance floor has to be among the most transcendent and unifying.
Even if you’re filled with dread on the morning of your cousin’s Swansea rec center wedding – as you make your fifth attempt at tying your bowtie and grumble about wasted PTO – all of that resentment melts away as soon as the first string chords of the Dexy’s Midnight Runners 1982 hit play at the reception.
How can you not believe in love when screeching ‘Toora, loora, toora, loo-rye-aye’ into the sweaty face of some groomsmen whose misspelled neck tattoo is looking less and less like a deal breaker with every pint you down?
The song has been a staple of weddings, pub playlists, and really any event that combines white people and alcohol since it first came out.
But how did such an iconic track come to be? Why aren’t there any more memorable songs from Dexy’s Midnight Runners?
Here’s everything you need to know about one of the most beloved songs of the 80s.
Did Kevin Rowland’s Dexy’s Midnight Runners steal Come On Eileen?Founded in 1978, Dexy’s Midnight Runners are an English pop rock band from Birmingham that struggled with interband conflict from their inception.
Originally formed by Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar, at the time using the pseudonym Carlo Rolan) and Kevin ‘Al’ Archer (vocals, guitar), the duo was joined later in 1978 by ‘Big’ Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff ‘JB’ Blythe (saxophone), Steve ‘Babyface’ Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders (keyboard), Pete Williams (bass), and John Jay (drums) to complete the original lineup of the band.
In a 2009 interview with Mojo (via SongFacts), Archer shared of his co-founder: ‘Kevin ruled the group with a rod of iron – he wouldn’t speak to us personally. After shows, we’d be in a room on our own; it became “hate Kevin Rowland time.”’
Guitarist Kevin Archer later said of lead singer Kevin Rowland (pictured here): ‘Kevin ruled the group with a rod of iron’ (Picture: by Brian Cooke/Redferns)Still, the band managed to find success in 1980 with the release of the single Dance Stance (aka Burn It Down) which hit the top 40 in the UK.
It was the band’s next single, Geno, released that same year that really launched Dexy’s to fame as it peaked at Number One on the UK charts and was quickly followed by their debut LP, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels.
But after another top 10 single (1980’s There, There, My Dear) lead singer Kevin Rowland’s diva-like behaviour – and insistence that the band never speak to the press – became untenable for the rest of the band.
Soon, all but Archer and Paterson abandoned Rowland, leaving the trio to start over with a new band. But this was short-lived as well, and Archer soon left Rowland and Paterson behind to form a new band called Blue Ox Babes.
Archer (left) and Rowland (right) were theoriginal founders of Dexys Midnight Runners in 1878 (Picture: David Corio/Redferns)Archer continued to Mojo, describing the split: ‘We were in Switzerland, we’d played to 2,000 people, and Kevin and I got on a plane to Luxembourg, and the rest got in a van and went to England. That was it. Kevin got me to help form a new group, rehearsing in a freezing industrial unit in Birmingham. He was irritable, treating everyone like they were nobody.’
This led Archer to form a new band called the Blue Ox Babes. As Dexy’s floundered in 1981 – struggling to find a hit and facing record label problems – Archer showed Rowland ‘a tape with three of our songs on, including What Does Anybody Ever Think About.’
In 1982, Come On Eileen exploded up the charts, quickly becoming a Number One hit in the UK. It also became Dexys’ first single released in the United States where it peaked at #1 in April 1983 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, knocking Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean out of the top spot.
But Archer, still in Blue Ox Babes and watching Dexy’s ascent to superstardrom from afar, realised that Rowland had stolen the build-up of his song What Does Anybody Ever Think About.
He also claimed that Rowland had ripped off the Blue Ox Babes’ musical aesthetic for the hit 1982 LP that contained Come On Eileen, Too-Rye-Aye.
While Archer never publicised these claims, Rowland shocked the world by admitting to stealing the idea in 1997, even eventually crediting Archer on the song.
Rowland (right) eventually admitted he stole aspects of Come On Eileen from Archer (left) (Picture: Dave Tonge/Getty Images)Releasing a statement via his record company, Rowland said: ‘I experienced hollow success with ‘Come On Eileen’ and Too-Rye-Ay, the musical sound of which … mixed with Tamla-type soul, came from Kevin Archer and not me, as I claimed. The idea and sound was his; I stole it from him, hurting Kevin Archer deeply in the process. I conned people all over the world, from the people close to me and the people I worked with to the fans, to the radio and TV programmers, and I made a lot of money. To everybody I conned, I’m sorry. To my beautiful friend Kevin Archer, I love you, I’m sorry I hurt you. I was jealous of you and your talent. You deserved better, I hope you get what you deserve.’
After receiving all of the backlash you’d expect from such an admission, Rowland would later speak about how drugs played a major role in his decision to rip off the song.
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He told The Guardian in 2003: ‘I’d been pretty mood-altered for some time. For years I thought my part in everything was bigger than it was. Then I went through a longer period of feeling I was the worst piece of shit in the world, that I was nothing of the group’s talent, that it was all other people and that I was a fraud.’
He continued, clarifying and somewhat backtracking on his initial statement about ‘conning’ everyone: ‘But the truth of it is this: Kevin played me his demo tape and I was more influenced by it than I should have been – specifically his idea of combining a couple of violins with a Tamla-sounding piano, and speeding up a song and slowing it down. And that’s it. I didn’t steal one note of his music, not one lyric or a melody.’
The song tells the story of a sexual experience Rowland had with a Catholic schoolgirl from his past (Picture: REX/Shutterstock) What is Come On Eileen about?While Rowland may have stolen the catchy sound of the hit song from Archer, the lyrics were all his own.
In fact, the song tells the story of a sexual experience he had with a Catholic schoolgirl from his past.
Raised in a strict Catholic environment, Archer wrote the lyrics as an exploration of shame, desire, and young love.
The band had a total of eight top 20 singles in the UK (Picture: Eugene Adebari/REX/Shutterstock)He told Melody Maker: ‘It’s absolutely true all the way. I was about 14 or 15 and sex came into it and our relationship had always been so clean. It seemed at the time to get dirty and that’s what it’s about. I was really trying to capture that atmosphere.’
In 2014 he told Songfacts that iconic refrain ‘Too ra loo ra’ was all his own creation.
He said: ‘I came up with that, ‘Too ra loo ra,’ and I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is sounding really good.’ You get a feeling when you’re writing a song. Something happens. And in the end, it kind of finished itself.’
While the band isn’t exactly the one-hit wonders people remember them as – they achieved eight total top-20 singles in the UK total – there’s no question that they’ll primarily be remembered for Come On Eileen.
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Up Next
Previous Page Next PageThe song shows no signs of fading out of rotation, as it was introduced to a new generation in the hit film The Perks of Being a Wallpaper, and is even being covered by Sabrina Carpenter on her Short ‘n’ Sweet tour.
If the two Kevin’s could have found a way to work together and combine their talents, who knows how many more Come On Eileen-level hits we’d have gotten from the band over the years?
For now, you have a fun story of 80s rock n’ roll drama to shout in the ear of that cute bridesmaid at your next spring wedding when Come On Eileen inevitably plays.
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