Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne

1973 single by Looking Glass

"Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne"

One of side-A labels of the US single

Single by Looking Glass

from the album Subway Serenade

B-side

"Wooly Eyes"

Released

July 1973

Recorded

1972

Length

3:25 (Single remix/edit)
3:37 (Album mix version)

Label

Epic Records

Songwriter(s)

Elliot Lurie

Producer(s)

Arif Mardin

Looking Glass singles chronology

"Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"
(1972)

"Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne"
(1973)

Music video

Listen to "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" on YouTube

"Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" is a 1973 song written and composed by Elliot Lurie and recorded by Lurie's band, Looking Glass. It was the first track on their second and final album, Subway Serenade. The title has also been spelled "Jimmy Loves Mary-Ann".

Background

The lyrics speak of hard-knock life in the inner city. Jimmy and Mary-Anne fall in love and, although they are street wise, dream of running away together and escaping their dead-end life. ^{[citation needed]}

Chart performance

The single reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, remaining in that position for two weeks. It spent a total of 15 weeks on the chart, just one week less than their number 1 hit, "Brandy". On the U.S. Cash Box Top 100, it peaked at number 31.^[1] It was a bigger hit in Canada, reaching number 21.^[2]

Weekly charts

Chart (1973)	Peak position
Canadian RPM 100^[3]	21
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[4]	33
U.S. Cash Box Top 100^[5]	31
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary^[6]	16
U.S. Record World	22

Year-end charts

Chart (1973)	Rank
Canada^[7]	156
U.S. Billboard Hot 100^[8]	204

Chicago radio superstation WLS, which gave "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" much airplay, ranked the song as the 72nd biggest hit of 1973.^[9] It peaked at number 2 on their survey of October 13, 1973.^[10]

Cover versions

Mark Williams covered "Jimmy Loves Marianne" (note spelling) in 1975. It was used as the B-side to his song, "Yesterday Was Just the Beginning of My Life", a number 1 hit single in New Zealand.
Josie Cotton covered "Jimmy Loves Maryann" in 1984, again with a variant spelling. It was her second chart single in the U.S.; it reached number 82 on the Billboard Hot 100.

References

^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 2, 1973^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-10-23. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
^ Whitburn, Joel (2013). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 14th Edition: 1955-2012. Record Research. p. 512.
^ Cash Box Top 100 Singles, September 2, 1973^{[permanent dead link]}
^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-1993. Record Research. p. 143.
^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
^ "1973 Year End". Bullfrogspond.com. Retrieved 2016-10-08.
^ "WLS Musicradio Big 89 OF '73".
^ WLS Forty-fives, October 13, 1973: Vol. 14, No. 1