The Foote Files: Dexys Midnight Runners

(CBS 11) - If you are into 80s pop/rock music, you know about Dexys Midnight Runners.

This band is British, originally from Birmingham, England. They formed in 1978 and were active through 1986, then reunited in 2003.

The members included: Kevin Rowland (vocals), Billy Adams (guitar), Brian Maurice (sax), Paul Speare (flute), Jimmy Patterson (trombone), Micky Billingham (piano), Giorgio Kilkenny (bass) and Seb Shelton (drums). That would make them an octet!

The song that made them famous is "Come On Eileen," a #1 hit in the UK and the U.S. in 1983. The American run lasted for 14 weeks on Billboard. It was released on June 25, 1982 and was from their album "Too-Rye-Ay." Written by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, running 4:16 on the Mercury Record label, the lyrics go like this:

Come on, Eileen
Come on, Eileen

Poor old Johnny Ray
Sounded sad upon the radio
But he moved a million hearts in mono
Our mothers cried, sang along, who'd blame them

You're grown (so grown up)
So grown (so grown up)
Now I must say more than ever
(Come on, Eileen)
Too ra loo ra too ra loo rye aye
And we can sing just like our fathers

Come on, Eileen, oh I swear (what he means)
At this moment, you mean everything
You in that dress, my thoughts I confess
Verge on dirty
Ah, come on, Eileen

The song was also #1 in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and Switzerland.

Enjoy!