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(I Just) Died in Your Arms

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"(I Just) Died in Your Arms" is the debut single by the English pop rock band Cutting Crew, released in July 1986 as a single from their debut studio album, Broadcast. The song was written by frontman Nick Van Eede, produced by Terry Brown, John Jansen and the band, and mixed at Utopia Studios in London by Tim Palmer.

"(I Just) Died in Your Arms"
Single by Cutting Crew
from the album Broadcast
B-side"For the Longest Time"
Released25 July 1986 (1986-07-25)[1]
RecordedFebruary 1986
GenrePop rock
Length4:39
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)Nick Van Eede
Producer(s)
Cutting Crew singles chronology
"(I Just) Died in Your Arms"
(1986) 		"I've Been in Love Before"
(1986)
Audio sample

The power ballad[2] is the band's biggest hit, peaking at No. 1 in the United States, Canada, Norway, and Finland, and reaching the top five in Germany, Ireland, the UK, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland.

Composition and recording

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According to Nick Van Eede, he wrote down a lot of song titles and ideas on a sheet of wallpaper, and one of the lines written there was "I just died in your arms tonight".[3] The line came to Van Eede while he was having sex with his girlfriend; Van Eede said: "I actually remember saying that", and wrote it down.[4] He woke up in the morning, wrote the song, and recorded a demo in three days.[5] He first added some chords to the line, singing it phonetically, before adding other lines from the wallpaper to construct a song. He wrote for three or four hours before realising what he was singing about. He said: "I'd split up with my girlfriend, we'd got back together for one night and there's a lot of guilt because I should have kept my distance."[3]

He first recorded a demo in the house of his schoolfriend Pete Birch, with Birch singing harmony in the song. The band recorded the song after they were signed to Siren, part of Virgin Records, in the Mediasound Studios in New York. Van Eede was dissatisfied with the result, and tried to re-record the song in London. They could not get the harmony right in the pre-production, so producer John Jansen asked about the person who sang the harmony in the demo, and Birch was brought in, and he "sang a perfect take in four minutes".[3] Jansen, however, had to leave before the recording was finished, and Van Eede contacted Terry Brown, the producer in Canada for Van Eede's previous band, The Drivers. Brown flew to London, and recut the whole song, with the exceptions of some keyboards and vocals.[3]

The song was released in 1986. The label questioned the use of brackets for "I Just" in the title, but relented when it was pointed out such similar use in "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".[3]

In 2024, Jax Jones, Joel Corry and Jason Derulo collaborated to create a remix version of the song called "Tonight (D.I.Y.A.)".

Music video

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There were two music videos produced. The North American version featured artistic fragmented shots using a model, with the band performing to camera. The UK version was filmed in a studio, both in color as well as black and white, while only the latter had been made available in Apple Music stores, from countries like Canada[6] and Brazil.[7]

On 29 October 2020, Van Eede announced, through Cutting Crew's official Facebook page, that a remastered HD edition of the "UK version" music video was uploaded to the band's former Vevo official account on YouTube.[8]

2020 reissue

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In early 2020, the song was rerecorded and reissued as in an orchestral incarnation as well as in several other versions as the lead single for the second Cutting Crew compilation album, Ransomed Healed Restored Forgiven,[9] accompanied by a new music video uploaded to YouTube,[9] through the official account of the band's new label, August Day. The new release for the hit has been through an 8-track EP released to digital platforms.[10][11] There is also a physical release, on CD, offered as a solo release and also included as part of the limited deluxe version of the new greatest hits album, both sold through the band's official webstore.[12]

Chart performance

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First released in Britain, the song peaked at No. 4 on the UK charts on 19 September 1986. Upon its release in the United States, the previously-unknown band's debut single shot to No. 1 on 2 May 1987, and stayed there for two weeks. It also reached No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, No. 24 on Billboard's Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and (in a remix version) No. 37 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart.[13] The song spent three weeks at number one in Canada.

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[37] Platinum 80,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[38] Gold 45,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[39] Gold 250,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[40] Gold 50,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[41] Gold 30,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] Platinum 600,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms (1986, Vinyl)". Discogs.
  2. ^ "Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart and the 20 other best power ballads". The Telegraph. 23 July 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e Simpson, Dave (19 February 2024). "'If you release that, I'm leaving': how Cutting Crew made (I Just) Died in Your Arms". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Bronson, Fred (2001). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. p. 665. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
  5. ^ Wiser, Carl. "Nick Van Eede from Cutting Crew". Song Facts.
  6. ^ "(I Just) Died in Your Arms by Cutting Crew on Apple Music". Apple Music Canada. January 1986. Retrieved 16 April 2020.
  7. ^ "(I Just) Died in Your Arms de Cutting Crew na Apple Music". Apple Music Brasil. January 1986. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  8. ^ "I know you have all seen it before..75 million of you, but here is the new HD version online...sounds (especially good) and looks much better. (...)". Official Cutting Crew's Facebook page. 29 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  9. ^ a b Smith, Lawrence (31 March 2020). "Cutting Crew return with a stunning orchestral album: a conversation with Nick Van Eede". Hastings and St. Leonards Observer. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  10. ^ "(I Just) Died in Your Arms by Cutting Crew on Spotify". Spotify. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  11. ^ "(I Just) Died in Your Arms [Orchestral Version]". Apple Music. 8 November 1989. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  12. ^ "CD & Vinyl". Cutting Crew official website. Retrieved 7 April 2020.
  13. ^ "Cutting Crew, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" Chart Positions". Billboard. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
  15. ^ Belgian peak Archived 9 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ "RPM Top 100 Singles - May 16, 1987" (PDF).
  17. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 6 June 1987. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  18. ^ "Cutting Crew: (I Just) Died in Your Arms" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat.
  19. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – I Just Died in Your Arms". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  20. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". Top 40 Singles.
  21. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Cutting Crew" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
  22. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". VG-lista.
  23. ^ "SA Charts 1965 – March 1989". Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  24. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". Singles Top 100.
  25. ^ "Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". Swiss Singles Chart.
  26. ^ "Cutting Crew: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 10, 2023.
  27. ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 2 May 1987. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  28. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2002). Joel Whitburn's Rock Tracks. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 44. ISBN 0898201535. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  29. ^ Whitburn, Joel (2007). Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 68. ISBN 978-0898201697. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  30. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts.
  31. ^ "Listy bestsellerów, wyróżnienia :: Związek Producentów Audio-Video". Polish Airplay Top 100. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  32. ^ "National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report. No. 650. December 1986. Retrieved 24 January 2023 – via Imgur.
  33. ^ "Top 100 Singles". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. 24 January 1987. p. 24.
  34. ^ "Australian Music Report No 701 – 28 December 1987 > National Top 100 Singles for 1987". Australian Music Report. Retrieved 11 December 2019 – via Imgur.
  35. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". collectionscanada.gc.ca.
  36. ^ "Top 100 Hits of 1987/Top 100 Songs of 1987". www.musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 7 December 2015.
  37. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". Music Canada. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Danish single certifications – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". IFPI Danmark. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  39. ^ "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Cutting Crew; '(I Just) Died In Your Arms')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 10 April 2023.
  40. ^ "Italian single certifications – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  41. ^ "Spanish single certifications – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died In Your Arms". El portal de Música. Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  42. ^ "British single certifications – Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
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