Pat Benatar — “Looking For A Stranger”

Entered Top 40:  May 21, 1983
 3 weeks 
Peaked at: 39

Knowing now that Pat Benatar married Neil Giraldo in 1982 and they’ve been together for 40+ years, it’s cute to hear her sing about how bored she is and how she wants to spice up her romantic life. “Looking For A Stranger” was the third single from Get Nervous, behind “Shadows of the Night” (#13) and “Little Too Late” (#20).

All three of the Get Nervous singles were covers; “Looking for a Stranger” was originally a 1980 Franne Golde song called “Looking for the Stranger.” Golde recorded three albums of her own, but had greater success as a songwriter (she co-wrote the Commodores’ “Nightshift” and Jody Watley’s “Don’t You Want Me”). The Benatar arrangement is completely different, but I like most of Golde’s here (the saxophone can go).

Pat Benatar would follow Get Nervous with a live album, including two new studio tracks. One of them, “Love is a Battlefield,” would end up her biggest song to that point (#5). We’ll run into Benatar again on the other side of all that.