Real Life — “Catch Me I’m Falling”

Entered Top 40:  May 5, 1984  
1  week  
Peaked at: 40 

I always thought of Real Life as a two-hit wonder, although those two hits were different versions of the same song. “Send Me an Angel” was their breakthrough hit in 1983, going to #6 in their native Australia and #29 in the US. Near the end of the decade they returned with “Send Me an Angel ’89,” which didn’t do nearly as well at home, but improved somewhat in the US (#26 this time, and #5 on Dance Tracks).

In between these two angel-summoning requests, I had forgotten about the third hit, “Catch Me I’m Falling;” another Top 10 song in Australia (#8) from their debut LP. I do think this is better than the big hit, but that also could be largely overkill talking.

These days Real Life is essentially a solo project for frontman David Sterry. In 2008 he released an ’80s cover album that included versions of “Cars,” “Blue Monday,” “Tainted Love,” and yes, yet another version of “Send Me an Angel.” His most recent album was in 2020.

Here’s the infamous BMX ballet sequence from the film RAD set to “Send Me an Angel.” You’re welcome.