Urgent

Album

Yellow Balloon

Label

Atlantic Records

Genre

Funk Rock

Composer(s)

Mick Jones

Entered Chart

Jul 4, 1981

Peak Date

Sep 5, 1981

Released

Unknown

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Atlantic 3831

B-Side

Girl on the Moon"

The group wanted a "Junior Walker-style" sax solo for this record. When they took a break from recording, one of the members read in New York newspaper The Village Voice that Walker was performing that night mere blocks from the recording studio. Walker accepted their offer to play, and the recording of the sax solo was swift and without a hitch. Written by the Foreigner songwriting team of Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, this was the first single from 4, one of the best-selling albums of the '80s. With an R&B sound, the song was a musical departure for the band; many listeners didn't recognize it as Foreigner when they first heard it. "A few people were trapped into liking it before they found out who it was," Jones told Sounds. Before recording this album, two members of the group left, trimming the band from six members to four. This, along with the fact that it was their fourth album, explains the title, 4. >> Foreigner's guitarist Mick Jones produced the 4 album with Mutt Lange, who is known as a very meticulous producer with a tremendous work ethic. Jones told us: "We locked horns at the beginning, both pretty strong-minded about what we wanted to achieve, and we gradually discovered that it was the same thing. He drew a lot out of me. He was the first person that insisted on listening to every single idea I had on every single cassette tape, or any ideas I had anywhere, down on paper or lyrically, phonetically, instrumentally. He pulled songs like 'Urgent' out of that, and contributed a lot to 'Juke Box Hero.' It ended up being a great relationship." (Check out our interview with Mick Jones.)

You're not shy, you get around
You wanna fly, don't want your feet on the ground
You stay up, you won't come down
You wanna live, you wanna move to the sound
Got fire in your veins, burning hot but you don't feel the pain
Your desire is insane
You can't stop until you do it again

But sometimes I wonder as I look in your eyes
Maybe you're thinking of some other guy
But I know, yes, I know how to treat you right
That's why you call me in the middle of the night
You say

It's urgent, so urgent, so urgent (urgent, urgent)
Just wait and see
How urgent my love can be
It's urgent (urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent)

You play tricks on my mind
You're everywhere but you're so hard to find
You're not warm or sentimental
You're so extreme, you can be so temperamental

But I'm not looking for a love that'll last
I know what I need and I need it fast
Yeah, there's one thing in common that we both share
That's a need for each other anytime, anywhere

It gets so urgent, so urgent, you know it's urgent
I want to tell you it's the same for me (ooh ooh)
So urgent (urgent, urgent)
Just you wait and see how urgent our love can be
It's urgent (urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent)

You say it's urgent
Make it fast, make it urgent
Do it quick, do it urgent
Gotta run, make it urgent (urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent, urgent)
Want it quick, make it urgent, urgent
Emergency, urgent, urgent
Emergency, urgent (urgent), urgent (urgent)
Emergency, urgent (urgent), urgent (urgent)
Emergency
So urgent, emergency