Peak
16
Weeks
18
Score
2,091
Chart Year
1986
There were two different music videos produced for the song. The original Swiss version features the band performing the song in a darkened room.[5] The US version of the video incorporates more of a storyline, with alternating location shots featuring the band members and various female models. A TV program incorporating elements from the US video made the band appear as having four members, with Felix Haug either playing drums or piano depending on the shot, and Kurt Maloo either playing guitar and singing or playing saxophone. Most shots of playing musicians just showed two of them at the same time, but a few were composite and showed all four. The original Swiss video uses a similar idea, but also sometimes makes two incarnations of the same artist appear together and does not attempt at realism. The album cover also represents each artist twice.
Double (pronounced doo-BLAY) was the Swiss duo of Kurt Maloo and Felix Haug, who were active during the mid-1980s. This atmospheric song, about a woman who's tired of waiting for the man she loves to return to her even though she still loves him, was their signature hit and got a lot of air time on VH1, which launched the previous year. Double broke up in 1987 and Maloo pursued a solo career. Little is known about Maloo and Haug except that they were former members of the band Ping Pong, leading to an aura of mystery surrounding the duo, including the fact that they even were a duo. As they began promoting the Blue album, the press was shocked when they met with two musicians instead of the quartet pictured on the album cover. Maloo told the Old School blog: "After the bass player of Ping Pong left the trio, Felix Haug (the drummer) and I looked at each other and saw Double. The concept of doubling ourselves and appearing as four people like on the album cover of Blue evolved later, since we already had released three maxi singles prior to our first album." There were three videos shot for this song, known as the American version, the European version, and the Bollywood version. It was long reported that the American version of the video starred a 15-year-old Denise Richards as the punk girl with cropped blonde hair. This was later revealed to be a Scottish model named Mickey Monroe. The other two girls in the video are played by Marie Seznec and Anna Mosca. "The Captain Of Her Heart" made Double the first Swiss act to land in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Maloo explained how the song came together: "When we were in the studio recording our first album Blue, Felix played a demo tape he had made a few months before. There was this catchy melody played by an Oberheim synthesizer, very '80s style. I was hooked immediately and couldn't get the lick out of my head. We weren't sure about the final instrumentation yet as we started to record the basic tracks and the engineer suggested that we play the melody first on a grand piano and then decide later on the final sound. Felix played it thinking it was just a guide track for my vocals. It was a first take and I had trouble convincing him later to leave it on tape just the way it was. I wrote the lyrics to the playback in no time in the studio. Like a ghost writer. They were just there out of the blue. It was almost spooky. I never thought the lyrics would touch so many hearts around the world and I'm still overwhelmed from all the positive feedback I get through the internet." Report this ad Maloo told Billboard how the Blue album was born out of the duo's intimacy as longtime friends: "We've known each other such a long time, we don't have to discuss ideas. Demo tapes were dispensed within the interest of spontaneity, and outside musicians were not involved until the final stages." He added: "We acted like children. The instruments were not mastered perfectly. But that gave us the chance to discover things." Maloo re-recorded this song for his 2013 solo album, Loopy Avenue. Maloo on the song's distinctive melody: "When 'The Captain of Her Heart' became a million-seller I asked Felix what had inspired him to come up with a melody like that. He said he was sitting at his piano in his apartment on a sunny day in spring, windows wide open. On a near tree outside there was a blackbird singing the first two notes of the melody repeatedly. He caught the notes… E…G…E…G…E…G… and started to jam to the blackbird's singing until he had that final lick that sticks like glue once you've heard it."
It was way past midnight And she still couldn't fall asleep. This night the dream was leaving She tried so hard to keep. And with the new day's dawning She felt it drift away. Not only for a cruise Not only for a day Too long ago, too long apart She couldn't wait another day for The captain of her heart. As the day came up, she made a stop. She stopped waiting another day for The captain of her heart.
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jun 28, 1986 | 95 | 31 |
| 2 | Jul 5, 1986 | 86 | 40 |
| 3 | Jul 12, 1986 | 65 | 61 |
| 4 | Jul 19, 1986 | 61 | 65 |
| 5 | Jul 26, 1986 | 50 | 76 |
| 6 | Aug 2, 1986 | 44 | 82 |
| 7 | Aug 9, 1986 | 37 | 89 |
| 8 | Aug 16, 1986 | 34 | 92 |
| 9 | Aug 23, 1986 | 27 | 99 |
| 10 | Aug 30, 1986 | 24 | 102 |
| 11 | Sep 6, 1986 | 17 | 109 |
| 12 | Sep 13, 1986 | 16 | 110 |
| 13 | Sep 20, 1986 | 16 | 110 |
| 14 | Sep 27, 1986 | 20 | 106 |
| 15 | Oct 4, 1986 | 31 | 95 |
| 16 | Oct 11, 1986 | 46 | 80 |
| 17 | Oct 18, 1986 | 60 | 66 |
| 18 | Oct 25, 1986 | 73 | 53 |