Peak
1
Weeks
20
Score
3,427
Chart Year
1987
The video for the song was filmed at the 116th Street Festival in Harlem. With the exception of the group dance routine, the video has an unstructured, almost unrehearsed feel. This was done intentionally for the carnival setting.[4] In a 2020 interview with NJArts.net, Lisa Lisa recalled telling the director, “Look, just have the camera follow us and we’re going to have fun with this
This turned out be the biggest hit for the pop trio Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song is about a woman who's in love with a man that everyone she knows thinks is wrong for her, but she will disregard them and follow her heart. >> Like all of Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's hits, this was written and produced by Full Force, a Brooklyn-based songwriting/production team who discovered the lead singer in a club when she was a teenager. They got her signed to Columbia Records with the stipulation that no one else would be allowed to produce her. The group first hit American radio in 1985 with the freestyle jam "I Wonder If I Take You Home." Lisa Lisa was working in a clothing store at the time and was surprised to hear herself on the radio while she was folding sweaters. She reluctantly quit her safe retail gig to focus solely on music, and the group followed up their debut single with "Can You Feel The Beat" and "All Cried Out." Their second album, Spanish Fly, featuring the chart-topping hits "Head To Toe" and "Lost In Emotion" peaked at #7 on the albums chart and sold 1 million copies in the US. This was also a #1 hit on the R&B chart. Full Force's "Bowlegged" Lou George said the producers were listening to the Queen of Motown, Mary Wells, when they got the idea for this upbeat love song. They combined Wells' hits "You Beat Me to the Punch" and "Two Lovers" and came up with "Lost In Emotion." He told Fred Bronson, author of The Billboard Book Of #1 Hits: "We didn't steal the riffs, all we did was get the flavoring of it. We have a xylophone and some bells… because back in the Motown days they always used those simple instruments. They used real tambourines. The xylophone that you hear is a real xylophone. What we did was put it through on AMS, which is a computerized keyboard. If you listen to the end of the song it sounds like an I Love Lucy-type thing." Lou's brother Brian "B-Fine" George confirmed he had Motown in mind when he wrote the music and lyrics. "Lisa's voice always reminded me of Martha & the Vandellas and the Supremes," he explained in The Billboard Book Of #1 Rhythm & Blues Hits. "I wrote the whole song, lyrics and all the music, inside my head. And the first time I got to hear all the music and everything was when I got in the studio. I even did the sax solo in my head. I knew it was going to sound like the way it did. It was just one of those simple Motown-sounding types of songs." In the music video, directed by Jon Small (Billy Joel's "Piano Man"), Lisa Lisa attracts attention when she performs this at a carnival. In a 2020 interview with NJArts.net, she recalled making the video. "I thought it was all about a good time, and we were truly having fun," she said. "The directors would tell us, 'All right, we want this, this, this and this.' But I would say, 'Look, just have the camera follow us and we’re going to have fun with this. That's what this is going to be like.' I don't want to have too much structure when I do things like that. It makes it boring, and I didn't want to go there with it because that video was in a fun setting, you know? We were at the 116th Street Carnival in New York. If we're going to choose a carnival to do a video, it's got to be about having fun."
Hit the beat now Lost in emotion Some guys will promise you a Marriage made in heaven But I'm gonna stick to my guns Like waitin for their love that I might be gettin My dreams have just begun Am I awful to think of love Are you free And love for you, oh my And come to see you oh oh Lost in emotion Telling you things you really shouldn't know Oh baby, I'm lost in emotion Am I fool at least my friends think so Que sera Sera Baby, whenever we're free, que sera sera Between you and me Just how true are the rumors I am hearing About this crush you have on me Maybe I'm blind but I just don't see it But I want to believe what they say I find myself telling you things I don't even tell my best friend I can't show it the emotions overflowin Just wear it I'll dance around Sometimes I wonder if I am in your heart Even though I don't live there yet I'm afraid it'll be cold and dark I'm lost in emotion Telling you things you really shouldn't know I'm lost in emotion Am I a fool, at least my friends think so Que sera sera Between you and me A boy couldn't go Baby am I a fool cause I don't know Just how you feel I'll be there for you all the time Hit the beat now When I'm feelin, I hate this feelin Lost in emotion
| Week | Chart Date | Position | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aug 1, 1987 | 76 | 50 |
| 2 | Aug 8, 1987 | 67 | 59 |
| 3 | Aug 15, 1987 | 49 | 77 |
| 4 | Aug 22, 1987 | 37 | 89 |
| 5 | Aug 29, 1987 | 30 | 96 |
| 6 | Sep 5, 1987 | 21 | 105 |
| 7 | Sep 12, 1987 | 16 | 110 |
| 8 | Sep 19, 1987 | 9 | 117 |
| 9 | Sep 26, 1987 | 5 | 121 |
| 10 | Oct 3, 1987 | 3 | 123 |
| 11 | Oct 10, 1987 | 2 | 124 |
| 12 | Oct 17, 1987 | 1 | 125 |
| 13 | Oct 24, 1987 | 4 | 122 |
| 14 | Oct 31, 1987 | 13 | 113 |
| 15 | Nov 7, 1987 | 22 | 104 |
| 16 | Nov 14, 1987 | 36 | 90 |
| 17 | Nov 21, 1987 | 54 | 72 |
| 18 | Nov 28, 1987 | 72 | 54 |
| 19 | Dec 5, 1987 | 95 | 31 |
| 20 | Dec 12, 1987 | 100 | 26 |