80s Song of the Day: I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner

foreigner-picture-disc

This 7″ picture disc for I Want to Know What Love Is was released in the UK in 1984.

I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner
was released November 13, 1984, with Street Thunder (Marathon Theme) as the B side. It was the lead single from the band’s fifth studio album Agent Provocateur.

The song, which featured backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir and keyboard work by Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey, was a worldwide success. It reached No. 1 in several countries including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

I Want to Know What Love Is was written by Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones. Check out this 2013 interview with Classic Rock magazine where he talks about the making of the song:

“I always worked late at night, when everybody left and the phone stopped ringing. ‘I Want To Know What Love Is’ came up at three in the morning sometime in 1984. I don’t know where it came from. I consider it a gift that was sent through me. I think there was something bigger than me behind it. I’d say it was probably written entirely by a higher force.”

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One thought on “80s Song of the Day: I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner

  1. Pingback: 80s Song of the Day: Easy Lover by Philip Bailey & Phil Collins | Eighties Grooves

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