Ten Favorite Songs in Commercials: Tempted (#2)

Tweet

Here it is, just after 10 PM, and I'm just getting in the house for the evening. What a carouser! Actually, I was at Lowe's getting some plywood cut for a cargo shelf for my car. I also got some flood lights and fixed my motion detector, plus got a new bug light for the back door. Not bad for a Monday that began at the dentist's. (Doesn't every Monday feel like it begins at the dentist's???) Here's the next song on my list of favorite songs that showed up in a commercial. #2: Tempted - Squeeze No surprise that this song made it, I'm sure. If you're into music trivia, Paul Carrack sang lead on most of this song. He also sang lead on Ace's hit "How Long," his own hits, and was lead singer for Mike Rutherford's side project Mike + the Mechanics. Oh, and I saw him playing with Nick Lowe, opening for Tom Petty in 1982. East Side Story is one of the best albums in Squeeze's career, of the early 80s, and...well, I could go on and on. It's loaded with humorous songs (I always loved that line in "Piccadilly" about them standing on line for a play while "A man behind me talks to his young lady, he's happy that she is expecting his baby, his wife won't be pleased" ) and had the production of Elvis Costello to boot. "Tempted" was, for a long time, the closest thing that Squeeze had to a hit in the US (they finally broke through with "Hourglass"). It's a classic song in every regard. It's on my 100 favorites list. And here it is on this list, thanks to its appearance in a Gap "Broken-In Jeans" commercial. See, these shirts that look like you've been sweating are nothing new. Tempted Written by Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook Recorded by Squeeze From East Side Story, 1981 Used in Gap jeans commercial, 2003 Alarmed by the seduction: