“Gone Too Far”
Eddie Rabbitt
Written by David Molloy, Eddie Rabbitt, and Even Stevens
Radio & Records
#1 (1 week)
May 2, 1980
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
May 17, 1980
Eddie Rabbitt is best known for a series of massive crossover hits that made him an Urban Cowboy king. Entering the eighties, he was already a consistent hitmaker. He scored a string of No. 1 hits, the most recent being the lead single from his 1979 Loveline album: “Suspicions.” This was followed by the top five hit “Pour Me Another Tequila.” The third single from Loveline returned him to the top.
“Gone Too Far” still finds Rabbitt searching for his signature sound, and its primary problem is that it doesn’t go quite far enough. Rabbitt is still just flirting with the country pop that would shortly make him a superstar, but he isn’t ready to go all of the way.
So we’re left with a record that feels incomplete. Single remixes weren’t very common in these days, but if they’d spruced the track up a bit with some additional pop elements, this would’ve been a more memorable record. As is, the pedestrian lyrics and lukewarm production combine for something that is considerably less than the sum of its parts.
But no worries. The man is going to release four undeniable country pop classics in the next two years, and they’re all going to go to No. 1. One of them will even top the Hot 100.
“Gone Too Far” gets a B-.
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Never have heard this song. Very boring. That’s my problem with alot of the 80s men. The 90s ladies get all the love but the 80s Ladies have it over the men by far too!
Exhibit “A” for why eighties country is vilified. What is this? Is this really what reaching the point of no return sounds like, of having gone too far?
Tripping on my un-tied shoe strings evokes stronger falling emotions than these lame lyrics.
Eddie Rabbitt is a triple threat superstar – songwriter, singer, and entertainer- but this performance doesn’t even hint at that potential.