“Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight”
Eddie Rabbitt
Written by David Molloy, Eddie Rabbitt, and Even Stevens
Billboard
#1 (1 week)
February 13, 1982
Eddie Rabbitt goes back to the pop country well but can’t draw water this time around.
“Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight” is, to put it bluntly, a dud of a song. Its lyrics are vague and generic, and the attempt to elevate it into something more interesting through the production falls completely flat.
He’s trying to revive the “Suspicions” vibe here, but that was the perfect production for that song because it was about a very specific dark and moody feeling. The eerie, melancholy arrangement made sense there.
It makes no sense here because there are no real stakes. Someone could lose a heart tonight? Okay. Are they going to lose it in a back alley somewhere after getting mugged?
Rabbitt tries but he just can’t sell this one. It’s beneath his talent and an indication that his winning formula is wearing thin.
“Someone Could Lose a Heart Tonight” gets a D.
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The implication is that one of the two lovers will lose their hearts. They are playing a dangerous game and someone better be aware of the risks. The risks are more immediate and local.
Now that I think about it, maybe this is the country version of the warning from ” A Christmas Story, ” “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
The odd, echoing whip sound effect with the percussion that I first heard on Alabama’s “Love in the First Degree” is at play here again. It will become the single most defining sound-effect of this era of pop-country for me.
I like this song and think Rabbitt is confidently in his lane both lyrically and stylistically.