Afternoon Delight (song)
Encyclopedia
"Afternoon Delight" is the title of a song recorded by American group, Starland Vocal Band
, featuring close harmony
and sexually suggestive wordplay. It was written by Bill Danoff
, one of the members of the band. It became a number-one U.S. Billboard Hot 100
single on July 10, 1976. The song also reached number-one in Canada and peaked at number 5 in New Zealand.
. Danoff enjoyed writing the song and downplayed the somewhat controversial lyrics, saying, "I didn't want to write an all-out sex song ... I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex."
had a Top 10 cover of his own on the Billboard Hot Country Singles
chart. In 1983, the Circle Jerks
also covered this song as one of the six cover versions on "Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45)", which appears on their third album with the same title
. British experimental folk music band Current 93
used an industrial-style cover version as an introduction to their performances of their 2009 album.
Claude François sung it in French as Dimanche après-midi.
and was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Record of the Year
.
In 2010 Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time.
However also in 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio
ranked the song at #26 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating, "If [Danoff] can sing this cheesy song, and still somehow get some in the middle of the workday, we bow to him."
(where it was mistaken for being a song about more innocent subject matter), Get a Life
("Chris Wins a Celebrity"), Good Will Hunting
, PCU
, Boogie Nights
, Lost
, The Rules of Attraction
, The Spirit of '76, Starsky & Hutch
, ER ("No Strings Attached", sung by Abby
), Arrested Development (as part of a plot point in the episode "Afternoon Delight
"), The Simpsons
("The Fat and the Furriest
"), Rules of Engagement
, Sports Night
, Complete Savages
, South Park
and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
.
They performed Afternoon Delight live on The Midnight Special
in 1977.
Anchorman star Will Ferrell
performed the song a cappella
with Paul Rudd
, Steve Carell
and Dave Koechner during a scene, but on the DVD release, he recorded a studio version of the song with an accompanying video.
The song was featured prominently in a 1997 episode of Murphy Brown
, where a number of the characters flashed back to the Bicentennial Celebration
in 1976.
A slightly adapted version was used for advertising in Australia, for Soho Biscuits.
As an advertisement for tourism in the Bahamas, the song become "Bahamian Delight".
Starland Vocal Band
Starland Vocal Band were an American pop band, known primarily for "Afternoon Delight", one of the biggest-selling singles in 1976.-Career:The group began as 'Fat City', a husband/wife duo of Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. The band was also composed of Jon Carroll and Margot Chapman...
, featuring close harmony
Close harmony
Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range. It is different from open harmony or voicing in that it uses each part on the closest harmonizing note , while the open voicing uses a broader pitch array expanding the harmonic range past the octave...
and sexually suggestive wordplay. It was written by Bill Danoff
Bill Danoff
Bill Danoff is an American songwriter and singer. His best known song as a performer is "Afternoon Delight", which Danoff performed as a member of the Starland Vocal Band...
, one of the members of the band. It became a number-one U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
single on July 10, 1976. The song also reached number-one in Canada and peaked at number 5 in New Zealand.
Background and writing
Danoff's fellow bandmember and then-wife Kathy "Taffy" Nivert told at least one audience that the title came from a spicy menu item of the same name at Clyde's restaurant in GeorgetownGeorgetown, Washington, D.C.
Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...
. Danoff enjoyed writing the song and downplayed the somewhat controversial lyrics, saying, "I didn't want to write an all-out sex song ... I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex."
Cover versions
Concurrent to the Starland Vocal Band's version, country singer Johnny CarverJohnny Carver
Johnny Carver is an American country music artist. Between 1968 and 1977, he charted fifteen Top 40 hits on the Billboard country charts. His highest-charting single was a cover of Tony Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", a cover that reached #1 for him in 1974...
had a Top 10 cover of his own on the Billboard Hot Country Singles
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
chart. In 1983, the Circle Jerks
Circle Jerks
The Circle Jerks are an American hardcore punk band, formed in 1980 in Los Angeles, California. It was formed by Black Flag's original singer, Keith Morris, and future Bad Religion guitarist Greg Hetson. They were among the preeminent hardcore punk bands of the L.A. scene in the late 1970s.The band...
also covered this song as one of the six cover versions on "Golden Shower of Hits (Jerks on 45)", which appears on their third album with the same title
Golden Shower of Hits
Golden Shower of Hits is the third studio album by the American hardcore punk band the Circle Jerks. It was released in 1983 through Allegiance Records and was the band's last album to feature Roger Rogerson on bass and Lucky Lehrer on drums...
. British experimental folk music band Current 93
Current 93
Current 93 is an eclectic British experimental music group, working since the early 1980s in folk-based musical forms. The band was founded in 1982 by David Tibet .-Background:Tibet has been the only constant in the group, though Steven Stapleton has appeared on...
used an industrial-style cover version as an introduction to their performances of their 2009 album.
Claude François sung it in French as Dimanche après-midi.
Critical reaction
At the 17th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1977, "Afternoon Delight" received three nominations. It won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for VoicesGrammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices
The Grammy Award for Best Vocal Arrangement for Two or More Voices was awarded from 1977 to 1986. From 1977 to 1981 it was called the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices...
and was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Record of the Year
Grammy Award for Record of the Year
The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....
.
In 2010 Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time.
However also in 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio
AOL Radio
AOL Radio powered by Slacker, , is an online radio service available only in the United States.- Roots :...
ranked the song at #26 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating, "If [Danoff] can sing this cheesy song, and still somehow get some in the middle of the workday, we bow to him."
Starland Vocal Band version
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks | 94 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 6 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 22 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 5 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
18 |
Johnny Carver version
| Chart (1976) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks | 9 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 16 |
In popular culture
Since the original song's release, many works have alluded to or even featured "Afternoon Delight" or its suggestive lyrics, often ironically. Among them have been GleeGlee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
(where it was mistaken for being a song about more innocent subject matter), Get a Life
Get a Life (TV series)
Get a Life is a television sitcom that was broadcast in the United States on the Fox Network from September 23, 1990, to March 8, 1992. The show starred Chris Elliott as a 30-year-old paperboy named Chris Peterson. Peterson lived in an apartment above his parents' garage...
("Chris Wins a Celebrity"), Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting
Good Will Hunting is a 1997 drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, and Stellan Skarsgård...
, PCU
PCU (film)
PCU is a 1994 comedy film. The film depicts college life at the fictional Port Chester University, and represents "an exaggerated view of contemporary college life...." The film is based on the experiences of writers Adam Leff and Zak Penn at...
, Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights
Boogie Nights is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Set in Los Angeles's San Fernando Valley, the script focuses on a young nightclub dishwasher who becomes a popular star of pornographic films, and chronicles his rise and fall from the Golden Age of Porn of the 1970s...
, Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction
The Rules of Attraction is a dark comedy and satirical novel by Bret Easton Ellis published in 1987. The novel focuses on a handful of rowdy and often sexually promiscuous, spoiled Bohemian college students at a liberal arts college in 1980s New Hampshire, primarily focusing on three of them who...
, The Spirit of '76, Starsky & Hutch
Starsky & Hutch (film)
Starsky & Hutch is a 2004 American comedy film directed by Todd Phillips. The film stars Ben Stiller as David Starsky and Owen Wilson as Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson and is a film adaptation of the original television series of the same name from the 1970s....
, ER ("No Strings Attached", sung by Abby
Abby Lockhart
Dr. Abby Lockhart is a fictional medical doctor on the television series ER. She is portrayed by Maura Tierney...
), Arrested Development (as part of a plot point in the episode "Afternoon Delight
Afternoon Delight (Arrested Development episode)
"Afternoon Delight" is the 28th episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.-Synopsis:Michael Bluth finds the frozen banana stand vandalized by teenagers, a local holiday tradition, and heads home to find his son, George Michael, to engage in their tradition of rebuilding the stand...
"), The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
("The Fat and the Furriest
The Fat and the Furriest
"The Fat and the Furriest" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fifteenth season, which originally aired November 30, 2003. The episode is about Homer fighting a bear.-Plot:...
"), Rules of Engagement
Rules of Engagement (TV series)
Rules of Engagement is a sitcom that debuted on CBS on February 5, 2007, as a midseason replacement, immediately following Two and a Half Men, in the time slot that was occupied by now-cancelled The New Adventures of Old Christine...
, Sports Night
Sports Night
Sports Night is an American television series about a fictional sports news show also called Sports Night. It focuses on the friendships, pitfalls, and ethical issues the creative talent of the program face while trying to produce a good show under constant network pressure...
, Complete Savages
Complete Savages
Complete Savages is an American sitcom that aired on ABC from September 2004 to June 2005. It was part of ABC's final TGIF comedy line-up. The show was created by Mike Scully and Julie Thacker and executive produced by Mel Gibson...
, South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
and Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, or simply Anchorman, is a 2004 American comedy film, directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell. The film, which was also written by Ferrell and McKay, is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the then-new Action News format...
.
They performed Afternoon Delight live on The Midnight Special
The Midnight Special
The Midnight Special was the name of a passenger train formerly operated by the Chicago and Alton Railroad and its successor, the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad. The train ran on an overnight schedule, and in later years carried the last regularly scheduled Pullman sleeping car between Chicago,...
in 1977.
Anchorman star Will Ferrell
Will Ferrell
John William "Will" Ferrell is an American comedian, impressionist, actor, and writer. Ferrell first established himself in the late 1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, and has subsequently starred in the comedy films Old School, Elf, Anchorman, Talladega...
performed the song a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
with Paul Rudd
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor and screenwriter. He has primarily appeared in comedies, and is known for his roles in the films Clueless, Wet Hot American Summer, Anchorman, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Dinner for Schmucks, The Object of My...
, Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
and Dave Koechner during a scene, but on the DVD release, he recorded a studio version of the song with an accompanying video.
The song was featured prominently in a 1997 episode of Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown
Murphy Brown is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from November 14, 1988, to May 18, 1998, for a total of 247 episodes. The program starred Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news anchor for FYI, a fictional CBS television...
, where a number of the characters flashed back to the Bicentennial Celebration
United States Bicentennial
The United States Bicentennial was a series of celebrations and observances during the mid-1970s that paid tribute to the historical events leading up to the creation of the United States as an independent republic...
in 1976.
A slightly adapted version was used for advertising in Australia, for Soho Biscuits.
As an advertisement for tourism in the Bahamas, the song become "Bahamian Delight".