When you hear the word wallpaper in association with music, it’s not usually an exciting thing. We think of musical wallpaper as something that plays in the background and doesn’t do enough to grab our attention. But Nick Van Eede of Cutting Crew must have a much more positive association with wallpaper than other musicians. After all, without it, his band’s biggest hit, “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”, might never have happened.
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Nick Van Eede and Kevin McMichael formed Cutting Crew in 1986. Van Eede’s former band, The Drivers, toured Canada, which is where McMichael, a Canadian native, was playing with his band Fast Forward. The two men relocated to Van Eede’s native Great Britain to form the new outfit.
They took their name from a phrase once used by Freddie Mercury of Queen to describe the band’s focus on making records over constant touring. When Van Eede started writing songs for the first Cutting Crew album, he used a somewhat unorthodox method to get him rolling.
He had written a bunch of phrases on a sheet of wallpaper, one of which was “I just died in your arms tonight.” Once he had that in place, he started to piece other phrases from that wallpaper into a complete song. It was only after he had finished the track that he realized what he was channeling.
“Arms” Race
Van Eede had first uttered the title phrase during a night of passion with his girlfriend. At that time, they hadn’t been seeing each other but got back together on that occasion. He realized that the song he had written expressed his feelings of regret for confusing the situation with the tryst.
Van Eede made a demo of the song with a friend named Pete Birch singing harmony. When Cutting Crew tried to record the song in New York, no one could get that part right. They relocated to England and called Birch, who promptly nailed the part in the studio as well.
Terry Brown, known for producing many Rush classics, came to England to produce the song. “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight” was chosen as the lead single from Cutting Crew’s 1986 debut album Broadcast. And it immediately won over the listening public, giving the band a US No. 1 on their first try.
Behind the Lyrics of “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”
The song details after-the-fact second thoughts following a one-night stand. Van Eede’s narrator is candid about his mistakes and their consequences. “I keep looking for something I can’t get,” he admits. “Broken hearts lie all around me.” “Who would have thought a boy like me would come to this?” he asks, chastising and pitying himself all at once.
In the second verse, he suggests that he’s fallen into this trap before: “’Cause I’ve been thrilled to fantasy one too many times.” The middle eight depicts the intensity of the coupling, but then it also reveals the ensuing emotions. “But now it’s over, the moment is gone,” Van Eede sings. “I followed my hands, not my head, I know I was wrong.”
“I should have walked away,” the narrator laments about his decision-making. But it’s a good thing Nick Van Eede didn’t stick around on that fateful night, at least for his music career. And it’s a good thing he used his wallpaper for more than decoration to give him the impetus for “(I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight”.
Photo by Wendy Perl/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
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