"Someone's Looking at You" was the third and final single from The Boomtown Rats' album The Fine Art of Surfacing.[2] It peaked at number two on the Irish Singles Chart and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart in February 1980.[3]
| "Someone's Looking at You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by The Boomtown Rats | ||||
| from the album The Fine Art of Surfacing | ||||
| B-side | "When the Night Comes"[1] | |||
| Released | 18 January 1980 (UK)[1] | |||
| Genre | New wave | |||
| Length | 4:27 | |||
| Label | Ensign Records (UK)[1] Columbia Records (USA) | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Pete Briquette & Bob Geldof | |||
| Producer(s) | Robert John "Mutt" Lange[1] | |||
| The Boomtown Rats singles chronology | ||||
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It is an organ-based song that paints a humid picture of 1984-style government surveillance and has been described as a "gently humorous song about paranoia".[4] The second verse starts "They saw me there in the square when I was shooting my mouth off about saving some fish. Now could that be construed as some radical's views or some liberals' wish". This refers to singer Bob Geldof's participation in a Greenpeace anti-whaling rally in London's Trafalgar Square.[4] Geldof's website describes the song as a personal statement on fame.[5]
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Top Singles (RPM)[6] | 86 |
| Ireland (IRMA)[7] | 2 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[8] | 48 |
| Norway (VG-lista)[9] | 6 |
| UK Singles (OCC)[10] | 4 |
The Boomtown Rats | |
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| Studio albums | |
| Singles |
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| Other albums | |
| Related articles |
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