When I'm with You (Sheriff song)
{{Short description|1983 single by Sheriff}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox song
| name = When I'm with You
| cover = When I'm with You Sheriff.jpg
| alt =
| type = single
| artist = Sheriff
| album = Sheriff
| B-side =
- "Crazy Without You" (1983)
- "Give Me Rock 'N' Roll" (1988)
| released =
| recorded = 1982
| studio =
| venue =
| genre = Soft rock{{Citation|title=What the World Needs Now Is...: The Ultimate Love Collection - Various Artists {{!}} Songs, Reviews, Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/what-the-world-needs-now-is-the-ultimate-love-collection-mw0000986179|language=en|access-date=6 April 2021}}
| length = 3:58
| label = Capitol
| writer = Arnold Lanni
| producer = Stacy Heydon
| prev_title = You Remind Me
| prev_year = 1983
| next_title = When I'm with You
| next_year = 1988
| misc = {{Extra album cover
| header = Alternative cover
| type = single
| cover = Sheriff-When-Im-With-You-Cover.jpeg
| border =
| alt =
| caption =
}}}}
"When I'm with You" is a power ballad{{Cite web|date=23 June 2021|title=The Number Ones: Sheriff's "When I'm With You"|url=https://www.stereogum.com/2151402/the-number-ones-sheriffs-when-im-with-you/columns/the-number-ones/|access-date=2 July 2021|website=Stereogum|language=en}} by Canadian arena rock band Sheriff. The song was released in January 1983 in Canada as the second single from their self-titled debut album. A top-ten hit in Canada in 1983 (and a minor US hit at the same time), the song later reached number one in the United States in 1989, four years after the band separated in 1985, making it a sleeper hit. Guinness World Records lists “When I’m With You” as having the “Longest-held vocal note in a US hit single” which “features a note timed at 19.3 seconds” by “lead singer Federico ‘Freddy’ Curci [who] performed the soaring vocal – starting at 3 minutes 26 seconds – on the recording.”{{Cite web |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/636526-longest-held-vocal-note-in-a-us-hit-single|title=Guinness World Records website|access-date=30 January 2024}} It is also one of the few number-one hits not to have a promotional video during the MTV era.
Composition and inspiration
Sheriff's keyboardist Arnold Lanni wrote the song after meeting Valeri Brown and falling in love with her. 'I sat down, put my coffee on the piano, tinkled some ivories, and four minutes later 80 percent of the song was written. On Valentine's Day I played the song for Valerie and said, "I don't have anything, this is all I can give you right now. It's yours." Valeri loved the song; two years later she married me.'Billboard Magazine interview of Arnold Lanni by Fred Bronson.
Lanni also played the song to his bandmates in Sheriff. "The band really liked it, so we started playing it live. That was one of the last songs we recorded when we did the record. The producer said, 'Is there anything else?' I said, 'There's this song we play, it's kind of a wimpy song.' So we played it for him and he said 'Yeah, that's kind of nice.'"{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}}
Chart performance
"When I'm with You" was originally released as the third single off Sheriff's debut album. The song reached number eight on the RPM chart in the band's native Canada, where it was their biggest hit. In the US, it entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 14 May 1983 and peaked at number 61 four weeks later. Sometime thereafter, disappointed and frustrated by their continued lack of international success, the band broke up.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}}
In November 1988, Brian Philips, Program Director at KDWB in Minneapolis–Saint Paul, and WKTI in Milwaukee began playing the song, and eventually other radio stations nationally followed suit. This encouraged Capitol Records to re-release the song as a single; the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 on 26 November 1988. On 4 February 1989, the song reached number one in the United States, making Sheriff the first Canadian band to do so since Bachman-Turner Overdrive reached number one in November 1974 with "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet".{{cite web |title=When I'm With You by Sheriff - Songfacts |url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/sheriff/when-im-with-you |website=Songfacts}} The song only managed to hit number 112 for two weeks in February 1989 in the UK.
By that time, former Sheriff members Lanni and bassist Wolf Hassell had formed a duo named Frozen Ghost, and declined to re-form the group. Sheriff's lead vocalist Freddy Curci and guitarist Steve DeMarchi, who had both been working as couriers in the interim,[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC-i3dfLZG0 Behind The Vinyl "When I'm With You" by Sheriff, Freddy Curci and Steve DeMarchi @YouTube.com] Retrieved 12 May 2017. subsequently formed the band Alias and charted the following year with the number-two hit "More Than Words Can Say".
Track listings
7-inch single (1983){{cite AV media notes|title=When I'm with You|others=Sheriff|year=1983|type=Canadian 7-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Capitol Records|id=B-72901}}
:A. "When I'm with You" – 3:51
:B. "Crazy Without You" – 3:52
Cassette (1988) and 7-inch single (1989){{cite AV media notes|title=When I'm with You|others=Sheriff|year=1988|type=US cassette single sleeve|publisher=Capitol Records|id=4BX-44302}}{{cite AV media notes|title=When I'm with You|others=Sheriff|year=1989|type=US 7-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Capitol Records|id=B-44302}}
:A. "When I'm with You" – 3:54
:B. "Give Me Rock 'N' Roll" – 3:41
Charts
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
=Weekly charts=
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1983) !Peak |
| {{single chart|Canadatopsingles|8|chartid=6196|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2021}} |
| scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1983-06-11?rank=61|title=The Hot 100 Week of June 11, 1983|magazine=Billboard|date=11 June 1983|access-date=20 February 2021}}
|61 |
|---|
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1988–1989) !Peak |
| {{single chart|Billboardhot100|1|artist=Sheriff|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2021}} |
| {{single chart|Billboardadultcontemporary|1|artist=Sheriff|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2021}} |
{{col-2}}
=Year-end charts=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
!Chart (1989) !Position |
| scope="row"|US Billboard Hot 100{{cite magazine|title=1989 The Year in Music: Top Pop Singles|magazine=Billboard|volume=101|issue=51|page=Y-22|date=23 December 1989}}{{cite web|url=http://longboredsurfer.com/charts/1989|title=Billboard Top 100 – 1989}}
|37 |
|---|
| scope="row"|US Adult Contemporary (Billboard){{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1989/adult-contemporary-songs|title=Year-End Charts: Adult Contemporary Songs 1989|magazine=Billboard|url-access=subscription|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106121731/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1989/adult-contemporary-songs|archive-date=6 November 2019|access-date=27 March 2025}}
|28 |
{{col-end}}
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=single|artist=Sheriff|title=When I'm with You|award=Gold|relyear=1983|certyear=1991|access-date=20 February 2021}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Sheriff|title=When I'm with You|award=Gold|relyear=1988|certyear=1989|access-date=20 February 2021|refname="riaa"}}
{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Refbegin}}
- Bronson, Fred (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. {{ISBN|0-8230-7677-6}}.
{{Refend}}
External links
- [https://www.myspace.com/theofficialalias Alias Official website]
{{Authority control}}
Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Category:Cashbox number-one singles