Use It Up and Wear It Out
| "Use It Up And Wear It Out" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Odyssey | ||||
| from the album Hang Together | ||||
| A-side | "Don't Tell Me, Tell Her" | |||
| Released | 1980 | |||
| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Odyssey singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Use It Up and Wear It Out" on TopPop on YouTube | ||||
"Use It Up and Wear It Out" is a song by US-based dance and soul group Odyssey that was released as a single in 1980. It was originally released as the B-side of "Don't Tell Me, Tell Her". When it was rereleased as the A-side it would go on to spend twelve weeks on the UK Singles Chart, including two at No. 1,[1] but failed to have any commercial success in the United States.
The song was written by Sandy Linzer and L. Russell Brown,[2] and produced by Linzer. It was the New York-based disco group's only UK No. 1 single, spending two weeks at the top of the charts from July 26 to August 8, 1980,[1] and was their most successful single on the UK Singles Chart. In their native United States, it failed to get into the Hot 100.[3] However along with the track "Don't Tell Me, Tell Her", "Use It Up and Wear It Out" went to number six on the US Billboard Disco Top 100 chart.[4]
The song was produced by Sandy Linzer and was arranged and conducted by Ray Chew.[5] The song was also released in 1980 as a 12" single.[6]
Musical anomalies
This was supposed to be a simple funny disco song, but on paper the track sits in G major. Still, almost nothing in the arrangement behaves like a normal major‑key song. The bassline keeps dodging the major third, so the harmony never fully “confirms” G major, and the vocals constantly dip into G minor‑pentatonic shapes, which pulls the color toward a bluesy minor feel.
At the same time, the groove leans heavily on the flat seventh (F natural), which pushes the whole thing into a very clear G mixolydian space.
Add the dominant‑7th funk vocabulary and the fact that the song is built on a vamp rather than functional progressions, and you get this weird tonal cocktail: the key signature says major, the melodic language says minor, and the harmonic behavior says modal.
That’s why the track feels so slippery: it’s major, minor, and mixolydian all at once, and the disco production smooths the clash into something one feels instinctively rather than analyze consciously.
Charts
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[7] | 5 |
| Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[8] | 4 |
| Netherlands (Single Top 100)[9] | 2 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts)[10] | 1 |
| West Germany (GfK)[11] | 20 |
Pat and Mick version
A cover by the duo Pat and Mick, produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, reached No. 22 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990.[12]
Charts
| Chart (1990) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[13] | 36 |
| UK Singles (Official Charts)[14] | 22 |
Other versions
A version by Indigo appears on Queer as Folk 2: Same Men, New Tracks, the second soundtrack album for the UK version of Queer as Folk.[15]
References
- 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 383. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ James Christopher Monger. "The Best of the 80s - Various Artists | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
- ↑ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. pp. 206–7. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ↑ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Hot Dance/Disco: 1974-2003. Record Research. p. 193.
- ↑ "Odyssey - Use It Up And Wear It Out". Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ↑ "12" Single: Odyssey - Use It Up And Wear It Out (1980)". Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ↑ "Odyssey – Use It Up And Wear It Out" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Odyssey" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
- ↑ "Odyssey – Use It Up And Wear It Out" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
- ↑ "Official Singles Chart on 21/7/1980 – Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts (West Germany)" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. To see the peak chart position, click 'TITEL VON', followed by the artist's name.
- ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 420. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ↑ "Pat & Mick – Use It Up And Wear It Out" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
- ↑ "Official Singles Chart on 29/4/1990 – Top 100". Official Charts Company.
- ↑ "Various - Queer As Folk 2 - Same Men. New Tracks. (CD, Album, Album)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-10-17.