"Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)" by Miami Sound Machine

      Hello friends! Thanks for tuning into Kyle's Radio Dial, the blog that reintroduces you to songs that you loved in years past! Tonight's selection is a mellow platter from the biggest Latin-pop crossover act of the '80s, (perhaps even the entire rock era), Florida based Miami Sound Machine! Time to jog your memory with “Falling in Love (Uh-Oh)”!

“Two of hearts, lace and satin... something in the air,

Feel like another crook that's been captured by your stare.”

The fourth and final extraction from MSM's breakthrough 1985 “Primitive Love” album, “Falling” was the Machine's first single not to land in the U.S. Top 10, stalling instead at #25 in the spring of '86. This chart decline was rather unexpected, as “Falling” followed the monster dance hits “Conga” and “Bad Boy” (US #10, and #8), and the ubiquitous love ballad “Words Get in the Way” (US #5).

It's hard to say exactly why this one didn't click as well as the previous three singles. It's certainly not a high energy dance track like “Conga”, or “Bad Boy”, and it's nowhere near as romantic as “Words...”, but it's an excellent mid-tempo soft rock entry that tells the story of a woman falling in love with a former flame (again...), despite her own misgivings about her situation.

Maybe the frequent “uh-ohs” throughout the song were a little too redundant for the average radio listener, or perhaps all the MSM fans already had the full Primitive Love LP by this time, so they weren't purchasing the “Falling” single, thus pushing it to a lower chart position overall.

“Jealous feelings, reappearing, such a wicked dare...

I'm just so damned confused, and I wonder, do you care?”

This was also the final single credited solely to the collective band name, before Gloria started receiving top billing under the revised moniker “Gloria Estefan and Miami Sound Machine”. Of course, even later, as Gloria's star rose, she became marketed as a solo artist, even though MSM continued to be her backup band.

I remember this tune quite fondly from it's original chart run, and it seemed to disappear from radio playlists much quicker than the other three hits from the LP. When I eventually recorded it off of my local “light rock” station in the early '90s, I felt like I had just snagged a forgotten musical treasure, as it had been at least 5 years since I'd heard it over the airwaves.

Also, it wasn't until recently that I learned the chorus contains the line... “falling in love again... and I don't want to, no, no, no”. All this time, I interpreted those words as the slightly different “I don't want to know, know, know”, as if the woman is accepting her amorous feelings toward this man from her past once more, and she's decided that she'll let it happen without over-thinking the consequences. Turns out the real lyrics are simpler, and I was the one over-thinking it, not Gloria! 

So check in with Miami Sound Machine, and revisit this great single from three decades hence. Maybe it will catch your ear in such a way that you will fall in love with it... again... Uh-oh.

“Uh-oh, uh-oh... falling in love, falling in love again... 

Uh-oh, uh-oh, and I don't want to, no, no, no”