Steppin' Out
A drum machine, a pulsing piano and the anticipation of a night in Manhattan: his biggest American hit and a Grammy nominee for Record of the Year.
Joe Jackson, from Night and Day (1982)
- Written by
- Joe Jackson
- Released
- August 1982 (US); 22 October 1982 (UK)
- Producer
- David Kershenbaum and Joe Jackson
- Length
- 4:23 (single edit 3:43)
- Album
- Night and Day
The record
Steppin' Out closes the Night Side of Night and Day, and Jackson played almost all of it himself at Blue Rock in January 1982: piano, Hammond organ, Minimoog, vibraphone and the vocal. The relentless pulse underneath is a 1979 Korg KR-55 drum machine, with Larry Tolfree adding real snare and cymbal hits on top. Jackson was attached enough to the sound that he took the original KR-55 on tour with him in 2019.
The song is about the anticipation of a night out in New York, the cab ride and the lights before anything has actually happened. In a widely quoted account from a 2018 Wall Street Journal column, Jackson pictured a couple who had just fought and were making up.
The hit
It was released in America in August 1982 and in Britain in October, and reached number six in both countries, as well as five in Canada and Ireland. At the 1983 Grammys it was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, losing to Toto's Rosanna and Lionel Richie's Truly. Steve Barron's video, shot over a single night at the St. Regis Hotel, follows a hotel maid who imagines herself a Cinderella for the evening, though Jackson told Time Out in 1984 that he thought videos and MTV were turning rock into a circus.
Pitchfork placed it at 153 in its list of the best songs of the 1980s, and Rolling Stone at 93 among the best songs of 1982. It is now his most played song in concert after Is She Really Going Out with Him?, with setlist.fm logging close to eight hundred performances. Seal recorded it with Trevor Horn in 2023 for Horn's Echoes: Ancient and Modern, moving the song from New York to California.
On stage
- 1982-08-15, Hammersmith Odeon, London BBC Radio 1 In Concert; on At the BBC
- 1983-01-22, Regal Theatre, Hitchin BBC Sight and Sound in Concert; on At the BBC
- 1983-04-16, Grugahalle, Essen Rockpalast, broadcast live across Europe
Covers and versions
- Seal and Trevor Horn (2023) Echoes: Ancient and Modern
- Mind Fair (2017)
More songs by Joe Jackson
Sunday Papers, It's Different for Girls, Jumpin' Jive, Breaking Us in Two, Real Men, A Slow Song, You Can't Get What You Want (Till You Know What You Want), Fools in Love, Got the Time
Sources
- Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson song), Wikipedia
- Steppin' Out by Joe Jackson, Songfacts
- Steppin' Out: song statistics, setlist.fm
- Seal and Trevor Horn cover Steppin' Out, Cover Me