You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart

1988 single by Eurythmics

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart"

Single by Eurythmics

from the album Savage

B-side

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (acoustic) (Europe)
"Wide Eyed Girl" (North America)

Released

30 May 1988 (1988-05-30)^[1]

Genre

Synth-pop

Length

3:50

Label

RCA

Songwriter(s)

Annie Lennox
David A. Stewart

Producer(s)

David A. Stewart

Eurythmics singles chronology

"I Need a Man"
(1987)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart"
(1988)

"Revival"
(1989)

Music video

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" on YouTube

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" is a song by British pop duo Eurythmics. It was written by group members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, and appears on the duo's sixth studio album, Savage (1987). The song was released in May 1988 by RCA as the fourth and final single from the album in the United Kingdom and as the second in the United States. In the first, it was the only single from the album to reach the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 16 (the duo's 12th overall). The music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller.

Composition

The track is driven by a drum machine and is a mostly synth-based ballad. Lyrically, Lennox sings of mustering the power to leave a destructive relationship with a lover who does not return the affection she deserves ("...a woman's just too tired to think / about the dirty old dishes in the kitchen sink").

Critical reception

A reviewer from Cash Box called "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" an "arresting, riveting record" and praised Lennox's "powerful, beefy [vocal] performance."^[2] David Stubbs from Melody Maker said, "Dotted with Lennox's dramatically inept, watery squeals, like those of an orgasmic weasel, this is an electro-pop song about love, which, we are told, is pure, blind, hot and cold. So is water, Annie. Another risible and irrelevant exercise in passion, still haunted by the plump ghost of 'Retha."^[3] Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Another spellbinding song from the beautiful Savage LP. Both rocking and contemplative and carrying an inescapeable groove."^[4]

Music video

The song's accompanying music video continued the concept directed by British director Sophie Muller (seen earlier in the videos for the singles "Beethoven (I Love to Listen To)" and "I Need a Man", and throughout most of the Savage video album).^[5]

Track listings

7-inch: RCA (UK, WEST GERMANY, SPA, AUS, JP)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (LP version) – 3:52
"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (acoustic version) – 3:20

Note: Acoustic version was recorded at Corbin Hall, 1988

7-inch: RCA (CAN)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (LP version) – 3:52
"Wide Eyed Girl" (LP version) – 3:34

7-inch: RCA (US)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (LP version) – 3:52
"Wide Eyed Girl" (LP version) – 3:34

Note: The US promo 7-inch single has the A-side as "Chill Mix" 4:00

12-inch: RCA (UK, WEST GERMANY)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (dance mix) – 7:52
"Do You Want to Break Up?" (dance mix) – 6:12
"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (acoustic version) – 3:20

12-inch: RCA (US)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (LP version) – 3:52
"Here Comes the Rain Again" (live version) – 7:36
"Wide Eyed Girl" (LP version) – 3:34

Note: Live version recorded in Sydney, February 1987

CD single: RCA (UK)

"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (LP version) – 3:52
"Do You Want to Break Up?" (LP version) – 3:40
"Here Comes the Rain Again" (live version)* – 7:39
"You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart" (acoustic version) – 3:27

Note: Live version recorded in Sydney, February 1987

Credits and personnel

Annie Lennox – songwriter
David A. Stewart – producer, songwriter
Mastered at Sterling

Charts

Chart performance for "You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart"
Chart (1988)	Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM)^[6]	55
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)^[7]	54
Ireland (IRMA)^[8]	15
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)^[9]	31
UK Singles (OCC)^[10]	16
US Billboard Hot 100^[11]	64

References

^ "New Singles". Music Week. 28 May 1988. p. 31.
^ "Single Releases" (PDF). Cash Box. 12 March 1988. p. 6. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
^ Stubbs, David (11 June 1988). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 32. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
^ "Previews: Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 11 June 1988. p. 21. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
^ EurythmicsVEVO. "Eurythmics - You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart video". YouTube/EurythmicsVEVO. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 8714." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 5, no. 28. 9 July 1988. p. 15. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Chill in My Heart". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^ "Eurythmics – You Have Placed a Chill in My Heart". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^ "Eurythmics: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
^ "Eurythmics Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 22 March 2020.