B-side "Lonely Children" Recorded 1978 | Format 7" Genre Hard rock | |
Released September 1978 (1978-09) Length 3:29 (single)
3:40 (album) | ||
"Double Vision" is a single by Foreigner from their second album of the same name. The song reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two weeks in 1978, behind "MacArthur Park" by Donna Summer. It became a gold record. The song was also a top 10 hit in Canada.
The song has been a staple of the band's setlist since its release. Over recent years, Lou Gramm and Foreigner (now fronted by Kelly Hansen) have both used the song as their show opener.
This song is featured in Guitar Hero: Van Halen. It was also used in a 1990s Burger King ad.
Background and writing
In an interview, vocalist Lou Gramm explained the origin behind the song: "'Double Vision' was a song that was written in about late 1977 just before the Double Vision album came out. ...A lot of people think it's about being intoxicated or being high. When we were recording that song before we had the title, the New York Rangers hockey team was playing the Philadelphia Flyers and one of the big Flyers guys bumped into the Rangers' all-star goalie [John Davidson] and knocked him down and they had to take him out of the game because he was experiencing double vision."
According to the New York Rangers website, the incident actually took place in April 1978 during a hockey game between the Rangers and the Buffalo Sabres. The game announcers repeatedly used the phrase "double vision" which then inspired Foreigner to use it as the song's title. The single is certified RIAA gold, selling one million copies, prior to the reduction of gold certification standards that occurred in the late 1980s.