Format 7" vinyl, 12" vinyl Genre Pop rock Writer(s) Rod Stewart | Recorded 1984 Label Warner Bros. | |
Length 5:13 (Album)
4:03 (single) | ||
"Infatuation" is a 1984 hit song by Rod Stewart. It was written by Stewart, and features guitar playing by Jeff Beck, who makes a cameo in the video. When released as a single, it had two different B-Side's. The first B-Side was She Won't Dance With Me, which is off his 1980 album Foolish Behaviour while the second B-Side, Three Time Loser, is off his 1975 album Atlantic Crossing.
Contents
Music video
The song's video, directed by Jonathan Kaplan and produced by Michael Omartian, is a story filmed mostly in black in white. In the video, a woman (played by Kay Lenz) moves into an apartment complex where Stewart lives. Shortly after she settles in, Stewart is accosted by the woman's bodyguard (played by Mike Mazurki) asking about her, showing him a picture of her with two mobsters, one of the faces covered by the bodyguard's thumb; Stewart denies knowing the woman, though his apartment walls are covered with numerous pictures he took of the woman in various stages of dress (and undress); he is constantly snapping additional pictures or peering into the woman's apartment with his binoculars.
Eventually Stewart's obsession with the woman gets him in trouble; he is caught with his binoculars by the woman's bodyguard, who punches him in the face. After Stewart falls back on his pillow the film changes from black and white to color, suggesting a dream sequence. The last scene takes a surreal turn, showing Stewart standing at a moving carousel with Lenz trapped in the center while one of the two mobsters (Dick Miller), riding a mount, taunts Stewart.
The video has two different endings: One ending shows the woman waving goodbye to Stewart as she and the other mobster (the one whose face was covered by the bodyguard's thumb in the picture) drive away in a blue convertible, leaving Stewart riding the carousel alone. The other features the mobster driving away alone as Stewart and Lenz ride the carousel together in each other's arms.
Mazurki later said that he met more famous people in the making of that video than in any of the feature films or TV shows in which he'd starred.
Charts
The song reached #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 charts. On the US dance charts, "Infatuation" was the last of five entries to make the chart, peaking at #19.