Format 7", 12" Label A&M | Genre New wave, pop jazz | |
B-side "Another World" (UK 7")
"Chinatown" (U.S. 7") Released August, 1982 (U.S.)
October 1982 (UK) Length 4:23 (album version)
3:43 (single version) | ||
"Steppin' Out" is a song written by Joe Jackson, originally included on his 1982 album Night and Day. The song, inspired by Jackson's time in New York City, was his highest charting single in America.
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Background
The song is about the anticipation and excitement of a drive out around the town. Released as a single in early August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest hit in the United States, peaking at #4 in Cash Box and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also reached #4 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. The infectious tune was Jackson's second biggest hit on the UK Singles Chart, also reaching number six. Only "It's Different for Girls", which reached #5 in the UK in 1980, did better. The music video for the song, directed by Steve Barron, featured a housekeeper pretending she was a Cinderella figure. It was filmed over one night in the St. Regis Hotel in New York City during the summer of 1982.
"Steppin' Out" eventually earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.
Reception
In a retrospective review of the single, Allmusic journalist Chris True praised the song as a "mélange of simple piano hooks, rudimentary electronic treatment and classic vocal pop, with a rhythm track that is quaint in its simplicity and driving enough to invoke images of the big city at night."
In 2015, Pitchfork Media placed "Steppin' Out" at 153 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1980s."
Covers
The song was most recently covered by AM & Shawn Lee on their 2013 album La Musique Numérique. It was also covered by Stanley Jordan on his 2008 album State of Nature, Kurt Elling on his 2011 album The Gate, and Fantastic Plastic Machine on his 1998 self-titled album.