Song · A Flock of Seagulls
“Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” by A Flock of Seagulls
From the album Listen (1983)
“Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” by A Flock of Seagulls appears on 12 radio countdowns from 8 stations between 1983 and 2023. It was first released in 1983 on the album Listen. Its best result is #81 on the KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #144 alternative song of 1983 and #2,455 alternative song of all time.
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"Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" opens A Flock of Seagulls' second album, Listen, and came out in 1982 as the record's lone hit, a great shimmering wall of synths stacked layer on layer in true Wall of Sound style. It's all ache and distance, a song about pining for a lover who isn't there, and Mike Score has said it was about a real girl he met on the eve of the band's first trip to America.
Score sings and plays keyboards, Paul Reynolds's guitar glints through the haze, Frank Maudsley and Ali Score hold down bass and drums, and all four share the writing credit. Mike Howlett produced, and AllMusic heard it as hypnotic, which is about right.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
Indie & Adult Alternative
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 81 | KROQ Los Angeles, CA | KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1983 | 107 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 409 | Live 105 | Live 105 Top 500 Songs of All-Time (Memorial Day 1988) | 501 |
| 1989 | 409 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1989) | 495 |
| 1991 | 478 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (1991 Edition) | 1002 |
| 1992 | 354 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1992) | 500 |
| 1999 | 178 | Q101 | Q101 Top 1,011 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 1017 |
| 1999 | 652 | CFNY 102.1 The Edge | CFNY Top 1002 Songs of All-Time (November 1999) | 1002 |
| 2002 | 1278 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 763 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2020 | 1261 | WXPN | WXPN 2020 Greatest Songs of All Time | 2020 |
| 2021 | 644 | 90.9 The Bridge | 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '80s | 909 |
| 2023 | 770 | The Colorado Sound | The Colorado Sound Top 850 Songs of the 1980s | 850 |
Also listed as: Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You); Wishing (I Had A Photograph); Wishing; Wishing (If I Had A Photograph of You); Wishing (If I Had A Photograph); Wishing (I Had A Photograph Of You).
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