Song · Dexy's Midnight Runners
“Geno” by Dexy's Midnight Runners
Released 1980
“Geno” by Dexy's Midnight Runners appears on 5 radio countdowns from 1 station between 2001 and 2006. It was first released in 1980. Its best result is #40 on the Virgin Radio Top 100 Brit Songs of All-Time (May 2005). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #3,683 alternative song of all time.
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"Geno" was the first single from Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, the debut album Dexys Midnight Runners made in 1980, and it's a salute to the soul singer Geno Washington, played more or less the way his Ram Jam Band would have played it. Kevin Rowland wrote the words to Archer's music, the pair having started on it early in 1979.
The chant of the man's name that bookends it borrows its crowd roar from Van Morrison's 1974 live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, a Rowland favourite, and it calls up the 1960s nights when a compère would whip the room into a frenzy before Washington came on. The saxophone riff tips its hat to Washington's own "(I Gotta) Hold On to My Love". It was only the band's second single, and it sat at number one in the UK for two weeks.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 285 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 500 |
| 2004 | 259 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 500 |
| 2005 | 367 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 500 |
| 2005 | 40 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 100 Brit Songs of All-Time (May 2005) | 100 |
| 2006 | 417 | Virgin Radio | Virgin Radio Top 500 Songs of All-Time (December 2006) | 500 |
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