Song · The Smithereens
“In A Lonely Place” by The Smithereens
From the album Especially for You (1986)
“In A Lonely Place” by The Smithereens appears on 13 radio countdowns from 1 station between 2000 and 2014. It was first released in 1986 on the album Especially for You. Its best result is #1350 on the CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,676 alternative song of all time.
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Video from YouTube (The Smithereens - Topic). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube
"In a Lonely Place" is the Smithereens at their most noir, a 1986 single from the debut album Especially for You that plays like a black-and-white movie after the last reel. That's no accident: Pat DiNizio borrowed the title from the 1950 Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame film, and built the lead-up to the chorus out of reworked lines of the movie's dialogue about a love that gave a man life and then took it away.
The band dims the lights to match. Suzanne Vega sings the backing vocals, a ghostly echo in the background, while guests Frank Christian on acoustic guitar and Jeffrey Berman on vibraphone give it a smoky, after-hours shimmer, closer to a jazz club at closing time than the power pop they usually cranked out.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 1726 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 1726 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 1717 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 1702 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2004 | 1702 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 1701 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
| 2007 | 1394 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) | 2008 |
| 2008 | 1350 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) | 2009 |
| 2009 | 1363 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) | 2010 |
| 2010 | 1395 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) | 2011 |
| 2011 | 1458 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) | 2011 |
| 2013 | 1517 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) | 2012 |
| 2014 | 1572 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) | 2013 |
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