Song Of The Day 1/20/2014: The Tourists - "The Loneliest Man In the World"

Before They Were Famous: The Tourists were the second name under which Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart performed. The first was Catch, for which they combined with Stewart's friend Peet Coombes to release one single. After adding two more members they changed their name to The Tourists and released some very amenable pop music, including a cover of Dusty Springfield's "I Only Want To Be With You" that got them a Top 10 hit in England. Nothing really happened over here with it. The Tourists were as much of an outlet for the songwriting of Coombes, who passed away in 1997 at age 45, as for Lennox's voice. "The Loneliest Man in the World" is a yearning slice of Spectorism that shows the warm chestnut streams in Lennox's instantly recognizable voice.

After the Tourists broke up Lennox and Stewart went through the ceiling of the Fizzy Lifting Drink room, got cuddly with some synthesizers, shot some billiards with androgyny and turned into Eurythmics, one of the comparatively few New Wave groups that sounded like adults from the get-go.