Here’s your ticket to some of the best (or, perhaps, most infamous) 7″ singles ever released! No adapter is required, although in my opinion the device pictured below is right up there with the Sony Walkman as one of the best inventions of the 20th century.
If you were anywhere near a TV with cable in the summer of 1984, you’ll remember this lovely young lady:
Of course, that is Sherrie Swafford. THE Sherrie. Steve Perry’s girlfriend. Both the star (of the video) and subject of Perry’s solo smash “Oh Sherrie.” She still makes my knees weak.
Steve and Sherrie’s relationship didn’t last, but it did leave us with Perry’s biggest hit as a solo artist. “Oh Sherrie” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June of 1984, and helped propel Street Talk to sales of over two million copies.
Street Talk was produced by former Doors and Love producer Bruce Botnick, and its retro-pop/R&B sound was quite different from the music Journey had been making up to that point. The album spawned three other Top 40 hits: “She’s Mine,” Foolish Heart,” and “Strung Out.” A lot of my fellow Journey fans found the different sound of Street Talk a little hard to swallow, but I really admired Perry for doing something different on his first solo outing. Street Talk was one of the first ten discs that I purchased after I first acquired a CD player during Christmas of 1985, and it’s an album that I still listen to at least a few times every year.
The b-side of “Oh Sherrie” is a non-album track entitled “Don’t Tell Me Why You’re Leavin’,” and it would have fit beautifully on Street Talk. Like “Oh Sherrie,” “Don’t Tell Me Why You’re Leavin'” was co-written by Craig Krampf, a former bandmate of Perry’s from his pre-Journey days.
Sherrie and Steve…ain’t they cute?
![Oh Sherrie [U.S. 7_]](https://analogkidblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/oh-sherrie-u-s-7_.png)
Steve Perry: Oh Sherrie [U.S. 7″]
Columbia Records, 1984
A-side: “Oh Sherrie” (Steve Perry/Bill Cuomo/Randy Goodrum/Craig Krampf)
B-side: “Don’t Tell Me Why You’re Leavin'” (Steve Perry/Danny Kortchmar/Craig Krampf)
Don’t Tell Me Why You’re Leavin’
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Bonus Tracks!
The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.
Steve Perry: “Foolish Heart” (Steve Perry/Randy Goodrum)
Steve Perry: “She’s Mine” (Steve Perry/Randy Goodrum)
Steve Perry: “Strung Out” (Craig Krampf/Steve Perry/Billy Steele)
From the album Street Talk
Columbia Records, 1984
The Doors: “Riders On The Storm” (The Doors)
From the album L.A. Woman
Elektra Records, 1971
Love: “Alone Again Or” (Bryan MacLean)
From the album Forever Changes
Elektra Records, 1967
The Analog Kid 
Many would say it (at least the hits) were really Journey sounding songs. It just proved that Steve’s sound had become Journey. That is why they have a karaoke front man now. I sure wish he was still active in making music. His pipes were just off the chart.
I really did love some of the deeper cuts like “Captured By The Moment” and “Go Away.” He mentions Sam Cooke during “Captured” and I really think Sam was his true inspiration on this album. And yes, I wish he was still making music. There have been rumors floating around that he’s working on something, and he has made a few guest live appearances in the past 6 months…let’s keep our fingers crossed!
And by “many” I mean me. 😉
Another album that I think I owned that I had long since forgotten. I’m not sure if this one holds up for me…I think I heard Oh Sherrie a few too many times on the radio and even years of absence has not brought the love back.