"Afternoon Delight"
Single by Starland Vocal Band
from the album Starland Vocal Band
B-side"Starland"
ReleasedApril 1976
RecordedNovember 1975
Genre
Length3:12
Label
  • Windsong (US)
  • Windlands International (UK & Canada)
Songwriter(s)Bill Danoff[3]
Producer(s)Milt Okun
Starland Vocal Band singles chronology
"Afternoon Delight"
(1976)		 "California Day"
(1976)
Music video
"Afternoon Delight" on YouTube

"Afternoon Delight" is a song recorded by Starland Vocal Band. It was written by band member Bill Danoff. In the US, it became a #1 single on July 10, 1976,[4] and earned a gold record.

Background and writing

The title came from the happy hour menu at Clyde's restaurant in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.,[4] where Bill Danoff was eating with fellow bandmember Margot Chapman, while his then-wife Taffy Danoff was undergoing surgery for cervical cancer.[5] Danoff downplayed the lyrics: "I didn't want to write an all-out sex song ... I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex."[4]

Cover versions

Concurrent with the Starland Vocal Band version, country singer Johnny Carver's cover went Top 10 on Billboard Hot Country Singles.

In the 2004 film Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, the song is sung by the news crew in choir and referenced multiple times and came with a music video in the bonus disc.

It was briefly used as the intro song for the Australian 1980s Children's TV show Simon Townsend's wonderworld. It was replaced once the creator/producer of the show discovered that the song was about an afternoon sexual encounter.[6][7]

Critical reaction

At the 19th Grammy Awards ceremony in 1977, "Afternoon Delight" received three nominations for recordings from 1976. It won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices[8] and was also nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Song of the Year.

In 2010, Billboard named "Afternoon Delight" the 20th sexiest song of all time.[9]

Chart performance

Johnny Carver version

Chart (1976) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks 9
Canadian RPM Country Tracks 16

See also

References

  1. ↑ "VH1's 40 Most Softsational Soft-Rock Songs". Stereogum. SpinMedia. May 31, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Breihan, Tom (September 6, 2019). "The Number Ones: Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight"". Stereogum. Retrieved June 30, 2023. The final product stands out as a kind of throwback to sunshiney '60s folk-pop, and to countrified early-'70s soft rock.
  3. ↑ "secondhandsongs.com". secondhandsongs.com. Retrieved January 10, 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 Bronson, Fred (2003). "Afternoon Delight". The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits (5th ed.). Billboard Books. p. 438. ISBN 0-8230-7677-6.
  5. ↑ "Grammy Winner Taffy Nivert Settles In Safety Harbor - Safety Harbor, FL Patch". Patch.com. 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  6. ↑ National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (2023-02-06). "simon-townsends-wonder-world-first-episode". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
  7. ↑ ""...and remember, the world really is wonderful!"". tvtonight.com.au. 6 September 2019. Retrieved 2023-02-06.
  8. ↑ "The Grammys : Starland Vocal Band : Search". Grammy.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  9. ↑ "The 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time Page 4". Billboard. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  10. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 291. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  11. 1 2 "National Top 100 Singles for 1976". Kent Music Report. December 27, 1976. Retrieved January 15, 2022 – via Imgur.
  12. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1976-08-07. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
  13. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1976-07-10. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  14. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band – Afternoon Delight" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  15. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band – Afternoon Delight". Top 40 Singles.
  16. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company.
  17. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
  18. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band Chart History (Easy Listening)". Billboard.
  19. ↑ "Starland Vocal Band Chart History (Hot Country Songs)". Billboard.
  20. ↑ Australian-charts.com Archived 2014-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ "Top Singles – Volume 26, No. 14 & 15, January 08 1977". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 2016-03-19. Retrieved December 6, 2017.
  22. ↑ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart".
  23. ↑ "Old-Charts". Old-Charts. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2015-11-12.
  24. ↑ "Top 100 Hits of 1976/Top 100 Songs of 1976". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  25. ↑ Top 50 Adult Contemporary Hits of 1976
  26. ↑ "Top 100 Year End Charts: 1976". Cashbox Magazine. Archived from the original on 2012-08-25. Retrieved 2016-06-05.
  27. ↑ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
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