Missing You (John Waite song)

1984 single by John Waite

"Missing You" is a song co written and recorded by English musician John Waite. It was released in June 1984 as the lead single from his second album, No Brakes (1984). It reached number one on Billboards Album Rock Tracks and on the Hot 100, as well as number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. "Missing You" was the only record in 1984 to spend only a single week at the top of the Hot 100. The song was nominated for the 1985 Best Pop Vocal Performance Male Grammy Award. Waite re recorded the song with country/bluegrass artist Alison Krauss which appeared on her album A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, and released it to country music radio in 2007. The re recording peaked at number 34 on Hot Country Songs. The original recording has been featured in the films, Selena (1997) and Warm Bodies (2013), the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and the TV series Miami Vice (episode, "Heart of Darkness", originally aired 28 September 1984), as well as in the comedy sitcom Rules of Engagement, in a scene at the diner where there is a flashback of Timmy's and Russell's best moments together (season 7, episode "A Wee Problem", originally aired on 6 May 2013). It also appears in the film 22 Jump Street (2014) during the montage where main characters Schmidt and Jenko begin to miss each other after going their separate ways following a fight. The song is mentioned by Sheila Weller as describing O. J. Simpson's obsession with Nicole Brown Simpson and is the inspiration for the title of her book Raging Heart.

The song is a soft rock track. It is performed in the key of G major with a tempo of 104 beats per minute in common time. Waite's vocals span from G3 to C5 in the song. In the verses/bridge, the singer describes how much he misses his ex lover, while in the chorus, he lies to himself and vehemently denies missing them. The opening line "Every time I think of you" is the title of a song by Waite's group The Babys.

Waite's record label was convinced they had enough songs for the No Brakes album, but he felt it lacked a hit single. He went to a songwriter's house in LA, who showed him a guitar melody on a cassette tape. Waite listened to the melody once through, and the second time, improvised the entire first verse, 'B' section, and "missing you" section without stopping. Waite said the song was about three women in his life: he was getting divorced, and he was thinking of an old love interest from when he first moved to New York City as well as a current love interest. He said, "I was singing about New York, and distance, the caving in of my marriage, and the options that I had. It was bittersweet – it was about the end of my marriage and the beginning of something new. Although, when I was singing 'I ain't missing you', it was denial too." He had to convince the record label to spend $5,000 to record one last single—this one—for the album.

The accompanying music video for "Missing You" was written/directed/produced by Kort Falkenberg III and was actually filmed in Los Angeles during the summer of 1984. Although some people understandably have mistaken the street scene for New York City or London, the director intentionally looked for a location in downtown Los Angeles where there was "no Stucco" on the walls which would have been a dead giveaway that it was shot in the southwest U. S., as he wanted it to look neutral and not be identifiable as any particular city. To start the clip, John Waite is sitting in a chair, and after seeing a picture of a woman (played by actress Elizabeth Reiko Kubota) with whom he is still in love, he, frustrated, slaps the lamp above him causing it to swing back and forth and begins to sing the song. When he opens his bedroom door, a woman playfully jumps into his arms and they embrace falling back onto the bed. Later, Waite watches through a crack in the door as the woman angrily throws her clothes into her suitcase. She pushes through the door to leave him and it hits him in the face full force as she storms past him. Pained at her emotional and physical assault, he sadly remembers being at one of her photo shoots. Trying to be cool, Waite leans on a lighting stand but misses and stumbles. She lovingly laughs at his fumbling. Back to the present, Waite tries to call her from a phone booth, but when the woman finally picks up the phone, her only connection is to a dangling phone in an empty phone booth: Waite is gone. He laments "I ain't missin' you at all" as he walks down the street only to see a picture of the woman on a newspaper. He goes into a bar. There, an older woman slides onto the stool next to him and tries to flirt, but for sheer sorrow he shows he is not interested. He goes home again still pining for the woman. He tries to call her but his anger and frustration gets the better of him and he smashes the phone into pieces. When she finally comes to his door and knocks, he doesn't answer, as he doesn't hear her knock over the music playing on his earphones. She leans against the door gently touching it and, with a deep breath, she turns and leaves as tears flow down her face.

"Missing You" was also recorded by American singer and actress Tina Turner in 1996, and was released as the third single from her ninth solo album, Wildest Dreams (1996). When Waite's original version of "Missing You" topped Billboard's Hot 100 in late 1984, it ended the reign of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do with It". Turner's version of Waite's "Missing You" hit No. 12 in the UK and No. 84 in the U. S. in 1996. The single "Missing You" included an edited single version of the track, an alternative mix and certain formats also the European non album track "The Difference Between Us", later featured on the U. S. edition of the Wildest Dreams album. The B side of the U. S. edition of the CD single was the non album track "Do Something" which was the B side of the UK single for "On Silent Wings".

Larry Flick from Billboard complimented Turner's version as "a lushly arranged rendition". He wrote, "Under the shrewd guidance of mega producer Trevor Horn, Turner's distinctive growl is pushed to deliciously dramatic heights and is matched by countless layers of synths and a crisp rock backbeat. The combined attention of the singer's loyalists and those who simply never get enough of this timeless tune should make this cover an instant (and most deserving) winner at top 40 and AC." A reviewer from Music Week rated the song four out of five, adding that "a lottery show appearance and a fine cover of this John Waite hit should do the business for la Turner."

The accompanying music video for "Missing You" was directed by Peter Lindbergh and premiered in mid 1996.

This song was also recorded by American country music group Brooks & Dunn and was released in August 1999 as the lead single from the album Tight Rope. Their version peaked at No. 6 on the Canadian RPM Country Tracks, No. 15 on the U. S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks and reached No. 75 on the U. S. Billboard Hot 100.

The music video was directed by Deaton Flanigen and premiered in mid 1999.

Waite re recorded the song in 2006 as a duet with bluegrass singer Alison Krauss. This re recording was included on Waite's album Downtown: Journey of a Heart and Krauss's A Hundred Miles or More: A Collection, both released via Rounder Records. The rendition spent 21 weeks on Hot Country Songs between December 2006 and mid 2007, peaking at number 34.