State of the Heart (song)

"State of the Heart" is a song recorded by Australian rock group Mondo Rock and released in October 1980 as the lead single from the band's second studio album, Chemistry (1981). The song peaked at number 6 on the Australian Kent Music Report.[1] The song was written by Mondo Rock's guitarist Eric McCusker.[2]

For other songs, see State of the Heart (disambiguation).
"State of the Heart"
Single by Mondo Rock
from the album Chemistry
ReleasedOctober 1980
StudioAAV Studios
GenreRock
Length4:17
LabelAvenue Records, WEA NZ, Atlantic Records US, UK & Canada
Songwriter(s)Eric McCusker
Producer(s)Ern Rose
Mondo Rock singles chronology
"Primal Park"
(1979)		 "State of the Heart"
(1980)		 "Cool World"
(1981)

The song was featured in the 2016 movie, Lion starring Dev Patel and Nicole Kidman.

Background

In 1980 writer Eric McCusker was signed with Warner Chappell to write songs to sell to other people. He joined Mondo Rock the same year but didn't think they'd be interested in the song. In 2015 he explained "I didn’t think Mondo Rock would be interested in a ballad, we were playing fairly full on rockier stuff. Then I played the band the demos and they were like … what’s the matter? You keeping your best songs for other people?"

McCusker added "The solo is pretty much a restating of the melody of the verses with a bit extra. Then Ross did the falsetto singing over the top of it. So the concept of not having a middle where it gets big and fills up, it sort of emptied out and took the emphasis to the bottom end with the bass playing. I thought it was a really interesting thing and then Rick Springfield recorded that song and got completely rid of that and wrote a vocal bridge for it … it was like … coward. Made me some money though so that was good!". [3]

Track listing

AUS 7" Single[4]

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."State of the Heart"Eric McCusker4:17
2."Mona Lisa (She Smiles)"Eric McCusker3:52

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1980/81) Position
Australian Kent Music Report[5] 6

Year-end charts
Chart (1981) Position
Australian Kent Music Report 38

Cover versions
  • Australian Rick Springfield covered the song for his 1985 album, Tao. This was the second of three singles from the album, and it peaked at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States. Springfield performed the song at a Live Aid concert in Philadelphia at JFK Stadium on July 13,1985.

References
  1. Mondo Rock - State Of The Heart at Australian Music Database
  2. Mondo Rock - State Of The Heart at 45cat
  3. "ERIC MCCUSKER: THE 'BESTO MONDO ROCK' TOUR INTERVIEW". Australian Musician. 5 July 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. Mondo Rock - State Of The Heart (Australia Single) at Discogs
  5. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 205. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
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