"Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)" is a 1982 song by A Flock of Seagulls, the opening song and only hit single from their second album Listen.[1] The song exemplifies "synth-pop's spaced-out loneliness" and yearning for imagined absent lovers,[2] and is noted for its Wall of Sound-styled layer of synthesizer padding--a "multi-layered, hypnotic song", according to AllMusic.[1]
Unlike the band's 1982 hit "I Ran (So Far Away)", largely a United States and Australian hit, "Wishing" performed strongly in Great Britain and reached the Top 10; in the US it reached the top 40 on the U.S. Billboard charts in summer 1983.[3] In South Africa, it was enormously popular, reaching the no. 8 position.[4]
Chart positions[edit][]
Charts | Peak
position |
---|---|
UK Singles Chart | 10 |
Irish Singles Chart | 6 |
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 26 |
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks | 3 |
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 26 |
South African Singles Chart[5] | 8 |
Australian Kent Report Singles Chart | 46 |
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart | 33 |
Germany Singles Chart | 37 |