‘Out of Touch’ is a song by American duo Daryl Hall & John Oates from their twelfth studio album Big Bam Boom (1984). The song was released as the lead single from Big Bam Boom on Thursday, October 4, 1984, by RCA Records. This song was their last Billboard Hot 100 number-one single, topping the chart for two weeks in December 1984. It also became the duo's fourteenth consecutive top 40 hit since 1980.
The song often segued from ‘Dance on Your Knees’, which is the opening song of the Big Bam Boom album. The accompanying music video for ‘Out of Touch’, featuring a gigantic drum kit, also contains the ‘Dance on Your Knees’ intro, which segues into an edit of the 12-inch remix version. According to John Oates, he came up with the chorus while randomly playing around with a synthesizer that he did not know how to use. He thought it could be a song for the Stylistics, having a Philly sound. But in the studio the next day a co-producer told him it should be a hit for Hall & Oates themselves. Oates and Hall then co-wrote the verse.
In a 1985 interview with the New York City Tribune, John Oates, who came up with the original idea for the song and wrote the chorus, explained the importance of the line in the song, "We're soul alone and soul really matters to me": "'Don't lose your soul' is one of our central themes. Soul matters. Roots matter. They're the source of your power, your core, the energy that sets you apart from the molecules in the wallpaper."
The rising sound at the beginning of the Big Bam Boom album is a metal gong struck with a hammer then played back in reverse with a keyboard sound layered under it. A video was made for the song, including scenes in which Hall and Oates were inside a gigantic drum set, which Oates bangs an equally gigantic bass drum pedal into, and from which at the end of the video, both Hall and Oates escape. The video also features the word boom in gigantic letters, with Hall and Oates dancing inside the two big O letters.
Label – RCA Victor
Songwriters – Daryl Hall, John Oates
Producers – Hall & Oates, Bob Clearmountain
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Shake it up is all that we know
Using the bodies up as we go
I'm wakin' up to fantasy
The shades all around aren't the colors we used to see
Broken ice still melts in the sun
And times that are broken can often be one again
We're soul alone
And soul really matters to me
Take a look around
[Chorus]
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (Time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (Time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
[Verse 2]
Reachin' out for something to hold
Looking for a love where the climate is cold
Manic moves and drowsy dreams
Or livin' in the middle between the two extremes
Smoking guns hot to the touch
Would cool down if we didn't
Use them so much, yeah
We're soul alone
And soul really matters to me
Too much
[Chorus]
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (Time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (Time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
Ooh
Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh
[Interlude]
Out of touch
Out of touch
Wow
[Chorus]
You're out of touch
I'm out of time
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time (Time)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around (Oh, 'round)
You're out of touch (We're soul alone, girl)
I'm out of time
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time
(Out of touch, out of time, out of touch, out of time, girl)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch (Reach out for something to hold), time
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
(You're too cold, girl, too cold, girl, too cold, girl, yeah)
You're out of touch
I'm out of time
Not around
You're out of touch
I'm out of time
(Out of touch, out of time, out of touch, out of time)
(Out of touch, out of time, girl)
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch
Yeah, I'm out of time
But I'm out of my head
When you're not around
You're out of touch (Focus)
I'm out of time