This is our new feature called "Obscure Song Monday". Each week we spotlight a song from the 70's or 80's that was a big hit on the charts, but over time, seemed to have been forgotten about.

This week we feature the song "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" by British-born singer Rupert Holmes. It was the first single from his 1979 album, Partners In Crime.

In an interview with songfacts.com, the idea for the song came to Holmes while he was going through the personal ads of a national entertainment news magazine. It was there he saw an ad from a woman and thought to himself  "what would happen if I answered this ad? With my stupid luck, I would find out it was placed by the woman I was living with, not realizing she was bored with me."  The thought stuck in his mind and became the inspiration for the song.

Rupert Holmes thought the song "Him" should have been the first single from "Partners In Crime", but his record company liked "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" better and convinced him to release it first. The song was added to US radio station playlists in the fall of 1979. By the end of the year, on December 22, it would become the last #1 song of the 70's on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The following week it would drop out of the top spot being replaced by "Please Don't Go" by KC & the Sunshine Band. One week later on January 12, 1980 - "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" would once again become the #1 song in America. It is also one of the only songs on the Hot 100 to hit #1 in two different decades.

"Escape" was the 11th best selling single of 1980 on the Hot 100 -

BONUS VIDEO