Imaginary Lover

1978 single by Atlanta Rhythm Section

"Imaginary Lover"

Single by Atlanta Rhythm Section

from the album Champagne Jam

B-side

"Silent Treatment"

Released

February 1978

Recorded

1977

Genre

Soft rock • Southern rock^[1]

Length

4:10 (Single Version)
5:05 (Album Version)

Label

Polydor

Songwriter(s)

Buie/Nix/Daughtry

Producer(s)

Buie

Atlanta Rhythm Section singles chronology

"Georgia Rhythm"
(1977)

"Imaginary Lover"
(1978)

"I'm Not Gonna Let It Bother Me Tonight"
(1978)

"Imaginary Lover" is a 1978 hit single by the Atlanta Rhythm Section, the first release and greatest hit from their album Champagne Jam.

The song reached number 7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number 9 in Canada. It is the group's second greatest hit, just behind "So in to You".

"Imaginary Lover" extols the virtues of fantasy and "private pleasure" as being an easy way to guaranteed satisfaction in the absence of an actual lover. It also implies the superiority at times of imaginary lovers to real ones, eliminating the complications of relating to an actual partner as well as the possibilities of disagreement, rejection, or boredom.

Nancy Sinatra included this on her 1998 album, Sheet Music.

45 rpm playback incident

In 1978, an FM radio station accidentally played the song at the wrong speed of 45 rpm.^[2] The radio station received favorable calls and opted to let the song play at the incorrect speed. Sonically, the vocals resembled the voice of Stevie Nicks, who later heard of the incident and purchased the record. Upon playing the record at 45 rpm, she said that it gave her the chills and that it sounded "exactly like something I’d sing, the way I’d sing it".^[3] While Nicks was presenting demos for the Tusk album, she mixed in the sped up version of "Imaginary Lover" with her other material. One of her bandmates, Christine McVie, assumed that it was an original composition from Nicks and complimented her. Fleetwood Mac engineer Hernán Rojas later heard that the Atlanta Rhythm Section learned of the incident and "didn't find it as funny as we did".^[2]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Australia Kent Music Report	49
Canadian RPM Top Singles	9
US Billboard Hot 100^[4]	7
US Billboard Adult Contemporary^[5]	20
US Cash Box Top 100 ^[6]	9

Year-end charts

Chart (1978)	Rank
Canada ^[7]	74
US Billboard Hot 100^[8]	51
US Cash Box ^[9]	73

References

^ "Rockin' The 70s - The Official Site of Mayo Performing Arts Center". www.mayoarts.org.
^ ^a ^b Caillat, Ken; Rojas, Hernan (2019). Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac's Most Anticipated Album. Guilford, Connecticut: Backbeat Books. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-4930-5983-6.
^ Crowe, Cameron (August 25, 1978). "Nicks' Coat Gets Nicked". Rolling Stone. Retrieved January 13, 2024.
^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-1993. Record Research. p. 20.
^ "Cash Box Top 100 5/27/78". tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 2015-02-14. Retrieved 2017-07-31.
^ "Top 200 Singles of '78 – Volume 30, No. 14, December 30 1978". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. 17 July 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
^ "Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978". musicoutfitters.com.
^ "Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1978". tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-29. Retrieved 2017-07-31.