Recorded by Olivia Newton-John. The follow-up single to her huge U.S. #1 Hit Physical, it peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

When I was in music school I entertained the romantic notion of one day finding a mentor or musical advisor who would provide encouragement, constructive criticism, philosophical wisdom, and anything else I needed to expand my learning and broaden my horizon. Never happened. Had to learn, as I imagine 99% of my colleagues did, the hard way. Trial and error, on my own. I did find, however, a great example in John Farrar of what it takes to excel at the art of songwriting. Until I worked with John I didn’t fully understand the lengths one needed to go to in order to craft a hit song. He taught by example and knowing John I’m sure he never realized it. He just did what he did and I was smart enough to pay close attention to the way a master craftsman works. I consider my collaboration with John to be the single most important learning experience of my career. It was the moment I became a Professional. (Hopefully I have passed the knowledge on to someone else.) “Make A Move On Me” was a fun song to write. We started with a blank page and over a period of two or three weeks pulled the tune out of thin air. When we recorded the track in David Holman’s Laurel Canyon garage John had me playing the underlying synthesizer riff over and over until it was perfectly “quantized”. Ah, the days before powerful sequencing programs and one touch buttons to make everything sound swell.”Make A Move On Me” is a personal favorite of mine as it has a sophisticated harmonic foundation, traveling from the key of A minor to E flat major and back again while managing to sound uncomplicated. We came up with a pretty cute lyric, too. It was the follow up to Steve Kipner’s smash, “Let’s Get Physical”, which had the effect of making it the quietest million selling single of the year. It was a privilege and a whole lot of fun working with John. I was blessed to have done so.

“Livin In Desperate Times”(1981)