Gino Vannelli - "Living Inside Myself"

(Debuted March 21, 1981, Peaked #6, 20 Weeks on the Chart)

"Living Inside Myself" was the third and final Top 40 U.S. pop hit of the career of Canadian singer Gino Vannelli. On the surface, it shares many similarities with his biggest hit, 1978's "I Just Wanna Stop," but when you give it another listen, it is actually a deeper and richer song.

The song was written by Vannelli, and produced by him and his brothers Joe and Ross. It begins with an electric piano, but it doesn't take much time for Vannelli's voice to take center stage. It is raw and emotional, as if he's in physical pain over his situation. Before Vanelli's later flirtations with electronic music, he's content to simply allow his own voice to tell a story, which he does superbly. In fact, there are backing singers here but it's hard to tell unless you really listen for them; that is how much his voice takes command here.

"Living Inside Myself" was also the only Vannelli song that charted higher in the U.S. than it did in his native country. In Canada, it only reached #13. It also peaked at #5 on the U.S. adult contemporary survey.