The Captain of Her Heart
"The Captain of Her Heart" is a song by the Swiss duo Double (Felix Haug and Kurt Maloo) from their debut studio album, "Blue" (1985). The song is a ballad about a woman who stops waiting for her absent lover to return. The single was an international success, reaching No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 16 on the "Billboard" Hot 100, thus making Double the first Swiss act to reach the top 40 on the latter chart. Background. Keyboardist Felix Haug had recorded a demo melody on his Oberheim synthesizer, "very '80s  style", several months before Double went into the studio to record their first album. In the studio, singer Kurt Maloo heard this melody and was interested. The sound engineer suggested Haug play it on a grand piano, instead of '80s-style synthesizer, as a guide for Maloo's vocals. However, when the piano melody was recorded, Maloo wanted it left it the way it was. "I wrote the lyrics to the playback in no time in the studio. Like a ghost writer. They were just there out of the blue. It was almost spooky. I never thought the lyrics would  touch so many hearts around the world and I’m still overwhelmed from all the positive feedback I get through the internet," said Maloo in 2013. Reception. In a retrospective review of the song, AllMusic journalist Stewart Mason suggested that the song is "one of the great lost one-hit wonders of the mid-1980s." Mason wrote: "The Swiss duo never managed to capitalize on this song's casual sophistication and melodic grace, but it remains a glorious anomaly." The prominent saxophone on the song was played by Christian Ostermeier. Music video. There were two different music videos produced for the  song. The original Swiss version features the band performing the song in a darkened room. The US version of the video incorporates more of a storyline, with alternating location shots featuring the band members and various female models. A TV program incorporating elements from the US video made the band appear as having four members, with Felix Haug either playing drums or piano depending on the shot, and Kurt Maloo either playing guitar and singing or playing saxophone. Most shots of playing musicians just showed two of them at the same time, but a few were composite and showed all  four. The original Swiss video uses a similar idea, but also sometimes makes two incarnations of the same artist appear together and does not attempt at realism. The album cover also represents each artist twice. Cover versions. The song has been covered by: