| "Picture This" | |||||
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| Single by Blondie from the album Parallel Lines |
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| B-side | 'Fade Away and Radiate' | ||||
| Released | 1978 | ||||
| Format | Vinyl 7" single | ||||
| Recorded | 1978 | ||||
| Genre | Power pop/New Wave | ||||
| Length | 2:59 | ||||
| Label |  UK Chrysalis |
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| Writer | Chris Stein Deborah Harry Jimmy Destri |
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| Producer | Mike Chapman | ||||
| Blondie singles chronology | |||||
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"Picture This" is track number 3 from the 1978 album Parallel Lines by Blondie, the first collaboration with producer Mike Chapman, and was also the fourth single release from Chrysalis Records. "Picture This" was chosen as the lead single for Parallel Lines in the UK, reaching number 12 in the autumn of 1978, giving them their third UK Top 20 hit and also charting in most other parts of the world - it was however never issued as a single in the US.
"Picture This" was written by what was to become the principal song writers for the band; Chris Stein, Debbie Harry and Jimmy Destri. This would be the only time Harry and Stein would collaborate with Destri, who has penned several of the bands number one hits including their 1998 comeback single "Maria" and "Atomic".
The B-side of the single, "Fade Away And Radiate" featuring Robert Fripp on guitar, is also one of Blondie's best known songs and appears on the hits compilations Atomic - The Very Best of Blondie (1998) , Greatest Hits: Sight + Sound (2005) and Greatest Hits: Sound & Vision (2006).
"Picture This" was included on the international version of the band's very first 'greatest hits' compilation The Best of Blondie, released in October 1981.
"Picture This - The Many Faces Of Blondie" is a book by legendary photographer Mick Rock published in 2004 with forewords by Deborah Harry, and the actual picture of the "Picture This" single, with Harry licking a record, is one of the most famous images associated with the band. It was used for the Parallel Lines picture disc in 1978 and also on the cover of the US edition of the 1994 CD anthology The Platinum Collection.
Release history
UK 7" Chrysalis Records CHS 2242, August 1978
Side A:
- "Picture This" (Chris Stein, Deborah Harry, Jimmy Destri) – 2:53
Side B:
- "Fade Away And Radiate" (Chris Stein) – 3:57
Chart Peaks
UK: 12
Australia: 88
