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Star for a Week (Dino)

"Star for a Week (Dino)"
Steve Harley Star for a Week Single 1993.jpeg
Single by Steve Harley
from the album Yes You Can
B-side "The Lighthouse"
Released 1993
Format CD
Genre Pop, Rock
Length 4:33
Label Food for Thought Records
Songwriter(s) Steve Harley
Producer(s) Steve Harley, Matt Butler
Steve Harley singles chronology
"Irresistible"
(1992)
"Star for a Week (Dino)"
(1993)
"Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) (re-issue)"
(1995)
"Irresistible"
(1992)
"Star for a Week (Dino)"
(1993)
"Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) (re-issue)"
(1995)

"Star for a Week (Dino)" is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released as a promotional single in 1993 from his third solo album Yes You Can. The single coincided with the UK release of the album that year (Yes You Can had been released in Europe in 1992). It was the second single to be released from the album, following "Irresistible" as a European single in 1992. "Star for a Week (Dino)" was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Matt Butler.

"Star for a Week" was first performed live at Harley's sold out Hammersmith Odeon concert in 1979. For many years after, the song was regularly performed live, which established the song as a fan favourite. After signing to RAK Records in 1984, a studio recording of the song was to be included on Harley's 1986 solo album El Gran Senor, however the album was shelved after the label went bankrupt in 1986.

A few years late, the song was re-recorded for the Yes You Can album. Like much of the album, it was recorded and remixed at the White House Studios in Bures, Suffolk. After Yes You Can was released in Europe in 1992, Harley struck a deal with Food for Thought Records, who gave the album a UK release in 1993. "Star for a Week (Dino)" was issued as a promotional single in attempt to gain radio-play and promote the album.

The song's lyrics are based on a true story of a young man called Dino, who during the late 1970s went on the run with a friend and robbed several shops and post offices in Norfolk, while hiding out in a local woodland. Intrigued by the story, the song features many lines that Harley heard through TV news coverage of the two outlaws, particularly quotes from Dino's own mother. The line speaking of "the man with no name" was in reference to the Clint Eastwood character of the same name, which a victimised postmistress had used to describe Dino. Harley felt the story had a little bit of "Billy the Kid" about it.

In a live performance of the song at Brighton in 1989, Harley revealed:

"This is a song with a story which for me illustrates the undying, relentless loyalty and faith which a mother has for her son. About nine or ten years ago, there's this boy in Norfolk called Dino, who was running around with a shotgun, holding up some post offices. He did this for several weeks - he got caught eventually, red handed. I remember the cops said to him; "what'd you do it for? You've never done anything wrong before in your life". And he said "I just wanted to be somebody, I just wanted to be a star for a week or two". Well he was that, it was on the national news. Little did he know his mum said "It wasn't my Dino, couldn't be Dino, couldn't be Dino. He lives for his motorcycle, he wouldn't do such a thing, couldn't be Dino." Caught red handed, he confessed; "My mum still thinks I got a day job"."


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