Picture This (song)

Infobox Single
Name = Picture This


Artist = Blondie
from Album = Parallel Lines
B-side = 'Fade Away and Radiate'
Released = 1978
Format = Vinyl 7" single
Recorded = 1978
Genre = Power pop/New Wave
Length = 2:59
Label = flag|UK Chrysalis
Writer = Chris Stein
Deborah Harry
Jimmy Destri
Producer = Mike Chapman
Certification =
Last single = "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear"
(1978)
This single = Picture This
(1978)
Next single = "I'm Gonna Love You Too"
(1978)
Misc = Extra musicsample |filename=Blondie - Picture This.ogg |format=Ogg |title=Picture This

"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) , ' (2005) and ' (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" (CHS 2242, August 1978)

#"Picture This" (Chris Stein, Deborah Harry, Jimmy Destri) – 2:53

#"Fade Away And Radiate" (Chris Stein) – 3:57

Charts