John Parr

Songwriter: John Parr

Producer: John Parr

Pack your bags
Pack your boots
Throw my heart in
With the rest of you

Lying here
Pretending I'm asleep
You're so quiet
Tryin' not to wake me

Close the door
So I can finally weep

Long after you've gone
My love's still strong
You'll always be there
Time slowly drifts by
Lonely am I
Just a soldier's wife

I read your letters
To the kids
I left out
Our secret bits

Lying here in the dark
In your old shirt
While we're apart
The smell of you
Calms this aching heart

Long after you've gone
My love's still strong
You'll always be there
Time slowly drifts by
Lonely am I
Just a soldier's wife

John Parr (born 18 November 1952) is a Grammy-nominated English musician, best known for his 1985 US #1 single “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” and for his 1984 single “Naughty Naughty” (US Rock #1). Parr was nominated for a Grammy award for “St Elmo’s Fire” in 1985.

Parr first entered the music scene when he was 12 years old and formed a band with two fellow schoolmates, which they named The Silence. The band had achieved some success. They eventually became professional and started to tour Europe. He then joined a band named Bitter Suite who were a huge success in the working men’s clubs in Yorkshire, he then formed a “Super Band” with musicians from other working men’s club bands, and named the band Ponders End , a band that set a new precedent for the bands in the north.

Parr secured a publishing deal with Carlin America in 1983 and in the same year Meat Loaf asked him to write some songs for his new album. It led to a fateful meeting with John Wolff, who was tour manager for The Who. Foreseeing the initial demise of The Who, Wolff was looking for a new venture and considered Parr to be a suitable partner. Parr first visited America in 1984 and worked with Meat Loaf on Bad Attitude. Meanwhile, Wolff secured Parr’s solo Atlantic recording deal in New York.

more tracks from the album

The Mission

From the album

The Mission (2012)

John Parr popular songs

Soldier’s WifeJohn Parr

John Parr

The Mission