Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)

"Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)"
Single by Cyndi Lauper
from the album The Great Cyndi Lauper (from the movie Vibes)
B-side	"Boy Blue" (Live)
Released	1988
Format	Vinyl (7")Vinyl (12") CSS 5" CD 3" CD
Recorded	1988
Genre	Pop New Wave
Length	4:02
Label	Epic
Writer(s)	Richard Orange
Producer	Cyndi Lauper, Lennie Petze
Cyndi Lauper singles chronology
"Maybe He'll Know" (1987) "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" (1988) "I Drove All Night" (1989)

"Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" is a song recorded by pop singer Cyndi Lauper for her 1988 film Vibes. It was written by Richard Orange, formerly of the band Zider Zee.

Song information

Characterised by a frenetic, fast pace and soaring delivery of the title lyric, the song is considered by some fans a little known underrated gem. The single was released in 1988 as a track from her first starring-role film, Vibes, co-starring Jeff Goldblum. The song failed to find an audience in all but Australia and New Zealand, where it reached the Top 10. The song is considered, among Lauper fans, a rarity and only appeared as a single in various formats including a 3" CD single in Japan, the United States, Austria and 5" CD single in UK and US.

Lauper was also getting ready to release an album later that year called "Kindred Spirit" but the release was canceled, most likely due to the backlash of this release. Later on when Lauper released the album, now titled A Night to Remember, the track was not included on most formats of the album. It was only included on the Japanese edition as a bonus track and on the Japanese edition of Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some.

During a live concert and Q&A appearance in Las Vegas, Cyndi stated her record company thought the song was too fast for radio.^{[citation needed]} Lauper seldom performed this in concert. In 2004, during the Australian leg of her "At Last" tour, she performed part of the song a cappella at the request of the audience, since the single reached the Top 10 there in 1988 and was very well known. However, it wasn't until the 2006 Body Acoustic Tour that she played the song regularly in full again, and she frequently opened the True Colors 2007 Tour with it. The song was also the opening track of her 2008 Australian Tour.

The song can also be found on the fan-acclaimed bootleg, Backsided, which was a fan-made project created to get rare Cyndi tracks into the CD player. The track finally saw the light of day on an official CD, as of 2003, with the release of the 3-CD compilation, The Great Cyndi Lauper. This song can be found on the following albums: Best Movie Album in the World...Ever! (3 CDs), True Colors: The Best of Cyndi Lauper (2 CDs), 36 All-time Favorites (3 CDs), Monster Hits 1988/Hits of 1988.

Track listings

3" single

1. "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" (Richard Orange)
2. "Boy Blue" (Recorded live at the Zenith) (Jeff Bova, Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt)
3. "Maybe He'll Know" (Remixed by Phil Thornally) (Lauper, John Turi)

5" single

1. "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" (Richard Orange)
2. "Boy Blue" (Recorded live at the Zenith) (Jeff Bova, Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt)
3. "Time After Time" (Lauper, John Turi)
4. "What's Going On" (club version by Shep Pettibone) (Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Al Cleveland, Marvin Gaye)

Cassette and vinyl single

1. "Hole in My Heart (All the Way to China)" (Richard Orange)
2. "Boy Blue" (Recorded live at the Zenith) (Jeff Bova, Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt)

Chart performance

Chart (1988)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	54
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 Singles	51
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	8
Canadian Singles Chart	86
Italian Singles Chart	40
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	8
Swiss Singles Chart	13

End of year charts

Country	Chart	Ranking
Australia	Kent Music Report	89