Poetry For Healing

The prompts for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday, hosted by Jim Adams, are Chat, Laugh, Rant, Scream and Talk. I have picked the great song “Something To Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt. I hope you enjoy it and have a good Sunday.

This song is about small-town gossip and the effect it has on the singer and the guy she’s secretly in love with. It turns out that they’re rumored to be having an affair, and since the rumor-spreaders already think that the two people are involved, the song asks, why not have an affair anyway, thus giving them “something to talk about.”

This was written by the Canadian singer Shirley Eikhard, who had recorded in the Jazz and Country genres, but has had her most success as a songwriter, with songs recorded by Chet Atkins, Cher, Anne Murray and Rita Coolidge.

This won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, beating out Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Amy Grant and Whitney Houston. The song was also nominated for Record of the Year, but lost to “Unforgettable.”

According to Anne Murray’s 2009 book All of Me, Anne wanted to record this song in 1986, but her producers didn’t think it would be a hit. She called her 1986 album “Something to Talk About” even though it did not include this song. Anne said she was happy that Bonnie Raitt made it a big hit five years later. 

For Raitt, this was by far her biggest chart hit in the United States.

This is a very popular Karaoke song, and is often performed by American Idol contestants. Season 3 winner Fantasia Barrino performed the song on the show, as did Idol notables Kellie Pickler and Sanjaya Malakar.

This lent its name to the 1995 comedy Something To Talk About, starring Julia Roberts as a jilted wife who faces judgment from her conservative town when her husband’s affair goes public. The version in the movie is sung by Therese Willis.

Courtesy of Songfacts

Something To Talk About 
Lyrics

People are talkin', talkin' 'bout people
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it
They think we're lovers kept under covers
I just ignore it, but they keep saying
We laugh just a little too loud
We stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they're seeing something we don't, darlin'

Let's give them something to talk about
Let's give them something to talk about
Let's give them something to talk about
How about love?

I feel so foolish, I never noticed
You'd act so nervous
Could you be falling for me?
It took a rumor to make me wonder
Now I'm convinced I'm going under
Thinking 'bout you every day
Dreaming 'bout you every night
Hoping that you feel the same way
Now that we know it, let's really show it, darlin'

Let's give them something to talk about
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give them something to talk about
How about love, love, love, love?

Let's give them something to talk about, baby
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give them something to talk about
How about love, love, love, love?

(Something to talk about)
(Something to talk about)
How about love, love, love, love?

How about love, love, love, love?

Writer/s: SHIRLEY EIKHARD 
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC,
SHIRLEY EIKHARD USA MUSIC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind