Song Lyric Sunday – Build Me Up Buttercup

We have been tasked with choosing a song by a forgotten band for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday. We all know there are many forgotten bands, and bands that we will never even know existed. The band I remember is The Foundations and their song ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’ lives on long after they became history after only a few short years.

The Song

The Foundations were a British soul band, active from 1967 to 1970. The group was made up of West Indians, White British, and a Sri Lankan. Their 1967 debut single “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” reached number one in the UK and Canada, and number eleven in the US, while their 1968 single “Build Me Up Buttercup” reached number two in the UK and number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The group was the first multi-racial group to have a number one hit in the UK in the 1960s.

The Foundations were one of the few British acts to successfully imitate what became known as the Motown Sound. The Foundations signed to Pye, at the time one of only four big UK record companies (the others being EMI with its HMV, Columbia Records, and Parlophone labels; Decca; and Philips who also owned Fontana).

The song was written by Mike D’Abo and Tony Macaulay. D’Abo was lead singer of Manfred Mann, and Macaulay was a successful songwriter who also wrote The Foundations hit “Baby Now That I’ve Found You” as well as songs by The Hollies, Andy Williams and The New Seekers.

David Essex, who was unknown at the time but went on to success with “Rock On,” was offered this song, but he turned it down as he didn’t like the title.

This was featured in the 1998 film There’s Something About Mary. 

It was also featured in the 2001 pilot episode of the spy drama Alias, “Truth Be Told,” when Sydney Bristow’s (Jennifer Garner) ill-fated boyfriend sings it on the campus lawn before he proposes to her.

The Lyrics

Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around?
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) buttercup, don't break my heart

"I'll be over at ten," you told me time and again
But you're late, I wait around and then (bah-dah-dah)
I went to the store, I can't take any more
It's not you, you let me down again (hey, hey, hey)

Baby, baby, try to find (hey, hey, hey)
A little time and I'll make you happy (hey, hey, hey)
I'll be home, I'll be beside the phone waiting for you
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around?
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
Build me up (build me up) buttercup, don't break my heart

To you, I'm a toy, but I could be the boy you adore
If you'd just let me know (bah-dah-dah)
Although you're untrue, I'm attracted to you all the more
Why do you treat this all? (Hey, hey, hey)

Baby, baby, I try to find (hey, hey, hey)
A little time and I'll make you happy (hey, hey, hey)
I'll be home, I'll be beside the phone waiting for you
Ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh

Why do you build me up (build me up) buttercup, baby
Just to let me down (let me down) and mess me around?
And then worst of all (worst of all) you never call, baby
When you say you will (say you will) but I love you still
I need you (I need you) more than anyone, darlin'
You know that I have from the start
Build me up (build me up) buttercup, don't break my heart

I-I-I need you (I need you) more than anyone, baby
You know that I have from the start
So build me up (build me up) buttercup, don't break my heart

Writer/s: Mike D'Abo, Tony Macauley
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind