Tag: Lyrics

Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Off The Wall

by  • 

I am so happy it is Disco Week at Song.Lyric Sunday, hosted by Jim Adams! I think I was born for Disco and I could never get enough of it. Music and lyrics you could dance to, so I was in my element. For my pick today I have chosen “Off The Wall” by Michael Jackson from the album of the same name. I played this album so much I think I wore the grooves out of the vinyl. To me this was Michael Jackson at his best.

Have a great Disco Sunday.

The Song

This was written by Rod Temperton, a British musician who was the primary songwriter and keyboard player in the band Heatwave. Quincy Jones was impressed with the Heatwave song “Boogie Nights,” so he had Temperton write some songs for Jackson. Temperton came through with “Rock With You” and “Off The Wall” for the future King of Pop. On Jackson’s next album, Temperton contributed “Thriller,” once again providing the title track.

The Off The Wall album sold over 10 million copies and make Michael Jackson the first solo artist with four US Top 10 hits from the same album. In addition to the title track, “Rock With You” (#1), “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” (#1), and “She’s Out Of My Life” (#10) also made the Top 10.

Jackson’s appearance started to change shortly after the album was released, as he started his run of plastic surgery. By the time Off The Wall was reissued in 2001, Jackson looked nothing like his former self, and the cover used just the image of his feet.

Can you even count the honors this album received? Rolling Stone‘s “500 greatest albums of all time,” #68. NARM’s “definitive 200 albums of all time,” #80. Inducted into the Grammy hall of fame, 2008. Won three American Music Awards, one Billboard Music Award, and as mentioned, one Grammy. Rave reviews sang its praises, then and now. Multi-platinum seller in Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, and the US.

In the lyrics, “9 to 5” represents the canonical office work hours. Already a popular expression in the ’70s and ’80s, it was often used in songs to delineate the workday slog from the fun and excitement the evening offered (see: “Lady Marmalade“). The working-class comedy film 9 to 5, released in 1980, made it even more popular. These days, flexible schedules and overtime have made the hours far less typical.

MJ trivia time: Can you name all of Michael Jackson’s siblings? They are (in birth order) Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, La Toya, Marlon, Randy, and Janet – Janet being the only one junior to Michael. Here’s a mnemonic for those names: “Red jam tastes just like my raspberry jelly jam.” OK, that’s silly, but you’d remember it now, right?

Songfacts

The Lyrics

When the world is on your shoulder
Gotta straighten up your act and boogie down
If you can't hang with the feelin'
Then there ain't no room for you this part of town
'Cause we're the party people night and day
Livin' crazy that's the only way

So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself, c'mon
Groove, let the madness in the music get to you
Life ain't so bad at all
If you live it off the wall
Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall)
Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)

You can shout out all you want to
'Cause there ain't no sin in folks all getting loud
If you take the chance and do it
There there ain't no one who's gonna put you down
'Cause we're the party people night and day
Livin' crazy that's the only way

So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself, c'mon
Groove, let the madness in the music get to you
Life ain't so bad at all
If you live it off the wall
Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall)
Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)

Do what you want to do
There ain't no rules it's up to you (ain't no rules it's all up to you)
It's time to come alive
And party on right through the night (all right)

Gotta hide your inhibitions
Gotta let that fool loose deep inside your soul
Want to see an exhibition
Better do it now before you get too old
'Cause we're the party people night and day
Livin' crazy that's the only way

So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself, c'mon
Groove, let the madness in the music get to you
Life ain't so bad at all
If you live it off the wall
Life ain't so bad at all (live life off the wall)
Live your life off the wall (live it off the wall)

So tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf
And just enjoy yourself
C'mon and groove (yeah) and let the madness in the music get to you
Life ain't so bad at all
If you live it off the wall

Tonight gotta leave that nine to five upon the shelf (living off the wall)
And just enjoy yourself
(Living off the wall)
C'mon and groove (yeah) and let the madness in the music get to you
(Living off the wall)
Life ain't so bad at all

Writer/s: Rodney Lynn Temperton 
Publisher: Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby

by  • 

As the old Virginia Slims cigarette commercial said, “You’ve come a long way baby”. This week, Song Lyric Sunday host Jim Adams, has prompted us to write about Girl Groups. The early 60s was a bonanza period for girl groups like the Marvelettes, The Shangri Las, The Supremes, The Dixie Cups etc. The vocal talent was definitely there along with great music and lyrics, but looking back at some of the music videos from that time, one thing was definitely lacking. Visual performance. 

As with most girl groups the lead singer becomes the superstar and the remaining members struggle to maintain their identity and often fail as solo artists. My choice for girl group today is the Pussycat Dolls. Originally a burlesque dance troupe they burst onto the pop music scene with the song “Don’t Cha”.  I am featuring them today for comparison on how far girl groups have come with regard to performance. Today it is more athletic, definitely sexier and visually more appealing as women have claimed their rightful place in the music and visual arts industry.

Check out below the Shangri Las video from the 1960s. See what I mean? Just for fun I included a Virginia Slims commercial too.

The Song

This song is about a girl who taunts a guy about his girlfriend, making her jealous by asking if he wishes his girlfriend was hot like her. The Pussycat Dolls are more a dance troupe than singers, and they convey a very unapologetically sexual image that fits the lyrics quite well. >>
The writing credits on this song read: Thomas DeCarlo Callaway and Anthony L. Ray. You know them better as Cee-Lo Green from The Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley and Sir Mix-a-Lot of “Baby Got Back” fame. The song was originally recorded by Tori Alamaze in 2004. Alamaze was a makeup artist and backup singer who was signed to Cee-Lo’s production company. Shortly after her version was released as a single, her record company dropped her and stopped promoting the song, so very few people heard it. The next year, The Pussycat Dolls recorded it in a version also produced by Cee Lo and with Busta Rhymes on guest vocals.

Heineken beer used this in TV commercials.
Cee-Lo Green recalled to The Guardian newspaper March 22, 2008: “I originally wrote it for another artist – Tori Alamaze – but it found its way to the Pussycat Dolls and the rest is history. I was more than content with it going to the original artist, but of course the Pussycat Dolls took it to another level.”
This was the Pussycat Dolls’ first single. Many critics predicted a quick demise for the group, but they went on to record several more hits.

Q magazine January 2012 asked Cee-Lo Green if he pretended to be an attractive girl to help him get into character when he penned this song? He replied: “No, I was trying to think of an ideal woman – who would be so bold as to say something as outspoken as that song.”
Speaking on a 2012 Behind The Music special for VH1, Nicole Scherzinger said she did most of the singing “on my own” for the PCD album: “People don’t even know the whole story. They have no idea. I was in the center because I was singing,” she said. “I hope I don’t get in trouble for the stuff that I say but I’ll never forget I finished the album, PCD, and Ron (executive producer Ron Fair) and I brought the girls into the studio and we played it for them. It was the first time they’d ever heard the music.”

“Do you understand what I’m saying?” she continued. “We played the album for the Pussycat Dolls. It was the first time they’d ever heard the songs.”
“Don’t Cha” featured in the Sims 2 Pets video game. The Pussycat Dolls recorded the song in Simlish, the fictional language of the Sims.

The Group

The Pussycat Dolls were an American girl group and dance ensemble, founded in Los Angeles, California, by choreographer Robin Antin in 1995 as a burlesque troupe. At the suggestion of Jimmy Lovine, Antin decided to take the burlesque troupe mainstream as a pop group. Antin negotiated a record deal with Interscope Geffen A&M Records in 2003 turning the group into a music franchise comprising Nicole Scherzinger, Carmit Bachar, Ashley Roberts, Jessica Sutta, Melody Thornton, and Kimberly Wyatt. Their debut single, “Sway”, was featured on the soundtrack of the 2004 film Shall We Dance?.

The Pussycat Dolls achieved worldwide success with the singles “Don’t Cha”, “Stickwitu”, “Buttons”, and their multi-platinum debut album PCD (2005). However, despite their commercial success, the group was plagued by internal conflict due to the emphasis on Scherzinger, the group’s lead vocalist, and the subordinate treatment of the other members. Bachar’s departure from the group preceded the release of their second and final studio album Doll Domination (2008), which contains hit singles “When I Grow Up”, “I Hate This Part”, and “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)”. Following the completion of their 2009 world tour, the group went on hiatus and fully disbanded in 2010. The original recording line-up, minus Thornton, announced their reunion in 2019 with an upcoming tour and a new album. However, with the worsening situation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, along with breaches of contracts and logistical issues, the reunion tour was cancelled in 2022, leaving the group’s fate uncertain.

Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Soul Music

by  • 

I was happy to see Soul Music for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt. Soul Music and Motown are what I grew up with and I knew immediately I wanted to pick two songs. Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett and Shotgun by Junior Walker and the All Stars. Both are great songs and feature a lot of brass which was in keeping with the sound at that time. Both are simple songs in that one is about a crazy girl and her car and the other is about a dance, but the music and sound are what makes them.

Mustang Sally

This song is about a girl who lives a wild life in her brand new Mustang car. The singer bought her the car, which transformed her into “Mustang Sally,” and now she’s running around town, paying little attention to her sugar daddy. Pickett warns her that she needs to slow it down with one of the great threats in Soul music history: “Guess I have to put your flat feet on the ground!”

This song was written by Bonny Rice, also known as Sir Mack Rice. Bonny started singing with a vocal group called the Five Scalders in 1955 and joined The Falcons in 1957. Eddie Floyd was also in The Falcons, and Mack later wrote songs for him when he went solo. In 1960, Wilson Pickett joined The Falcons and sang lead on their 1962 hit “I Found A Love,” and left the group for a solo career later that year.In 1963, The Falcons broke up, and in 1965, Rice wrote a song called “Mustang Mama” after visiting his friend, the actress/singer Della Reese, in New York City. Reese told him that she was thinking about buying her drummer Calvin Shields a new Lincoln for his birthday, which Rice, being from Detroit, thought was a great idea. When he mentioned this to Shields, the drummer replied, “I don’t want a Lincoln, I want a Mustang.”As Rice explained on the 2007 Rhythm & Blues Cruise, he had never heard of a Mustang before, but Shields filled him in. They went for a drive and saw a billboard for a Mustang – Rice couldn’t believe Shields wanted such a small car instead of a big ol’ Lincoln. When he returned to Detroit, Rice started writing the song as “Mustang Mama,” with the chorus “ride, Sally, ride.” His publisher knew Aretha Franklin well, and brought Rice by her house, and he sang some of the song for her. Aretha suggested he change the title to “Mustang Sally” to better suit the chorus.In May of 1965 Bonny Rice released his original version of this song as Sir Mack Rice, and it hit the R&B charts, peaking at #15. Wilson Pickett came across the song when Rice was booked to play at The Apollo theater, and the headliner Clyde McPhatter didn’t show. Rice called his old bandmate Pickett, who performed in McPhatter’s place. When Pickett heard Rice perform “Mustang Sally,” he decided to record it himself. His version hit the R&B and Pop charts a year and a half after Rice originally recorded the song.Mack Rice later sang with Ollie and the Nightingales, joining them in 1970. He was also a staff songwriter for Stax Records, and wrote the hits “Respect Yourself” for the Staple Singers and “Cheaper To Keep Her” for Johnny Taylor.

Courtesy of Songfacts

LYRICS

Mustang Sally, huh, ha
Guess you better slow your mustang down, oh Lord
What I said now
Mustang Sally now baby, oh Lord
Guess you better slow your mustang down, huh, oh yeah
You been running all over town now
Oh, guess I have to put your flat feet on the ground, huh
What I said now

Listen
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Ha
All you want to do is ride around Sally, oh Lord (ride, Sally, ride) 
Well isn't it

One of these early mornings, hey
Woah, gonna be wiping your weeping eyes, huh
What I said now, lookit here

I bought you a brand new mustang 
A nineteen sixty five, huh
Now you come around signifying a woman
You don't want to let me ride
Mustang Sally now baby, oh lord
Guess you better slow that mustang down, huh, oh Lord
Lookit
You been running all over town 
Oh, I got to put your flat feet on the ground, huh
What I say now
Let me say it one more time, y'all

Now, all you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Huh
All you want to do is ride around Sally (ride, Sally, ride) Oh Lord

Writer/s: Mack Rice 
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Shotgun

The “Shotgun” is a dance. There were many dance crazes in the ’60s, and two of them are mentioned in the lyrics: The Jerk (“Do The Jerk, baby”) and The Twine (“It’s Twine Time”). The Shotgun dance is more freeform, but you should sometimes stagger about like you’ve been shot.
“Shotgun” was the first hit for Junior Walker & The All Stars, who were signed to the Motown label Soul. Walker, whose real name was Autry DeWalt, was a saxophone player who made his vocal debut on this song. Walker recorded the vocals because the singer who was assigned to the session didn’t show up. He didn’t expect his tracks to make the cut, but the Motown producers liked the sound and left them in.
Junior Walker wrote this song. He got the idea after watching some kids in a club doing a dance he’d never seen before.
As explained in The Motown Story: Volume 1, the sound at the beginning that simulates a shotgun was created by kicking an amplifier. >>
Motown president Berry Gordy produced this track himself. When he heard the rough version, he took a personal interest in the track because he knew it could be a hit – if he could clean it up. Walker’s band wasn’t used to studio work and weren’t nearly as polished as Motown’s in-house all-stars, the Funk Brothers. So Gordy had the Motown musicians record parts and either replaced or augmented what was on the original.
“Shotgun” was a #1 R&B hit and rose to #4 on the Hot 100. The group had several more hit songs, including “What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)” (also #1 R&B) and a cover of the Supremes song “Come See About Me.” Walker played sax on Foreigner’s “Urgent” before his death in 1995.
Vanilla Fudge covered this song, taking it to #68 in 1969.

Courtesy of Songfacts

LYRICS

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
Put on your red dress and then you go down yonder.
I said buy yourself a shotgun now, were gonna break it down baby now.
We're gonna load it up baby now 'a then you shoot 'em 'fore he run now.

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).

I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
I said Put on your high-heeled shoes.
I said we're goin' down here and I listen to 'em play the blues.
We're gonna dig potatoes, we're gonna pick tomatoes.
I said shotgun shoot 'em 'fore he run now do the jerk baby do the jerk now.
(Hey).
Writer/s: AUTRY DEWALT
Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Alternative Rock – Red Hot Chili Peppers

by  • 

Alternative Rock is this week’s genre for Song Lyric Sunday, hosted by our good friend, Jim Adams. I found it to be a refreshing change at the time with bands like The Cure, Peal Jam, REM, Green Day and my favorite, The Red Hot Chili Peppers. I would say that RHCP are an alternative rock band although others might argue they are funk with some punk. So for my choice I have gone with a mellow alternative rock song by the Peppers called ‘Under The Bridge’. This was a little out of the mainstream for them and I’m sure you all know it as it turned out to be their biggest hit. Have a great Song Lyric Sunday!

The Song

Red Hot Chili Peppers lead singer Anthony Kiedis wrote “Under The Bridge” about his days as a heroin addict and the loneliness that went with it. The bridge mentioned in the song is a place where he sometimes went to buy drugs and get high.

After four albums of unorthodox hardcore funk, Red Hot Chili Peppers landed a huge hit with the ballad “Under The Bridge,” which was not at all typical of their sound. The song went all the way to #2 on the Hot 100 (behind “Jump” by Kris Kross) and got on playlists with the likes of Celine Dion and Michael Bolton. It remains their biggest hit.

The song was particularly challenging for Kiedis to sing during the Blood Sugar Sex Magik tour, but the Chili Peppers became comfortable with the sound and followed it up with more slower singles like “Soul to Squeeze” and “Breaking the Girl.” It didn’t feel like a sell-out because these songs were all very heartfelt, just a lot more vulnerable than their previous work.

This song was originally just a poem that Anthony Kiedis wrote. He didn’t write it for the Chili Peppers – it was a very personal poem that he thought he might use somewhere else. Their producer Rick Rubin found it in one of his notebooks and told Anthony that it could be a great song. At first, he didn’t want to sing it or share it with anyone, but he eventually came around.

Rubin recalled to Newsweek in a 2013 interview: “My thinking was that the Chili Peppers were not limited to being a funk band with rapping. And I remember Anthony was embarrassed to show the song to the other guys in the band. But he sang it to John [Frusciante, guitarist] and John came up with his part. Then he played it for Flea [bassist] and Flea came up with his part. And it ended up being a really good song—even though they didn’t realize how good it was until people starting responding to it.”

The band got a headlining slot on the 1992 Lollapalooza Tour when this song became a hit. The gig greatly expanded their fan base and showcased their skills as a very energetic live band, but beneath the surface, all was not well. The band was burned out and feuding; John Frusciante quit in the middle of the tour, and their bass player Flea crashed hard when they finally got off the road in October 1992. They took some time to recuperate (Flea kicked his drug habit) and returned in 1995 with the album One Hot Minute.

The “City of Angels” Anthony Kiedis sings about here is Los Angeles, where he lived since he was 12 years old. Much of the song deals with his relationship with the city. “It really repulses me these days,” he told Goldmine in 1996. “Just sucking in that toxic cloud of hellish smog every day that I live… not a pleasant thought. But I do have a strong family tie to that city that I’ll probably never be able to sever.”

The Lyrics

Sometimes I feel like I don't have a partner
Sometimes I feel like my only friend
Is the city I live in, the city of angels
Lonely as I am, together we cry
I drive on her streets 'cause she's my companion
I walk through her hills 'cause she knows who I am
She sees my good deeds and she kisses me windy
Well, I never worry, now that is a lie

I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
Yeah, yeah, yeah

It's hard to believe that there's nobody out there
It's hard to believe that I'm all alone
At least I have her love, the city, she loves me
Lonely as I am, together we cry

I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way
I don't ever wanna feel
Like I did that day
Take me to the place I love
Take me all the way

Yeah, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no, yeah, yeah
Love me, I say, yeah yeah
One time

(Under the bridge downtown)
Is where I drew some blood
(Under the bridge downtown)
I could not get enough
(Under the bridge downtown)
Forgot about my love
(Under the bridge downtown)
I gave my life away
Yeah, yeah
Oh, no, no-no-no, yeah, yeah
Oh, no, I said, oh, yeah, yeah
Where I stay
Writer/s: Anthony Kiedis, Chad Gaylord Smith, John Anthony Frusciante, Michael Peter Balzary 
Publisher: MoeBeToBlame, Warner Chappell Music, Inc., WORDS & MUSIC A DIV OF BIG DEAL MUSIC LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Bluegrass – Annabel Lee

by  • 

I was excited to see this week’s music genre for Song Lyric Sunday. Jim Adams, our host, has asked for Bluegrass. I have chosen the song, Annabel Lee, by an artist I have come to really like. Sarah Jarosz, an American folk and bluegrass singer. She was inspired by the poem called ‘Annabel Lee’ by American author, Edgar Allen Poe. It was his last complete poem. Like many of Poe’s poems, it explores the theme of the death of a beautiful woman. The narrator, who fell in love with Annabel Lee when they were young, has a love for her so strong that even angels are envious. He retains his love for her after her death. There has been debate over who, if anyone, was the inspiration for “Annabel Lee”. Though many women have been suggested, Poe’s wife Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe is one of the more credible candidates. Written in 1849, it was not published until shortly after Poe’s death that same year. Like all good mysteries there are local legends. Jarosz’s lyrics are very similar to the poem.

The Song

The song is from, ‘Follow Me Down’, the second studio album by American folk and bluegrass singer-songwriter Sarah Jarosz, released on May 17, 2011 on Sugar Hill Records. It was recorded and mixed at Minutia Studios and mastered at The Mastering Lab in Nashville, by Gary Paczosa with additional engineering by Brandon Bell. In 2012, the song “Come Around” was nominated for Song of the Year at the Americana Music Honors & Awards.

Annabel Lee is the singer’s interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe’s last published poem about young, doomed lovers in a kingdom by the sea.

Some say that Poe, who served a brief stint at Fort Moultrie on Sullivan’s Island, was inspired by a Lowcountry tale. Legend has it that a young soldier fell in love with a girl named Annabel Lee. For several months they were inseparable, despite her father’s disapproval, but when the man was shipped out of Charleston, Annabel died of Yellow Fever. He returned to say his goodbyes, but the girl’s father wouldn’t allow him into the funeral. Some say Annabel’s ghost still haunts the Unitarian Cemetery, where she was buried.

Granted, there’s no real proof that Poe had ever heard the legend, and some argue the poem was based on his relationship with his own wife. It went on to inspire Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, which was originally going to be titled The Kingdom by the Sea.

Wherever the chain of inspiration came from, Jarosz performed her fresh interpretation of the haunting poem just a few blocks away from from the cemetery where Annabel’s ghost is said to reside in Charleston, SC.

The Lyrics

Many a year ago
In a kingdom by the sea
There lived a maiden you may know
By the name of Annabelle Lee
No other thought did trouble her mind
But to love and be loved by me

We were children both
In this kingdom by the sea
But we loved with a love that was more than love
I and my Annabelle Lee
With a love that the winged angels high
Coveted her and me

This was the reason long ago
In this kingdom by the sea
A wind blew from a stormy cloud
That took my Annabelle Lee
Then her wicked brothers came
To steal her away from me

They shut her up in a tomb below
This kingdom by the sea
But no maiden's grave could sever my soul
From the love she bore for me
For the moon don't beam without a dream
Of my darling Annabelle Lee

For many years I've wandered
Through this kingdom by the sea
I've laid myself beside the bones
Of my beautiful Annabelle Lee
I'll make my bed near the rising tide
In her tomb by the sounding sea

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Cameron Scoggins / Sarah Jarosz
Annabelle Lee lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Reflections

by  • 

Our friend Clive, from Take it Easy, has offered up this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt and it is “Songs with a recognizable intro”. I have chosen Reflections by the Supremes. The intro to this song is memorable, well at least to me. The album Reflections was released in 1967. The song was also used as the theme for a TV drama here in the States called China Beach about the Vietnam War. It ran from late 80s to early 90s and was the springboard for some now recognizable.actors.

The Song

“Reflections” was written by the Motown songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland. In a Songfacts interview with Dozier, he explained: “It’s about when the love has gone bad, or when things have changed in life. One thing in life that’s ever changing is tomorrow is always different from today. Things change for many reasons, and you have to be aware of why, and what is happening around you. You have to adapt to the changes in life. That’s what that was about: your reflection on how things used to be, can be and will be, hopefully.

It’s all about hope, too. The main theme of that song is hope: although things have come to pass, you have to start changing, remembering the old to get involved with a new approach in life.”
This song tells the story of a woman who looks back in anguish at her lost love, wondering what could have been had things worked out. But the song was directed in some ways at Motown head Barry Gordy, with the same sentiment.

Starting with “Where Did Our Love Go” in 1964, the Holland-Dozier-Holland team wrote nine #1 hits for The Supremes as well as many big songs for The Four Tops, Martha & the Vandellas, and several other acts on the label. After a few years of runaway success, the three writers demanded publishing rights to their songs, but were rebuffed by Gordy. This was when they wrote “Reflections,” which pleased Gordy by providing yet another hit for The Supremes, but portended the departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who left a short time later, breaking their contract in the process. The legal tussle between Gordy and his former star writers stretched on for many years.

Sonically, this was a departure for The Supremes, with no saxophone or prominent electric guitar backbeat. It retained the sturdy bassline of James Jamerson, but featured a Wurlitzer electric piano by Earl Van Dyke and tambourine by Jack Ashford. Pistol Allen was the drummer and Joe Messina added guitar. The oscillator-generated sound effects also appear throughout the track.

This was the first foray for The Supremes into psychedelic pop, a sound fully realized by The Beatles a month earlier when they released their Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album.

“Reflections” has some mind-bending lyrics:

Trapped in a world
that’s a distorted reality

It also opens with some trippy sound effects that were created with a custom oscillator designed by one of The Funk Brothers, who were session musicians for most Motown songs of the period.

This was released during The Summer of Love (1967) when the Vietnam War was raging. This made it an appropriate choice for the theme song of the TV series China Beach, which was set in Vietnam during the war. The series ran on ABC from 1988-1991

The Lyrics

Through the mirror of my mind
Time after time
I see reflections of you and me

Reflections of
The way life used to be
Reflections of
The love you took from me

Oh, I'm all alone now
No love to shield me
Trapped in a world
That's a distorted reality

Happiness you took from me
And left me all alone
With only memories

Through the mirror of my mind
Through all these tears that I'm crying
Reflects a hurt I can't control
Although you're gone
I keep holding on
To those happy times
Oh, girl when you were mine

As I peer through the windows
Of lost time
Keeping looking over my yesterdays
And all the love I gave all in vain
(All the love) All the love
That I've wasted
(All the tears) All the tears
That I've tasted
All in vain

Through the hollow of my tears
I see a dream that's lost
From the hurt baby
That you have caused

Everywhere I turn
Seems like everything I see
Reflects a hurt I can't control

In you I put
All my hope and trust
Right before my eyes
My whole world has turned to dust

Reflections of
The love you took from
Reflections of
The way life used to be

In you I put
All my hope and trust
Right before my eyes
My whole world has turned to dust

Now baby, why did you do it?
Reflections

Writer/s: DAVID BRYAN BENOIT 
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind


Courtesy of Songfacts
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Kiss From A Rose

by  • 

This week our host for Song Lyric Sunday, Jim Adams, has given us the prompts, Hug, Kiss and Embrace. I have chosen Kiss From A Rose, by Seal. This was an easy pick for me as I just happened to hear it again today. I have always liked it as it reminds me of a visit back home to the UK in the nineties. It was such a great trip and this song was being played everywhere. On checking I did notice that I had featured this song more than three years ago for another SLS prompt. I think enough time has passed and that it really doesn’t matter if I choose it again, right?

Have a great Sunday.

.

The Song

One of the more mysterious songs ever written, there has been much speculation as to the meaning of “Kiss From A Rose” – many think it has something to do with drugs, while others hear it as an expression of love or a journey to the afterlife. Seal has never explained what the song is about, offering only that there was “some kind of relationship that inspired the lyrics.” Seal bucked convention by not including printed lyrics with the album, something he did because he didn’t want to wash away anyone’s interpretation. He also says that his songs often mean more than one thing, so attributing a meaning would be too simplistic. In lieu of lyrics, Seal wrote a screed on the subject that went with the album. “I think it’s the general vibe of what I’m saying that is important and not the exact literal translation,” he wrote. “The song is always larger in the listener’s mind because with it they attach imagery which is relative to their own personal experience. So it is your perception of what I’m saying rather than what I actually way that is the key.”

Seal wrote this song sometime around 1988 when he was living in a squat in Kensal Green, London. He says it was a liberating time, as it was before he had a record deal and there was no pressure on him. He didn’t know how to play any instruments, so he sang the instrumental parts onto a 4-track tape recorder as an experiment. He tossed the tape aside and thought nothing of it; when he recorded his 1991 debut album, he didn’t even consider it. The song was revived two years later when Seal played if for his best friend, who told Seal’s producer, Trevor Horn, about it. Horn made Seal play it for him, and he liked what he heard. They recorded the song for his second album (Seal, 1994), but they still nearly tanked it. “I thought it was too flowery and that it didn’t fit,” Seal told The Guardian. They were going to pull it from the tracklist, but reconsidered after their friend Lynne Franks heard the album-in-progress and said she liked “that song that was something about a rose.”

The song was released as a single in the UK, where it went to #20 in July 1994. In America, the song didn’t get noticed until it played under the end credits of the movie Batman Forever and was included on the soundtrack. The film was released in May 1995, nearly a year after Seal’s album was issued. The movie appearance sparked demand for the song in the US; it was issued as a single there in June 1995 and climbed to #1 in August.Batman Forever was distributed by Warner Bros., the same conglomerate that owned Seal’s US label, Sire Records. The song was submitted for a love scene featuring Nicole Kidman’s Dr. Chase Meridian character and Val Kilmer’s Batman, but the film’s director, Joel Schumacher, decided it was a better fit under the end credits.

Do you hear the lyric as “kiss from a rose on a grave?” If so, you’re not the only one, but it’s really “kiss from a rose on a gray.” David Sancious, who played keyboards on Seal’s 1998 album Human Being and joined him on the subsequent tour, found out from the source.  “We were having lunch somewhere one day and he explained it to me,” Sancious told Songfacts. “It was a poetic thing, just a little taste of poetry that happened to sound like something else.”

With its curious waltz time, lavish harmonies and epic sound proportions, “Kiss From A Rose” has a very different sound and stood out on the radio, where many stations were willing to play it. In the US, it was a #1 hit on the Adult Contemporary charts for 12 weeks.

This won Grammy Awards in 1996 for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance. It wasn’t eligible for an Oscar because the song appeared on Seal’s album before it was used in the film.

Courtesy of Songfacts

The Lyrics

Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya
Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya
Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya
Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya

There used to be a greying tower alone on the sea
You became the light on the dark side of me
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill

But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can't be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya
Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya

There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain
Baby, to me, you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny
Won't you tell me, is that healthy, baby?

But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can't be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah (yeah)
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

I've been kissed by a rose on the grey
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey
And if I should fall, will it all go away? (I've been kissed by a rose on the grey)
I've been kissed by a rose on the grey

There is so much a man can tell you, so much he can say
You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain
To me, you're like a growing addiction that I can't deny (yeah)
No won't you tell me, is that healthy, baby?

But did you know that when it snows
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can't be seen?

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

Yes, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you, the stranger it feels, yeah (yeah)
And now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

Ba-ya-ya, ba-da, ba-da-da-da, ba-ya-ya

Now that your rose is in bloom
A light hits the gloom on the grey

Writer/s: Henry Olusegun Adeola Samuel 
Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Died at the Age of 27 Club

by  • 

Amy Winehouse – September 24, 1983 – July 23, 2011

Jim Adams, our host for Song Lyric Sunday, has prompted us with “Members of the Died at the Age of 27 Club”. We are to choose a song by an artist who, you guessed it, died at the age of 27. Surprisingly there are quite a few. I picked Amy Winehouse and her memorable and fitting song, “Rehab”.

The Song & Artist

This song is autobiographical. Many successful musicians are haunted by their own personal demons of drink and drugs, and Winehouse is no exception. In February 2007 her father gave a candid interview to the Sun newspaper in which he denied that his daughter was an alcoholic, although he admitted that like many single women of her age she sometimes overdid the drink. On one occasion, after splitting up with her boyfriend, she fell over and hit her head.

Her previous management company wanted her to go into rehab but she said she didn’t need to. Her father agreed, adding that she wasn’t an alcoholic but had been drinking too much because she was lovesick, and “You can’t go into rehab for that.” Alcoholics drink everyday, he said, and his daughter didn’t. Hence the line: “They tried to make me go to rehab, I said no, no, no.”
Amy Winehouse was asked by The Daily Mail on August 3, 2007 how she writes songs. Said Winehouse: “With ‘Rehab’ I was walking down the street with Mark Ronson, who produced my last album. I just sang the hook out loud. It was quite silly really.”

She was then asked, “Did you sing the ‘no no no’ bit as well?'”

“Yeah, I sang the whole line exactly as it turned out on the record! Mark laughed and asked me who wrote it because he liked it. I told him that I’d just made it up but that it was true and he encouraged me to turn it into a song, which took me five minutes. It wasn’t hard. It was about what my old management company (run by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller) wanted me to do.”
On August 14, 2007, Winehouse entered The Causeway Retreat, a rehab center in Essex, England, with her new husband (and fellow addict), Blake Fielder. Addiction specialists know that admitting a couple to rehab together is a bad idea, but The Causeway was not an ethical institution: it was shut down amid a host of violations in 2010.

In the documentary Amy, Fielder is shown at the facility badgering Winehouse, putting a video camera to her face and asking her to sing “the new, updated version of ‘Rehab,'” presumably making a joke out of it. She refuses.

Winehouse did a few more stints in rehab to treat her drug and alcohol addiction, but it was ultimately unsuccessful. She was found dead in her London home on July 23, 2011.
This won the 2007 Ivor Novello Award for Best Contemporary Song.
At the 2008 Grammy awards, this won for Song Of The Year, Female Pop Vocal Performance and Record Of The Year. Winehouse also won for Best New Artist, and performed a medley of songs that were televised from London. Ronson won for producer of the year.

Backstage at the Grammy ceremony Mark Ronson recalled to Billboard magazine what it was like playing “Rehab” for Winehouse’s A&R for the first time. “About the first 15 seconds in, he said ‘Rewind, rewind!’ I didn’t think there would be dollar signs lighting up.”
The lines, “I’d rather be at home with Ray” and “There’s nothing you can teach me that I can’t learn from Mr. Hathaway” are references to two of Winehouse’s soul music inspirations: Ray Charles and Donny Hathaway. Hathaway is best known for his duets with Roberta Flack: “Where Is The Love?” and “The Closer I Get To You.”
Winehouse’s label Island Records originally didn’t foresee this song’s success. Island Records president Darcus Beese explained in a Genius annotation:

“When ‘Rehab’ dropped it was just like a newspaper being lit. I wasn’t expecting this song to be the one that did it. We wanted to come in with a cool angle. We thought putting Ghostface Killa on ‘You Know I’m No Good’ would be the big hit. It wasn’t until people heard ‘Rehab’ that they really got it.”

The Lyrics

[Chorus]
They tried to make me go to rehab
I said, "no, no, no"
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you'll know, know, know
I ain't got the time
And if my daddy thinks I'm fine
He's tried to make me go to rehab
I won't go, go, go

I'd rather be at home with a Ray
I ain't got seventy days
'Cause there's nothing, there's nothing you can teach me
That I can't learn from Mr. Hathaway

I didn't get a lot in class
But I know we don't come in a shot glass

[Chorus]

The man said, "why do you think you here?"
I said, "I got no idea."
I'm gonna, I'm gonna lose my baby
So I always keep a bottle near
He said, "I just think you're depressed."
This, me, yeah, baby, and the rest

They tried to make me go to rehab
But I said, "no, no, no"
Yes, I been black
But when I come back, you'll know, know, know

I don't ever want to drink again
I just, oh, I just need a friend
I'm not gonna spend ten weeks
Have everyone think I'm on the mend

And it's not just my pride
It's just till these tears have dried

[Chorus]

Written by Amy Winehouse
Learn more about Amy Winehouse's life here
Courtesy of Songfacts
Blog, Song Lyric Sunday

Song Lyric Sunday – Sweet Love

by  • 

This week Jim Adams, our host of Song Lyric Sunday, has handed the prompt reins to fellow blogger Angie from the blog King Ben’s Grandma, She has given us “Sweet, Honey, Sugar, Candy and Chocolate”, Plenty of songs out there to fit today’s theme. I have picked Sweet Love by Anita Baker. A personal favorite from the 80s.

The Song

“Sweet Love” is a song by American R&B singer and songwriter Anita Baker from her second studio album, Rapture (1986). It was written by Anita Baker, Louis A. Johnson, and Gary Bias, and produced by Michael J. Powell. It was released in July 1986, as the album’s first single.

The song was Baker’s first big hit single, peaking at number two on the US Billboard R&B chart, number three on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, and number eight on the US Billboard Hot 100 in the fall of 1986. In the UK, it reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number 21 on Canada’s Top Singles chart.

“Sweet Love” won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Song at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards (1987).

Daryl Easlea of the BBC said that Baker’s voice “rings like a bell”, and that “Sweet Love” is one of the three most memorable tracks on Rapture. He felt that the lyrics might have sounded trite if sung by a different artist, but that Baker imbued them with “so much passion and wonderment” that they sound like “old love sonnets” brought back to life.

Baker won two Grammys at the 29th Annual Grammy Awards (1987). “Sweet Love” was selected as Best R&B Song, earning her (along with Gary Bias and Louis Johnson) a songwriting award. Also, the album containing this song, Rapture, won in the category Best Female R&B Vocal performance.

Courtesy of Wiki

The Lyrics

With all my heart, I love you, baby
Stay with me and you will see
My arms will hold you, baby
Never leave, 'cause I believe I'm in love

Sweet love
Hear me callin' out your name
I feel no shame
I'm in love, sweet love
Don't you ever go away
It'll always be this way

Your heart has called me closer to you
I will be all that you need
Just trust
In what we're feeling
Never leave, 'cause baby, I believe
In this love

Sweet love
Hear me callin' out your name
I feel no shame
I'm in love, sweet love
Don't you ever go away
It'll always be this way

There's no stronger love in this world (no stronger love)
Oh, baby, no
You're my man, I'm your girl
I'll never go, wait and see, can't be wrong
Don't you know this is where you belong?

How sweet this dream, how lovely, baby
Stay right here, never fear
I will be all that you need
Never leave, 'cause baby, I believe
In this love

Sweet love
Hear me callin' out your name
I feel no shame
I'm in love, sweet love
Don't you ever go away
It'll always be this way

oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
(Sweet love) oh-ooh
So sweet
So sweet
So sweet oh, oh, love
(Sweet love) yeah, oh love
Oh baby no, sweeter love
(Sweet love) oh sweeter love
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, no
(Sweet love) don't nobody know
Don't nobody know how sweet it is
(Sweet love) how sweet it is
Love me sweetly, baby
Just leave me sweetly, baby
(Sweet love)
Don't nobody know
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Anita Baker / Gary Bias / Louis A. Johnson
Sweet Love lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
%d bloggers like this: