Todd Rundgren – Couldn’t I Just Tell You —Powerpop Friday

Couldn’t I Just Tell You was the follow-up song to I Saw The Light. The record company decided this should be the next single. It wasn’t the hit they were looking for so they decided to edit the album version of Hello It’s Me down and release it. That song was a hit. Although Couldn’t I Just Tell You was not a big hit it did get airplay and still does to this day.

Todd didn’t like what the record company did so in his liner notes to the album he wrote of this song…The hits just keep on coming.

The song peaked at #93 on the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album Something/Anything?  was released in 1972 and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Album Chart.

 

Couldn’t I Just Tell You

Keep your head and everything will be cool
You didn’t have to make me feel like a fool
When I try to say I feel the way that I do
I want to talk to you
And make it load and clear
Though you don’t care to hear

Couldn’t I just tell you the way I feel
I can’t keep it bottled up inside
And could we pretend that it’s no big deal
And there’s really nothing left to hide

Something sure doesn’t seem right to me
When you can turn your back whenever you please
And you stroll away and calmly bid me adieu
Why can’t I talk with you
And put it in your ear though you don’t care to hear

Hear me out
Why don’t you lend me an ear
You’ve got no reason to fear
I’ll make it perfectly clear
I love you

I don’t come whining with my heart on my sleeve
I’m not a coward if that’s what you believe
And I’m not afraid but not ashamed if it’s true
I got to talk with you
And then I’ll make it clear

 

 

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

21 thoughts on “Todd Rundgren – Couldn’t I Just Tell You —Powerpop Friday”

    1. I hear it on the radio some…not his best but it’s that guitar that hooked me….of course with all of the powerpop songs I’ve dug out lately…I have jangly guitars going on in my sleep.

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      2. Yes…and the band that you sent me…the Vaccines? I’m going to look at them soon. I couldn’t believe how many bands I’ve found just in the seventies alone that just missed the mark of being successful.

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      3. It seems like during the 70s, the record execs really acquired their stranglehold on the radio. I’d love to hear some of the great music we missed out on. I hope you enjoy the Vaccines. I feel lucky to have heard them.

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      4. That was the case in a lot of them…made some great records but you couldn’t buy them because they were not distributed like they should have been.
        I’ve found geeks like me that make powerpop lists and have found groups I’ve never heard of… If you think of anymore lesser known bands…throw them my way if you don’t mind.

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  3. Lotta good songs on that album. When all is said and done, between his own records, his producing and writing, he’s one major and under-rated star. And of course that great Bearsville record logo!

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    1. I’m starting to listen to more Nazz now…I will soon post a song with them. He knew how to make pop…yea this album was my introduction to him.

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