Sheryl Crow – A Change Would Do You Good

I’ve been a Sheryl Crow fan since I heard her first songs. The lyrics she writes with Jeff Trott are different than the usual pop song. Many of their songs are abstract which I like.

Crow wrote this with guitarist Jeff Trott and drummer Brian MacLeod during a six-month stay in New Orleans. The song shows an array of images to highlight what needs changing in someone’s life.

This song peaked at #1 in the Billboard US Adult Alternative Songs, #8 in the UK, and #2 in Canada in 1997.

If you want to check out something new Sheryl has done…check out this piece from Christian from christiansmusicmusings about Sheryl and Citizen Cope covering a Bill Withers song. A very good version of Lonely Town, Lonely Street.

In this song, she takes a gentle swipe at the Material Girl who inspired this verse…and a few others with:

Canine, feline, Jekyll and Hyde
Wear your fake fur on the inside
Queen of south beach, aging blues
Dinner’s at six, wear your cement shoes
I thought you were singing your heart out to me
Your lips were syncing and now I see

Jeff Trott: I don’t know how we were talking about Madonna, but the second verse of “A Change Would Do You Good” was directed at Madonna. “You wear your fake fur on the inside.” It’s been awhile. I can’t think of all the lyrics. But one of them was “Mercedes Ruehl and a rented Lear.”

“We were trying to come up with something like the Staple Singers. Mavis Staples is one of those legendary soul singer/songwriters, and Sheryl and I have this affinity for those old soul songs, Motown, stuff like that. We’re always trying to find those rare, rare songs for inspiration.”

Songfacts

The trio came up with so many lyric ideas that they decided to throw them all in a hat and draw them out, leading to a string of non-sequiturs that tie the song together. Trott said: “Sheryl just picked them out randomly and put them on a piece of paper, and we all read them. We all thought, ‘Whoa, this actually makes sense, even though it’s so oblique and completely abstract.’ So, we put this thing together and tried to keep the order pretty close, just swapping a couple of the lines to make more sense.”

So, a change would do who good? According to Trott, the first verse is about producer Bill Bottrell, who walked out on the making of the album. While the lyrics are biting, Trott says it was all in fun. “She had a little bit of resentment towards him, but not in a harsh way, but in a playful kind of way.”

He’s a platinum canary, drinkin’ Falstaff beer
Mercedes Ruehl, and a rented Lear
Bottom feeder insincere
Prophet lo-fi pioneer

The above lyrics are often misquoted, but Trott confirmed they indeed reference Mercedes Ruehl. The Academy Award-winning actress also starred in the 1999 thriller The Minus Man, in which Crow made her debut film appearance.

After some convincing, Crow agreed to make the last verse about herself:

I’ve been thinking ’bout catching a train
Leave my phone machine by the radar range
Hello it’s me, I’m not at home
If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone

Three music videos were made. The first, a black-and-white clip directed by Crow and Lance Acord, shows the singer both performing out on the street and tossing her belongings out of a window in the background.

The star-studded second video, directed by Michel Gondry, has Crow magically manipulating characters’ lives, loosely inspired by the classic sitcom Bewitched. Cameos include Mary Lynn Rajskub, Heather Matarazzo, Jeff Garlin, Ellen DeGeneres, Molly Shannon, Andy Dick and Toby Huss.

The third video consists of footage from a live VH1 performance.

This was covered by Dean Geyer and Lea Michele on the 2012 Glee episode “Makeover.”

A Change Would Do You Good

Ten years living in a paper bag,
Feedback baby, he’s a flipped out cat,
He’s a platinum canary, drinkin’ Falstaff beer,
Mercedes rule, and a rented leer.

Bottom feeder insincere,
High fed low fat pioneer,
Sell the house and go to school.
Pretty young girlfriend, daddy’s jewel.

A change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good,
(A change would do you good)
I think a change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good.
(A change would do you good)

God’s little gift is on the rag,
Poster girl posing in a fashion mag,
Canine, feline, Jekyll and Hyde?
Wear your fake fur on the inside.

Queen of south beach, aging blues,
Dinners at six, wear your cement shoes,
I thought you were singing your heart out to me,
Your lips were singing and now I see.

A change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good,
(A change would do you good)
I think a change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good.
(A change would do you good)

A change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good,
(A change would do you good)
I think a change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good.
(A change would do you good)

Chasing dragons with plastic swords,
Jack off jimmy everybody wants more,
Scully and angel on the kitchen floor,
And I’m calling buddy on the ouija board.

I’ve been thinking ’bout catching a train,
Leave my phone machine by the radar range,
“Hello it’s me, I’m not at home,
If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone”

A change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good,
(A change would do you good)

“Hello it’s me, I’m not at home,
If you’d like to reach me, leave me alone”

A change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good,
(A change would do you good)
I think a change,
(A change would do you good)
Would do you good.
(A change would do you good)