CB sent me a link to this song. Never did I think in a million years this was the Jackson 5 song that he covered when I saw the title. This cover knocked me out…it’s a mature cover version of the song…and that is no disrespect to the others but I like the way Parker takes this cover.
Parker released this non-album song in 1979. It managed to peak at #103 on the Billboard 100. This one to me must have come out of left field for Graham Parker fans in 1979.
The more I get into Parker’s songs…I don’t understand why he wasn’t played more. He compares to Elvis Costello pretty well. Apparently, radio only had room for one quirky, bespectacled, British pub rocker (Costello).
His record label Mercury Records has been blamed by many for not getting behind Parker and pushing his records. Parker thought the same as he said: “their promotion’s so lame, they could never take it to the real ball game.” He did eventually sign with Arista and Squeezing Out Sparks was the first album on that label for him.
He released this song and on the flip side of the single was a song called Mercury Poisoning. A clear jab at his former label. He didn’t include Mercury Poisoning on the album because he didn’t think it fit. “Sometimes some of the little throwaway things that take a few minutes to write, you just don’t think that they really have the integrity. I mean, ‘Mercury Poisoning’ is a bit of fun and all that, but I didn’t think it had the integrity to be on Squeezing Out Sparks.”
Arista saw that the single was popular so they began to include a free “Mercury Poisoning” single with every purchase of the Squeezing Out Sparks album in the UK. It was also the flip side to Local Girls in America.
The original version is of course by a young Jackson 5. It was written by a team of Motown writers called The Corporation. The head of the label, Berry Gordy, was one of the writers. They were based in California, unlike most Motown writers who were in the Detroit offices.
Michael Jackson reminded Berry Gordy of Frankie Lymon, another teenage star. Gordy helped write this as if he was writing for Lymon. The song was originally envisioned as a vehicle for Gladys Knight but Berry saw it as a way to break the Jacksons into the charts. They released it in 1969.
I Want You Back
Ohh-oh-oh-oh, let me tell you now, uh-huh, uh-uh-uh
When I had you to myself I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always make me stand up in a crowd
Someone picked you from the bunch, and that was all it took
And now it’s much too late for me to take a second look
Oh baby, give me one more chance
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darling, I was blind to let you go
Now that I see you in his arms
Oh I do now
Oh-oh baby
Oh I do now
Oh-oh baby
Tried to live without your love, one of those sleepless nights
But that just shows you, girl, that I know wrong from right
And every street you walk down, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following you girl, I can feel you all around, let me tell you now
Oh baby, give me one more chance
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darling, I was blind to let you go
But now that I see you in his arms
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You’re all I want
You’re all I want
You’re all I need
Ah yeah, one more chance
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darling, I must have been blind to let you go
Now that I see you in his arms
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Nice cover. From his voice, you’d think he was an US born and bred soul singer. Not from London!
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I agree… .
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What a great name for a bunch of writers to call themselves The Corporation! All those song doctors should come up with cool names like that….
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The cool factor would rise!
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Glad to see some Graham Parker love going on, almost criminal how under appreciated this guy is!
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Ha, Graham Parker singing Jackson 5! Great. 😀
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But did he cover ‘One Bad Apple’? This is a good cover actually, quite recognizable but obviously a lot grittier and more substantial feeling. This I could easily imagine having been a hit.
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lol…I hope not! I know…like I said…it’s like a mature version of the song.
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This is another artist who I’ve heard of way back, but never heard his music. I can see why he was angry about that. Yet another song about the music business doing someone wrong. He does sound very much like Elvis Costello.
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He was compared to Costello at the time…kind of the same vein.
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The similarities are maybe too apparent. It’s no not a recipe for success to be that ‘other’ someone. Another problem I can see is his name. It’s so much like Gram Parsons. I bet that caused confusion as well.
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Yea the press did that…well….it should have been the other way around. Graham’s first album was in 76 and Costello followed in 77.
Yea I bet there may have been confustion.
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“Out of left field” no kidding. Pleasantly surprised to say the least. Parker and the Rumour could do justice to anything. Great example here. Does this fit your love of covers or what Max?
He does another one called ‘I’m Going To Tear Your Playhouse Down”. I always thought it was his tune but listening to Bernadette’s (dancingqueen) show she played the original by Ann Peebles. Keep the love coming for folks like GP. They should be heard. CB thinks so anyways.
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Oh yea…it’s like the grown up version that you carry over.
I’ll check that out today CB…thanks man.
Oh yea….I have another Parker song ready to go in a month or so.
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GP is on the upper levels for me
‘Playhouse’ is killer. Both studio and live versions. I think it will hit you hard.
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I really like that…he put some toughness to it…some street edge to it…it’s great man.
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Punchy huh? Horns add a lot. That drums grabs me. Parker is feeling it. What a band. Figured you’d like it. Hey I think were fans!
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I was a huge GP fan when this came out. Loved it them and still love it today. It really fit nice with the sound of his backing band at the time, The Rumour. Why was GP never as big as EC? It’s right up there with who shot JFK!
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I know…looking back I don’t see how he missed Mike.
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Oh yeah! Both sound really good. It was a shock to the system to not hear Michael singing those opening notes, but I got over it 🙂
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Yea it’s a different kind of version but I do like it. Parker did a good job.
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His “I want you back” is almost better than the Jackson 5’s.
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It is really good…like the adult version.
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That’s so funny you covered this tune. Not only was it the B-side of the single “Local Girls,” which I just covered, but Jim (“Music Enthusiast”) noted Parker’s rendition of “I Want You Back” in a comment. I like Parker’s version of that tune, which certainly doesn’t look like an obvious choice for him!
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No it isn’t an obvious choice. I didn’t have the part about the B side to Local Girls… Randy and I talked and I noticed it. It was hard to write because he changed record companies and different sources said different things. I love it though.
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It’s a bonus track on my CD edition of Squeezing Out Sparks, so I know it. It’s good, and unexpected, but the original is supreme for me.
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It’s hard to compare them to me…he came at it in a different style.
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I like Parker and I like this but you simply can’t beat they sheer, unadulterated joy of the Jackson 5 original.
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas also covered it.
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Oh yea…for me it’s apple and oranges but yea…the Jackson 5 will always remind me of when I was a kid barely enough to understand things and hearing their version.
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I loved The J5 version as a twelve year-old and still do.
Fair play to Parker for doing this at a time when many punks/new wavers would have turned their noses up at it. It is the uninvoked true spirit of 1979, though.
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It’s a surprisingly good cover!
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