John Hiatt – Memphis In The Meantime

Underneath a pork pie hatUntil hell freezes overMaybe you can wait that longBut I don’t think Ronnie Milsap’s gonna everRecord this song

I somehow missed this Hiatt song. I absolutely love the guitar on this track. Come to find out there is a reason I like it. Ry Cooder is on guitar, Nick Lowe on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, and Paul Carrack on keyboards and backing vocals. Later on, B.B. King and Eric Clapton covered this song.

Hiatt had only four days to make an album and this song kicked off his 1987 album Bring The Family. The song has a cool groove and shuffle to it. Hiatt was in Nashville at the time when he took a trip with his family to Memphis which of course inspired this song.

He mentions Ronnie Milsap in this song. At the time Nashville was known to make slick country songs. They would produce the soul out of a song. Milsap was listening though. On his next album, he recorded a John Hiatt song called Old Habits Are Hard To Break and yes… he inserted some Memphis funk in the song. Probably more than Hiatt could have thought at the time. Another thing that was happening at this time was Dwight Yoakam and Steve Earle were shaking Nashville out of its rut.

Hiatt found himself drawn to the city’s renowned musical history and culture. I’m not sure how it was in the 1980s as much but now on Beale Street, there is always something interesting going on.

John Hiatt: “It sounds like a car with four bald tires, it’s like a four-man groove sputtering down the road, and I really like the record for that.” 

John Hiatt: “It’s a day trip, only three hours, and it’s a terrific city, I’d been there before and there is truly something in the air, although there’s nothing going on musically speaking, they say. It’s just a great town and one of the only truly integrated cities in America, it seemed to me, where black people and white people actually live together in the neighborhoods and not only that, seem to get along I was real impressed by that.”

John Hiatt and The Goners…featuring Sonny Landreth…I really like this live cut. They add another dimension to the song.

Memphis in the Meantime

I got some’n’ to say little girlYou might not like my styleBut we been hangin’ around this townJust a little too long a whileYou say you’re gonna get your act togetherGonna take it out on the roadBut if I don’t get out o’ here pretty soonMy head’s going to explodeSure I like country musicAnd I like mandolinsBut right now I need a TelecasterThrough a Vibrolux turned up to 10

Let’s go to Memphis in the meantime babyAhw, Memphis in the meantime girlLet’s go to Memphis in the meantime babyMemphis in the meantime girl

I need a little shot of that rhythm babyMixed up with these country bluesI wanna trade in these ol’ cowboy bootsFor some fine Italian shoesForget the mousse and the hairspray sugarWe don’t need none of thatJust a little dab’ll do ya girlUnderneath a pork pie hatUntil hell freezes overMaybe you can wait that longBut I don’t think Ronnie Milsap’s gonna everRecord this song

Lets go to Memphis in the meantime babyLet’s go to Memphis in the meantime girlLets go to Memphis in the meantime babyLet’s go to Memphis in the meantime girl

Maybe there’s nothin’ happenin’ thereBut maybe there’s somethin’ in the airBefore our upper lips get stiffMaybe we need us a big ol’ whiff

If we could just get off-a that beat little girlMaybe we could find the grooveAt least we can get ourselves a decent mealDown at the Rendezvous‘Cause one more heartfelt steel guitar chordGirl, it’s gonna do me inI need to hear some trumpet and saxophoneYou know sound as sweet as sinAnd after we get good and greasyBaby we can come on homePut the cow horns back on the CadillacAnd change the message on the CordaphoneBut

Lets go to Memphis in the meantime babyLet’s go to Memphis in the meantime girlLets go to Memphis in the meantime babyLet’s go to Memphis in the meantime girl

I’m a talking about MemphisI’m talkin’ ’bout MemphisMemphis

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, 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. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

50 thoughts on “John Hiatt – Memphis In The Meantime”

  2. Great tune Max! Given the lineup it’s almost a Little Village song. I admit I’m pretty much a greatest hits listener for Hiatt and this song is on that album. I did listen to a bit of the stuff he did with Jerry Douglas, not sure why these two never got together before, maybe they did and I missed it!

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      2. I’m listening to him now….yea….to say the least! I’m watching Jerry Douglas & Tommy Emmanuel…just awesome. Thanks Randy.

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  3. Recording an album in 4 days with that band of cats! Wow especially back in ’87 when studios were so expensive. Hiatt’s record company loved him I’m sure.

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  5. Likable little song, I like the band behind him. In a couple of spots he sounded a wee bit like Box Scaggs to me there…I never really have had a voice I associate with him because I hear his name but rarely hear his music played.
    Does his view on Memphis line up with yours?

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  6. Sonny Landreth – like Ry Cooder, a guitarist that not enough know. Code-a-phone definitely ages this song. (For those too young to know, before voice mail, there were answering machines, and Code-a-Phone was one of the first. Most recorded your messages on a cassette. While you can still buy a new Telecaster and might find a vintage Vibrolux, hardly anybody is gonna want a vintage Code-a-Phone.)

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    1. I remember them in the 80s at an office I worked at….but I wouldn’t have known the name…I just looked it up.
      Oh if I ever run across one…I would want it. I have a green dial phone hanging on my wall….but I would rather have a Vibrolux.

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  8. Another damned fine song, this one has more lyrics in it than a phone book.
    And I never knew what a code-a-phone was. (Till them new-fangled cellphones came up us poor folks jest had the phone down th’ street outside the Texaco, when it wuz workin’.) Seriously, here, must have been back in the 80s or so the Post Office and Telegram Dept. replaced all the old style black bakelite 1940s style phone with ‘new’ push button ones. Something to do with upgrading infrastructure and compatibility or something. Apparently trucked the old relics out and buried them deep at the dump. Seems almost crazy now, sort of cultural vandalism on a low scale.

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    1. That is…I love that phrase….cultural vandalism…that is so true. I will use that in the future.
      Sometimes I pick up relics from the 70s and 80s at yard sales…but not much. But…most of those office things are probably gone.

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      1. Yep, office tech is obsolete and gone so quick. How many pagers, Nokias etc, are mouldering away in dusty desk drawers in boarded up warehouses now?
        we have an old blue rotary dial phone out in the garage somewhere, beneath an unopened 2005 Yellow Pages or similar. I’ll get a hell of a surprise if the thing ever rings!

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      2. LOL… Like I told Half…I have one of those green rotoary phones hanging up…with no power of course….we called them “banana phones” back in the day because the dial is on the receiver.

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      2. I love this music as well. 4 days to record an album….a breeze for these guys…they locked in. That music is just tighter than tight….and loose at the same time… tight but not rigid I should say.

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      4. They are that good….
        I liked the Ronnie Milsap mention also…and Milsap turning around and doing something about it….which was cool on a Hiatt song.

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      8. CB….I’m listening to it now. I’ve heard this before but never knew it was Crowell or that Hiatt wrote the song….this is great…

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      10. Yea that phrase accurately describes both of them….but no I don’t see a real similarity as much. One thing…Hiatt is so deep rooted in Americana….and that is not a slam on Elvis

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  12. Sorry, I just realized here’s another post I somehow missed. Great song! I really dig John Hiatt, based on what I’ve heard to date. “Memphis In the Meantime” is on the same album like “Thing Called Love”, which Bonnie Raitt turned into a hit and which is what brought Hiatt on my radar screen. Another great tune is “Have a Little Faith in Me”, which Joe Cocker covered, among others.

    Other artists have frequently covered Hiatt’s songs, and it has happened more than once that the covers have enjoyed more chart success than Hiatt’s originals!

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    1. John does a live version of Have a Little Faith in Me with a gospel flair…it is great.
      I agree with you about the covers. I don’t understand completely because personally I like his voice a lot. Raitt did a great job on that one though.

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      3. There’re simply too many artists and it’s impossible to see everybody.

        That said, I did get a ticket for Neil Young & Crazy Horse for the second Forest Hills date. I checked last night, found there was a good amount of seats and got weak. It was a bit of an impulse purchase, and I’m not entirely proud of it!

        Even though I’m also very tempted to look for Buddy Guy tickets, I better not. Whereas I’ve seen Guy 3 times, at least in Neil’s case it’s the first time with Crazy Horse! 🙂

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      5. I know this might sound a bit contradictory to my previous smart comment that you can’t see everybody, but I really hope you guys get to go to Buddy Guy. Unless he has completely changed since I saw him last, which I doubt, I’m pretty sure you’ll have a great time.

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      6. I think we can…the webiste I checked was for 160 each….I thought no way…Bailey found them for 60 each…that we can do.

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  13. I first heard Hiatt way back with his first record, Hangin’ Around The Observatory. Been a fan ever since.

    Three Dog Night recorded and had a hit with his Sure As I’m Sitting Here.

    The band on Memphis In The Meantime was Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner, who would come back together to be Little Village. Hiatt worked in Cooder’s band for awhile before this, and Nick Lower produced half an album of Hiatt’s.

    Hiatt is a fabulous songwriter. His Slug Line is right up there with So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star as a great expose on the business.

    Way back when, Rhino Records (the store, related to but separate from the label) had parking lot sales. My proudest treasure was the second White Duck record (which was Hiatt’s first recording) for which I paid 25 cents. The music was played once and only once, but I had this very hard to find album!!!

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  14. Clapton and King covered “Riding With The King.” I don’t know if they covered “Memphis In The Meantime” (Google says they did not.)

    Hiatt made a thing out of the “I don’t think *** gonna ever record this song” by changing the name check, That was fun.

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