I bet English teachers hated this band! This is such a fun band and it’s too bad they were not heard in America until the 1980s. Slade was not like The Small Faces who never toured the US. They toured extensively with bands like Humble Pie, ZZ Top, J Geils Band, Black Sabbath, Santana, and Aerosmith opened for them in a few places until Toys in the Attic hit…and then they reversed it.
Slade was very successful in the UK with 6 number ones, 16 top ten, and 24 top 40 singles. They could not duplicate their success in America where they only had two top forty singles…Run, Runaway, and My, Oh My both in the 80s.
Jim Lea was at a pub watching a pianist named Reg Kierle perform and it inspired him to write this song. He got with Noddy Holder to finish it. They were the primary songwriters for Slade, responsible for many of their hits. Noddy’s voice is the key to Slade…only a few can sound like he does.
The song peaked at #1 in the UK and high in other countries besides America and Canada.
It was produced by former Animals bass player Chas Chandler, who had been instrumental in shaping Slade’s sound and had previously worked with Jimi Hendrix. Chandler’s production emphasized the raw energy and the fun that characterized Slade’s music.
Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me
You know how to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh)
And I thought you might like to knowWhen a girl’s meaning “Yes”, she says, “No”
You got rude talkYou got one walkAll your jokes are blueYou’ve got long nailsYou tell tall talesSome you think are true
And there’s nowhere to go, you won’t goIf there’s nowhere to run, you go slowIf you move up to me, then I’ll showYou the wayThen you’ll know
How to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, oooh)
And I thought you might like to knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh)
And I thought you might like to knowWhen a girl’s meaning “Yes”, she says, “No”
You got a sweet tongueYou sing love songsCan’t you learn to spell?Take me back homeYou got it all wrong‘Cause we sing that as well
And there’s nowhere to go, you won’t goIf there’s nowhere to run, you go slowIf you move up to me, then I’ll showYou the wayThen you’ll know
How to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh)
And I thought you might like to knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh)
And I thought you might like to knowWhen a girl’s meaning “Yes”, she says, “No”
Oh, you know how to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, oooh)
And I thought you might like to knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh)
And I thought you might like to knowWhen a girl’s meaning “Yes”, she says, “No”
You know how to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, yeah)
And I thought you might like to know nowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, yeah, you do)
And I thought you might like to know nowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh, ooh)
And I thought you might like to (na, na, na, na, na, na, na) knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)You’re learnin’ it easy(Woah, oh, ooh)
I thought you might like to knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know you please me (woah, oh)Oh, oh, yes(Woah, oh)Yes, yes, you knowHow to squeeze me(Woah, oh)You know how to please me(Woah, oh)
…
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A terrific band! I remember pre-ordering some of their singles and being glued to the radio to hear where they’d entered the charts. (Yeah, easy pleased or should I say ‘pleezed’ – it was a big deal to a 14 year old! 😂)
This single and the one from a month or so earlier, Cum On, Feel The Noise, both entered the charts at #1. That didn’t happen very often back then.
😃
I’m now listening to all of their songs…yea man they came out with one after another hit. Noddy’s voice made them totally unique.
Oh right, I know that song of theirs also! Party music for sure.
they always seemed like they were having fun! Thus high on the list of ‘bands least likely to be covered by Morrissey’! If this song had connected here, I bet we’d not hear it anymore anyway with those lyrics, LOL
LOL..but look at some rap lyrics. That is the thing…but yea probably not…you never know though…
(Lol Dave.)
Never heard of them before, but as a retired English teacher I would have hated them!
I’m sure you would! Thanks for commenting!
The Glam rock kings. I saw them live in 1973…they were so loud, my ears were almost bleeding at the end!
The music definitely sounds familiar. Am really surprised they didn’t take off in US, especially touring with those bands. Don’t they do a Christmas song also? I think that’s the only other music of theirs I’ve heard. I like their clothing style. As a word my blogmate, Dale, reminded me of the other day, they’ve got panache!
Yes they did a Christmas song that I post every year…it was huge there but not here…in the 80s they had a couple of hits here.
Ah, that is where I heard it. On your blog at Christmas!
Oh and also…you heard Quiet Riots version of one of their songs… Come On Hear the Noise
Oh ok. Thanks for letting me know, Max.
‘Oh young Maximilian, you just failed your English test! According to the bog Standard Noddy Holder English Dictionary it’s quite clearly ‘Cum On Feel The Noize.’ For homework tonight pleaze revize by relistening to the correct diction.’
I wheel do obbverze.
They wound up being taken to heart by the skinheads in the early-mid 70’s. Loud and anarchic sounding probably helped but Slade themselves just seemed to be wanting to have a rowdy good time.
The skilfully wrought lyrics are deeply and profoundly moving…
Shakespeare had nothing on these….guyz
They did like to get their bow- vowels all in a twist, but what the phonetics does it matter?
lol… Prince later picked up their habit.
I know you are a big Slade fan Max, while I don’t share your enthusiasm I do appreciate the talent and they were a fun band. I had this song on my list for the Cold Covers series as there are only eight, including one in Finnish.
Yea…I wouldn’t think they would be a highly covered band UNLESS…you count Quiet Riot! lol. Their career was basically built around two of their songs.
They are quite well covered I’d say but this one is well down the list.
That surprises me about the others…There are 3 bands that I’ve really grown to like. Slade… which I have for a while… Status Quo and especially T Rex…it’s cool to go over their catalog… some good songs… glam/rock/ and a lot of pop.
I seem to run across mentions of Status Quo a lot and also Marc Bolan’s name comes up a fair bit.
I have an off topic question… have you ran across a guy named Blaze Foley?I just wrote about him for Saturday. He was a great songwriter…
Me also… he is worth a listen… John Prine and Townes style basically… I remember when it happened when I read how he passed… sorry for the off the wall question lol
very happy to chat Max! Is he from Texas?
No but yes…I was looking for Texas songwriters and he was listed because that is where he made a name for himself but he is from Arkansas originally….
I noticed that happens a lot, places like to adopt singers but as you say that’s where he made his name.
Another guy was like that as well… Jeff Walker was like that…I was surprised he wasn’t from Texas.
Hanging out with Townes and Clark will do that apparently
Well, you know how I feel about Slade! I’m sure I read thats some of the band didn’t love this song, as they felt it was just a retread of what they’d done beore: huge chorus, catchy lyrics, bad spelling… But hey, it’s only rock n roll, but I like it…
Thats it!!! It’s about fun and they had plenty of it!!!
Cool!
Awesome. Nice to see some Slade. This is band that is vastly underrated in my personal collection. I so need to remedy that.
I completely agree John….that is me also
Never heard this one before today. Great opening line on your post.
aaahhh, memories of when it was shiny and new and glittery and Slade seemed unstoppable…
I wish we would have got them as well. They still sound really good.