I first heard Badfinger in the late seventies. The song was “Come and Get It,” and I thought it was The Beatles. I gradually learned more about Badfinger, and the more I read the more frustrating it got.
This is a gorgeous song from Badfinger. Pete Ham wrote it, and he sounds a bit like McCartney. The song is about a real band friend who turns into a prostitute (midnight caller) and distances herself from her old friends and her old self. It was on the No Dice album, which peaked at #28 on the Billboard album chart in 1970.
Badfinger was the most successful power pop band of the early seventies. Their power pop brethren Big Star and The Raspberries did not have as many hits and attention as Badfinger had at the time. Big Star had nothing and The Raspberries at least had a top ten hit in Go All The Way and a few more top 40 hits. Badfinger had a total of 4 top-ten Billboard and Canadian hits while having 3 in the UK. Baby Blue only getting to #73 in the UK? Life is NOT fair.
In 1971 Harry Nilsson gave them publicity and a big boost by covering Without You. It was number #1 practically everywhere. I always end up getting pissed off when writing about this band. They released albums after their hits that were never heard because their manager stole their money from escrow from their new record company Warner Bros and they pulled from circulation. Those albums were critically praised and have some of their best songs. I won’t go into what happened to Pete Ham and Tom Evans.
Pete Ham was a top-tier pop/rock writer. They all wrote, but Pete’s songs were the hits and usually stood out more on their albums. He wrote Baby Blue, No Matter What, Day After Day, and Without You which he co-wrote with bassist Tom Evans.
Should this have been a top-ten hit? No, but it’s a catchy heartfelt written song, and being a true story adds more weight to it. They did have songs that should have been released as singles that were not. Many bands out there today are one-hit wonders touring and doing great. Badfinger had 4 huge hits but never got to do a victory lap.
Midnight Caller never charted, but it is one of my favorite Badfinger songs. I also included a live short tv concert by Badfinger. Midnight Caller is not on there but it’s a great show. They open up with Day after Day.
Midnight Caller
Beneath the midnight caller
She thinks of paper green
You never hear them calling her name
They just know where they’ve been
You never hear her holler
The tears no longer come
She reads her daily book of the past
That shows of everyone
Grey years that show in her hair
Can’t be, but don’t seem to care
She unlocks the door and there’s no one there
She sees a daytime stroller
Walk from the night before
And though she paints a smile on her face
He won’t be back no more
She’s got no saint to follow
She’s got no place to go
Too proud to ask an old friend for help
Too proud to let him know
Grey years that show in her hair
Can’t be, but don’t seem to care
She knocks the door and there’s no one there
Nobody (nobody), nobody (nobody), nobody’s gonna help you now.
PowerPop... An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture 
day after day– very familiar! and thanks for sharing midnight caller– new to me. 🙂
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I can dig it!
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The oldest profession and people have to make a living doing something.
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No Matter What was always like Alright Now, everyone that had a guitar wished they’d written those two tunes, and along with Stairway to Heaven or Blowing Free if there was a guitar at a party every player, or wanna be would hit those first few chords…..Day after Day was a favorite as well……I like finding those sometimes missed songs. there used to be a band here called Mashmakhan…I know they had a ton of great tunes, but beyond As the Years Go by, good luck finding any of them….and we have no used record stores anywhere
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Yea I love that riff especially to Baby Blue. I also like that British Crunch they had as a guitar tone. It wasn’t too distorted or too weak…it was perfectly in that middle ground.
I’ll have to check out Mashmakhan… we do have one used record store that I can’t believe is still open.
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REally good song I don’t think I’ve heard before. It could easily be passed off as a Paul McCartney track and if it was, it wouldn’t play second fiddle to many of his album cuts. The abrupt ending surprised me – I thought it was going to come back in for a thundering finish.
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Yea they had quality through and through Dave…even the other guys songs are good. Their last recorded album by the original band was Head First…wasn’t released until 2000…two song titles you would find interesting. “Rock and Roll Contract” and “Hey Mr Manager”
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I’ll check them out. Honestly I was surprised how much I liked this one, hearing it for the first time
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The titles alone showed you what was on their mind Dave….they are not their best songs…but I wanted you to know about where their minds were
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‘Come and Get it’ and ‘No Matter What’ were both successful singles in the UK
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Day After Day was as well…that just surprised me about Baby Blue. It must have not got adequate distribution unless the UK just didn’t like it as much.
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I just listened to their version of “Without You”. From the guitar intro I was hooked. Such a sweet tone. The organ at the end sounds like Matthew Fisher of Procol Harum.
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It is a different…not the commercial one by Nilsson but I’ve always liked it. Thanks for giving it a listen.
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‘Midnight Caller’ is another sad and really well written song. It sounds lyrically simple but there is some dark subtlety there.
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Yes there is…and I like how he said “paper green” for some reason it just sounds good with it. But yes there is a dark side in there no doubt.
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Yes, the greenbacks is part of it!
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Nice song. When I was at work earlier, I took a short break, and looked quickly to see if you had a post today. When I went back out to the kitchen, a little while later the radio was playing “No Matter What”. Talk about spooky. I love all their hits, but I think “Day After Day” is my favorite because of the guitar work of George Harrison.
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Yes Day After Day is probably Pete Ham’s best all around song. He was such a talented pop/rock writer….and yea I love the slide!
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I’m entirely with you, Max. While not as outstanding as “Baby Blue”, “Day After Day” and “No Matter What”, “Midnight Caller” is a beautiful song. I also agree it has a Macca vibe. Apart from their Beatle-esque harmony singing, Badfinger had a great sense for catchy melodies. Power pop really doesn’t get much better!
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Thanks again Christian for giving it a try! They also could rock to when they wanted to.
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I bought a badfinger album back in the 70’s the one with the fold-out cover (front and back making one single poster-like cover, and an interior Apple-gifted generous spread too. We’re For The Dark is my obscure Badfinger fave, on that album.
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THAT is a great song!
That could have been No Dice.
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Yes that’s the one, fold out cover on the vinyl, picture of a lady 🙂
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Haven’t heard this in a long while and not a song I knew well anyway. These guys were so underrated it just adds to the tragic story. But they left us a lot of great songs and as you have often said the covers did quite well to say the least.
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Thanks for listening Randy. I was impressed that Dave liked this one right off the bat.
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There you go!
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