John Hiatt – Slow Turning

Now I’m in my car, I got the radio on, I’m yellin’ at the kids in the back seat
‘Cause they’re bangin’ like Charlie Watts

I love the way this song kicks off with that jangly, ragged guitar riff. John’s voice fits this song perfectly as well. It’s rootsy, raucous, and real, a reminder that the best rock & roll doesn’t have to be flashy or fast to hit you in the gut.

A brilliant performer…he is a songwriter’s songwriter.  The first time I heard this song, I loved it. When you mention Charlie Watts, you have my attention. John Hiatt always releases songs of quality, and they are all solid. Saying that, he is most remembered for his songs that other people cover. I don’t understand that because he has a fine, distinctive voice with a great band behind him. The keyword here is distinctive, I guess, which I look for.

He has a tremendous catalog with 24 studio albums. He released his first album in 1974! By the time John Hiatt released the album Slow Turning in 1988, he wasn’t some wide-eyed newcomer chasing charts; he was a survivor. Some of the songs he wrote and were covered were Angel Eyes, Sure As I’m Sitting Here,  and Thing Called Love, just to name a few. Slow Turning is one of his best-known songs, with him singing.

I’ve seen a lot of Hiatt recently on live clips. He and his band are always great. It’s loose in the best way, the kind of groove that feels like it could fall apart at any second but never does. The rhythm section (Kenneth Blevins on drums and Dave Ranson on bass) just locks in with the kind of warmth that doesn’t come from studio perfection but from chemistry built from sweat on the road.

Slow Turning peaked at #22 on the Billboard Alternative Charts. The album peaked at #98 on the Billboard Album Charts. I thought it would have been higher in the charts. In my region, it got a lot of airplay. 

Slow Turning

When I was a boyI thought it just came to youBut I never could tell what’s mineSo it didn’t matter anyway

My only pride and joyWas this racket down hereBangin’ on an old guitarAnd singin’ what I had to say

I always thought our house was haunted‘Cause nobody said “boo” to meI never did get what I wantedBut now I get what I need

It’s been a slow turnin’From the inside outA slow turnin’, babyBut you come about

A slow learnin’But you learn to swayA slow turnin’, babyNot fade away, not fade away, not fade away

Now I’m in my carOoh, I got the radio downNow I’m yellin’ at the kids in the back‘Cause they’re bangin’ like Charlie Watts

You think you’ve come so farIn this one horse townThen she’s laughin’ that crazy laugh‘Cause you haven’t left the parking lot

Time is short and here’s the damn thing about itYou’re gonna die, gonna die for sureAnd you can learn to live with love or without itBut there ain’t no cure

It’s just a slow turnin’From the inside outA slow turnin’But you come about, ya

A slow learnin’, babyBut you learn to swayA slow turnin’Not fade away, not fade away, not fade awayNot fade away, not fade away

A slow turnin’A slow turnin’A slow turnin’A slow turnin’

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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.

44 thoughts on “John Hiatt – Slow Turning”

  1. I really only knew the odd song by Hiatt but started playing more attention when Nick Lowe joined him in Little Village. That said I still don’t follow him closely, but I do like his songwriting.

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  5. The instrumental side is just top notch. This is not in small part to the collaboration with the Goners and Sonny Landreth, whose guitar playing – especially the slides – gives the songs a good dynamic. Superb blues and rock ‘n’ roll with a touch of country. The best song for me is the title track “Slow Turning”.

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  6. You’re on a roll today: another of my favourites! I bought many of them at the time and have the full set in my Apple Music library. My favourite is Perfectly Good Guitar, a masterpiece of an album. And check out his song Crossing Muddy Waters, about his estranged wife’s suicide, and the impeccable cover by I’m With Her.

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    1. Glad you like it Clive! Perfectly Good Guitar is a great album…I covered that title track a few years ago. I will check out Crossing Muddy Waters….that sounds right up his alley.

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  7. That’s not bad at all! A lot more lively than I somehow expected him to be. Never heard it on radio though, which is a shame because it’s better than some of that year’s hits

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    1. It was practically wore out here… again it was a region thing I guess. That’s why I’m surprised that many people don’t know it today.

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      1. even though in a way that’s a drag, it is sort of nice that there still was a regional kind of variation back then, not 1 I-heart, 1-playlist, 1-world’ kind of thing!

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      2. I’ll never forget it…any song with Charlie Watts…you will remember. Yea it’s good that it’s not worn out I agree. I didn’t know he wrote Angel Eyes until a little while back.

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      3. Wow. Had to look up the song, I expected it wasn’t Roxy Music’s ‘Angel eyes’ but I also thought Healey had written his song. And weird- Hiatt and Greg Latanyi wrote it…Latanyi collaborated with Waddy Wachtel on The Church album ‘Starfish’. Small world at times!

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  8. I understand why it was a regional hit. He’s another one who hasn’t broken through to the masses. If it woulda been put out by say, a prime Cougar/Mellencamp it would have been sliding up near the top of the charts.

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    1. Yes it would have been. I thought everyone knew this song….it was his highest charting…but since blogging…I’ve learned a lot of what I thought were hits…were not…of course that doesn’t make it bad.

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    1. Thank goodness you actually know the song! Many people don’t which surprised me…it was played here to death…Yea I like a lot of his songs…and the one you put on your Sunday 6 pack for me…Window on the World.

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  10. Pingback: John Hiatt – Slow Turning – MobsterTiger

      1. Yeah, I had all his albums from Bring The Family up until a couple after Crossing Muddy Waters. Then I kind of lost track. I should check out his more recent stuff.

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      2. You know my favorite song by him is a song called Window on the World….something about that song just grabs me.

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      4. Dave said something as well…I heard Cray on the radio a lot in the 80s…but it just stopped….he was one of the top guitar players from that era.

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      5. He’s recorded at least twelve albums, but “Strong Persuader” and “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” are the only two that got a lot of attention. I have no explanation…

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      6. It’s a shame…him and SRV were the two that always comes to mind in the 80s as far as blues and great playing.

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  15. I was a big fan before this came out. It just made me a bigger one. The word play is right up my alley. Another name drop for you to dig with the Watt’s reference. I can see that scene playing out in the back seat. Fantastic writing and great music to accompany it. I feel a little connection with this one.

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