Tag: bee charmer

Radney Foster – Just Call Me Lonesome

I was talking to my friend Ron, and he mentioned a country duo in the 80s called Foster and Lloyd. This aligns with Dwight Yoakam and the new sound that was coming at the time. The Nashville establishment didn’t like this because it wasn’t pop with a country accent…it had its roots in older country music. Nashville loves to eat its own at times, but that has changed some through the years. 

Radney is from Del Rio, Texas, and started to play guitar and write songs at 12. Later on, he moved to Nashville to start a career in music after college. He became the staff songwriter at MTM Publishing Company in 1985, where he met Bill Lloyd.

The duo formed Foster & Lloyd and signed with RCA Records Nashville in 1986. They had 4 top ten hits on the Billboard Country Charts and were also successful on the Canadian Country Charts. Their first song Crazy Over You peaked at #4, and their second single, Sure Thing, peaked at #8 on the Billboard Country Charts and Canadian Country Charts in 1987. 

​This song was after they broke up, and Radney released it in 1992, and it was very successful. It peaked at #10 on the Billboard Country Charts in 1992 and also at #54 on the Canadian Country Charts. It was on his album Del Rio, TX 1959. 

Foster & Lloyd did reunite in 2011 and released an album called It’s Already Tomorrow. 

Just Call Me Lonesome

Just call me lonesomeHeartbroke and then some‘Cause I ain’t got no oneSince you’ve been goneYou called me babyNow I’ve got a new nameDon’t need my old oneCall me lonesome from now on

You used to call me, your one and onlyBut now you only call me someone you once knewYou were my angel, before some strangerStole your heart and stole my world when he stole you

Just call me lonesomeHeartbroke and then some‘Cause I ain’t got no oneSince you’ve been goneYou called me babyNow I’ve got a new nameDon’t need my old oneCall me lonesome from now on

I see you with him, and fall apart againRemembering when I was the only man you neededWe said forever, We’d be togetherHe came between us and now forever lies in pieces

Don’t need my old oneCall me lonesome from now on

Howard Jones – No One Is To Blame

You can feel the punishment, but you can’t commit the sin

You can probably count how many 80s ballads I like on one hand but… I liked this ballad when I heard it in the mid-80s. I could relate to it at the time and still can. The song was a hit, but Jones got a chilly reception from his American record company. He was told “I think it’s a B side” by an executive. It taught Jones to listen to himself and not the higher-ups.

There were two versions of this song. The original one was stripped down but the second had Phil Collins drumming and doing backups. I think it was a requirement in the 1980s to have Phil Collins on your record. This song was his biggest hit in the United States.

The song peaked at #4 on the Billboard 100, #12 in Canada, and #16 in the UK Charts in 1986. Howard Jones had 5 top twenty songs and 2 top ten songs in the 1980s. Altogether he had 11 songs in the top 100.

Howard Jones: “Well, I think we can all relate to the main theme of the song. But I was in San Francisco, and I was doing a promotion with the local record company guy, and we were crossing the street to go to the radio station, and he said to me, ‘Howard, what do you think of all the amazing women here in San Francisco?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, they’re great, they’re fantastic.’ And he said, ‘Well, you can look at the menu, but you don’t have to eat.’ And I’ve never actually heard anybody say that before. And so that was it, a good spark for a huge idea coming for a song.”

Howard Jones: “It was originally on the Dream Into Action album, and it’s quite stripped down. And I always thought I could probably get more out of the song. It was suggested I work with Phil, and I’d worked with Phil on the Prince’s Trust concerts here in England. And I’ve been in a band and so I knew Phil. So it was really great working with him. But I’ll tell you what, the fans all like the original version best.” I think it’s because it’s less slick and it’s got more emotion in it. Personally, I prefer the Phil Collins version. But I understand why they like the first one. On this tour when we’re playing the song, I play the original version. I don’t do the second one.”

The original version

No One Is To Blame

You can look at the menu, but you just can’t eat
You can feel the cushion, but you can’t have a seat
You can dip your foot in the pool, but you can’t have a swim
You can feel the punishment, but you can’t commit the sin

And you want her, and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame
You can build a mansion, but you just can’t live in it
You’re the fastest runner but you’re not allowed to win
Some break the rules, and let you cut the cost
The insecurity is the thing that won’t get lost

And you want her, and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame

You can see the summit but you can’t reach it
It’s the last piece of the puzzle but you just can’t make it fit
Doctor says you’re cured but you still feel the pain
Aspirations in the clouds but your hopes go down the drain

And you want her, and she wants you
We want everyone
And you want her and she wants you
No one, no one, no one ever is to blame

No one ever is to blame
No one ever is to blame