Tag: Paul Carrack

Paul Carrack – I Need You

You know, some singers’ voices are made for great soul/pop, and Paul has one of those voices. I’ve just rediscovered this song that I have been trying to remember for years. When I heard that bass intro, I knew I hit the right one. This is the one that I have been trying to remember since the 1980s.

Paul Carrack is one of those musicians whose career reveals a series of classic moments in pop and rock history. How Long with Ace. Tempted with Squeeze. The Living Years with Mike + the Mechanics. And in between all that, he made a great power-pop-soul album of the early ’80s: Suburban Voodoo. One reviewer called it “a Nick Lowe album with Carrack singing,” and that is not a bad thing! He and Paul Rodgers get the call when an artist needs a special vocalist.

This song is from that album. Carrack hits the pop-soul sweet spot. It was produced by Nick Lowe; it has that Nick Lowe tight rhythm section, jangly guitars, and Lowe’s knack for making a record sound both edgy and polished. Carrack, for his part, gives a vocal performance that makes you wonder why the song wasn’t all over the charts in the early ’80s. It was written by Paul Carrack, Nick Lowe, and Martin Belmont.

The music was supplied by Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit. It included Lowe on bass, Martin Belmont on guitar, Bobby Irwin on drums, and of course, Paul Carrack on keyboards and lead vocals. The contrast on this album works well. You have Nick Lowe still bringing a little pub rock influence along, backed with Carrack’s smooth voice.

The song peaked at #37 on the Billboard 100 and #20 on the US Rock Mainstream Charts. The album peaked at #78 on the Billboard Album Charts in 1982.

I Need You

Don’t need a RollerOr a LimousineI don’t need my pictureIn a magazineDon’t need approvalFrom a chosen fewI tell you what I do needI need you.

Don’t need no fixturesOr feelings of homeI’m so unfurnishedI’m on my ownDon’t need remindingWhen the rent is dueTell you what I do needI need you

I need youLike a fly needs a planeI need youLike a ball needs a gameI need youLike a pool needs a cueI need you, need you, need youI need you

I don’t need no covered kissesTo comfort meI don’t want no washed up dishesSoft-soaping meDon’t need no CinderellaIn high-heeled shoesI tell you what I do needI need you

Da da da daDa da da daDa da da da da da da daOoh lala la laI need you

I need youLike a fly needs a planeI need youLike a ball needs a gameI need youLike a shot needs to shootI need you, need you, need youI need you

I need you, need you, need youI need you

Said I want youI need youI need you, need you, need youI need youWell I wantI want youI need you

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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