Another ID this song thread...

I heard it for the first time in years this afternoon.

Slow, sad song. Woman singing with a slightly plaintive but otherwise not particularly remarkable voice. Soft instrumental accompaniment. Perhaps a piano or gently strummed guitar. There could be some discreet strings in the background, too.

It was never a huge hit but it got some decent airplay if I remember correctly. I’d say it dates from the late 80s but it could be a bit earlier. Early 90s would be a stretch but I wouldn’t rule it out. Probably not later than 1993, though.

Chorus : “They say… I don’t care about what they say…” are the only words I remember.

If you’re misremembering the words it might be:

Stay, by Lisa Loeb.

Not Lisa Loeb, but thanks.

Dammit.

Smokey Robinson? I Don’t Care What They Say?

Nope. It’s a female singer.

It has a sort smokey jazz-lite vibe. Actually, it’s kind of reminiscent of Goerge Michael’s Kissing a Fool except it’s even slower.

Erm… George Michael :rolleyes:

Of course I’m hearing Sade as I read this description, but I don’t recall any of her songs to be even vaguely lyrically like the one you recall.

What genre?

It’s not Sade but it’s pretty close in terms of genre. The singer’s voice is much less distinctive than Sade’s, though. Nice but unremarkable.

As far as genre is concerned, as I said above, it’s kind of soft, jazzy-pop. Like Sam Brown’s Stop but paired down and much less dramatic vocally.

I get virtually nothing from before 2000 when googling those lyrics except the aforementioned Smokey Robinson tune and a Social Distortion song from 1996 called Angel’s Wings.

Me neither.

I’m starting to believe I misunderstood the only line I remember. I was in a rather noisy place when I heard it this afternoon but I was sure to remember that very line from back in the day…

OK, I’ve found it. No wonder you couldn’t help me, it was a minor hit in Belgium around 1985 :smiley: .

Viktor Lazlo - Backdoor Man. The passage I remembered is at 0:47 and again at 2:06.

Thanks.

Enya?
Clannad?

I’m trying to think of late 80’s solo female singers who didn’t get a lot of airplay.

Sarah McLachlan?
10,000 Maniacs?

I’m very glad you found this because it saved me from doing a lot of work; this would have taken me a while to come up with, I’m guessing.

Good job!

One hears a great deal about Victor Laszlo…

Indeed, that’s where she got her stage name from.

The funny thing is, I thought of her immediately but dismissed the possibility just as quickly because it didn’t fit any of the couple hits from her that I remembered.

Canoë Rose ? No, that’s in French.
Pleurer des rivières ? A cover of Cry me a River but again, in French.
Breathless ? Nope.
Backdoor Man ? This is getting silly, I’ve never heard of that song… Let’s give it a try juuuuuuust to be sure… Aw, it’s vaguely familiar after all but it’s not quite… HOLY **** THAT’S IT :eek: .

I remember her. She also had some hits in Germany in the 80s, in a time when this kind of lounge jazz-pop with new wave touches was popular. She even had a duet with Stefan Waggershausen, a German songwriter (who never really could decide if he was a folkie, a rocksinger or a singer of Schlager) who also never really broke trough, but had a little success of his own and some more with duets with female Euro singers, like this one with Italian Alice.

PS: I didn’t know this particular song, but after reading the title I wanted it to be a Howlin’ Wolf cover. Well, the men don’t know, but little girls understand…

But, why? (I would’ve chosen Ugarte, if anything).

This is a very difficult one, even though everyone knows the song.

Years ago, the NYS museum had an exhibit on baseball with a film. At the end of the film, they played someone’s rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.”

Only it was off.

Instead of the first two lines being “Take me out to the ballgame/take me out with the crowd,” they were “Me out to the ballgame take/Me out with the crowd buy.” In other words, the words were sung one note too early: “me” was sung as the first note, “out” as the second, etc.

It struck me as incredibly difficult to sing the song that way – if you try it, you end up matching things up to the way it’s supposed to be sung.

It was a male singer, with a simple arrangement (not many instruments).

Any ideas?

Oh that’s funny, I’ve definitely heard that version too–though I don’t associate it with one particular singer (and I definitely never went to a baseball exhibit. I’ve actually never been to a baseball game!).

I did find this 1988 recording, but it’s a group accompanied by… a ukulele, I think? Still, it sounds old-timey so it’s possible it could’ve been used for an exhibit.