Regular readers (both of you) will remember that I am a big fan of blue-eyed soul (Boz Scaggs, early Rod Stewart, Greg Allman, Van Morrison before he turned into a covidiot), and this week's featured tune is as exquisite of an example of a blue-eyed soul song as one will find. Quintessential, in a word....
I wrote about Hall and Oates in Jukebox XXI (eight--eight!--years ago), and while my first posts didn't do an artist bio, per se, I think I covered enough of their highlights that another one would be superfluous. However, I would be remiss if I didn't note that Hall and Oates have had two tours since that post, and have started writing songs for a new album, though its recording and release remain in flux.
Fun Fact: Hall and Oates hate to be called "Hall and Oates." The band's official name is Daryl Hall & John Oates, as they consider themselves to be two separate artists and not a conventional duo. You'll note how much I give a shit as I repeatedly refer to them as "Hall and Oates."
"Everytime You Go Away" was released on their commercial breakthrough album Voices in 1980. Hall and Oates never released (oh, they should have!) it as a single, but British crooner Paul Young took it to #1 in America and #4 in his native U.K. in 1985 (while Young's version is serviceable, it doesn't hold a candle to Hall and Oates' original). The album hit #17 on the Billboard 200, though (just to show you the tricks the mind plays) I would have sworn it was a #1 album based on its ubiquity.
While I have listened to "Everytime You Go Away" numerous times through the years, because of time and tide it had been a while since I last heard it...but I was surprised, as I closed my eyes and sang along as I did my half-assed research for this post, that I remembered every lyric and all the nuances of Hall's vocals. Opening with an extended guitar solo from John Oates that echoes the yearning in Hall's vocals to come, the song details a love on the brink and the longing and heartache that come with separation. Hall's vocals are a master class in soul serenading as he musters all the love and loneliness that the relationship has wrought. And the song's close--the back and forth between the backing vocals and Hall's lovelorn scatting--my God, it's like dancing euphorically through Shangri-La. It's been forty-three years since I first heard it, and it still sounds just as fresh, just as infectious, as ever. A classic.
Lyric Sheet: "Babe, if we can't solve any problems/Why do we lose so many tears/Whoa, so you go again/When the leading man appears..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
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