Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDLVII--Paul Young: What Becomes of the Broken Hearted

In which emaycee loses what little credibility he has to write about music by admitting that he likes the Paul Young version of this week's tune better than Jimmy Ruffin's original Motown version.  The horror!

Paul Young had a brief mention just a few months ago in Friday Night Jukebox (Vol. CDXLII) for his cover version of Hall and Oates' blue-eyed soul classic "Everytime You Go Away."  Young was born in 1956 in Luton, England and began performing in bands while still in school.  He performed as a bass guitarist with three bands (Kat Kool and the Kool Kats, Streetband, with whom he had a minor hit in the U.K., and Q-Tips) before starting a solo career in 1982.  Relying on a knack for recording catchy versions of old soul hits, his first two solo albums went to number one in the U.K., and his next two reached number four.  Young's solo commercial success slowed considerably after that, but by then he'd had enough hits to stay on oldies tours forever.  For his career, Young has released ten studio albums, fifteen compilations, four box sets, and thirty-seven singles.  Young formed a Tex-Mex band called Los Pacaminos in 1992 that released two albums and released his tenth solo studio album just this year.

Fun Fact:  Young sang the opening lines of Band Aid's single for Ethiopian famine relief "Do They Know It's Christmas?" because David Bowie was unable to participate.  Talk about big shoes to fill!  Bowie would later sing the lines at Live Aid.

Paul Young's version of "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" was originally released on the soundtrack to the movie Fried Green Tomatoes.  The single would reach #22 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100; the album did not chart.  Needless to say, the song does show up on a number of Young's compilation packages.

As my regular readers know (all three of you), emaycee is a big fan of blue-eyed soul which would seem to make Paul Young a natural for me.  Alas, no--many of Young's songs waste his wonderful voice with over production, especially on his soul cover versions (with the notable exception of "Everytime You Go Away").  But for whatever reason (his getting older? the eighties being over?), "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" doesn't suffer from the usual fate (too much), and Young delivers an impassioned plea for all of those who are unlucky in love.  His vocals pretty much carry the day--there's a nice sax solo, but it's mostly Young's velvety voice that captures the pain of a lost love and the hope for another.  His impromptu vocal riffs on the lyrics at the end brings it home.  God knows there have been plenty of songs about broken hearts--with this one, Young adds a good one to their pantheon.  And for those wondering just what does become of the broken hearted?  Why they carry one looking for a new love, of course....

Lyric Sheet:  "I'll be searching everywhere/Just to find someone who cares/I'll be looking every day/I know I'm gonna find a way..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, CDXLII--Hall and Oates: Everytime You Go Away

 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