Now Playing: You Call Me
An audiocard from the Vivid Stage.
Play this song:
Salacious, steamy abandon. The Postman Only Rings Twice. Body Heat. For those on fragile footing, … here be monsters.
Some creations find their form in a day or week, others can take decades. Words, notes, paint, iron, and other elements of the creators’ periodic table can be generously compliant or vexingly resistant, and then suddenly bow to the artist’s tortured intentions.
The piano part and original lyrics for You Call Me were written and recorded to 4-track cassette some 40 years ago in my home studio in Southern California. And then it sat on the shelf until David and I started working on the Lights Up on the Vivid Stage EP 2 years ago. He redid the piano and brought in his Melbourne wrecking crew - Jono Wright on drums and Rob Egglestone on guitar - to fill out the rhythm and lead parts. Anne Green (violin) and Martin Baudu (cello) added the strings, recorded by Christopher Maraz-Mata at Studio Aix, just up the street from my apartment. It was sounding promising, but still deserved a bigger, more carnal bombast. Cue guitar wiz Jon Fellowes, whose loose and lewd final track liberated that bawdy sound ringing in my head those many years ago. Russell Cottier produced the song. (Best appreciated at high volume.)
you call me in the morning when he’s gone
you call me in the evening when he don’t come home
when you realize that mister right was wrong
I’ll get you right, I’ll turn you on
all night long
you call me in the middle of the night
you call me whenever the mood is right
you call me when that itch becomes an urge
I got so much love for you, I can splurge
I'll give you a surge
well he
will buy you anything
that shuts you up at night
are you ready to be tamed
or do you want to scream
cause I want to hear you scream
scream with me
you call me when there is no play to see
you call me when there’s nothing on TV
you call me when you got nowhere to go
we’ll have ourselves a little picture show
you can have the leading role
you call me when his promises turn to lies
you call me when you have no more tears to cry
when it’s love that you need and his has gone bye bye bye
when you need love to get you high
Words & Music by Bill Magill ©