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John Waite - Change

John Waite - Change Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: Ignition
Released: 1982

Change Lyrics

People talking
And they're saying that you're leaving
So unhappy
With the way that you've been living

Oh oh oh
We always wish for money
We always wish for fame
We think we have the answers

Some things ain't ever gonna Change (change)
It doesn't matter who you are
It's all the same (change)
What's in your heart will never change

Look in the mirror
And you see how you've been taken
You won't surrender
But now your heart is breakin'

Oh oh oh
We always wish for money
We always wish for fame
We think we have the answers

Some things ain't ever gonna change (change)
It doesn't matter who you are
It's all the same (change)
What's in your heart will never change

Do you remember
When you got your lucky break
You're looking back now
And it seems like a mistake

Oh oh oh
We always wish for money
We always wish for fame
We think we have the answers

Some things ain't ever gonna change (change)
It doesn't matter who you are
It's all the same (change)
What's in your heart will never change

It's only change (change)
It doesn't matter who you are
It's all the same (change)
What's in your heart will never change

It doesn't matter who you are
It's all the same (change)
What's in your heart will stay the same
It doesn't matter who you are

It's all the same (what¹s in your heart)
It's only
It's only
It's only change

Never (it doesn't matter)
You ain't gonna
You ain't gonna change (what's in your heart)
You ain't gonna change

Doesn't matter who you are

Writer/s: ANTHONY LOVATO
Publisher: Peermusic Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group, SONGS MUSIC PUBLISHING
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Change

This song was originally recorded by the band Spider, which featured future David Letterman Show band member Anton Fig on drums and Holly Knight on keyboards. The song was written by Knight, who went on to co-write many hits, including "The Best," (Tina Turner) "Rag Doll" (Aerosmith) and "Obsession" (Animotion).

The song first appeared on Spider's second (and last) album, Between The Lines, which was released in 1981 on Mike Chapman's Dreamland Records. Knight told us the story behind "Change": "I was thinking how important it was to keep things real when success starting happening for us. I had seen several musicians let the fame and success go to their head and I thought that all those things shouldn't really change a person because what's inside of you should remain the same. I think I've lived my life by that notion."

This song was pitched to John Waite, who released it as the first single from his 1982 debut solo album, Ignition. Waite recorded the song because he liked the message, it fit his sound, and he thought it had lots of hit potential. Waite was going through a huge transformation at the time: his band The Babys had broken up and he had gotten married. Work on his solo album took him to New York City, where he was away from his wife and his home as he navigated the record industry as a solo act. It was rough waters, as the album - and this single - underperformed (Ignition peaked at #68 in the US and didn't chart at all in the UK). Waite blamed his record company, Chrysalis, for failing to promote the song, and extricated himself from his contract to sign with EMI for his next album. He was vindicated when that next album, No Brakes, produced the hit "Missing You," while "Change" became a fan favorite and found a home on many radio stations' playlists.

This didn't chart when Waite first released the song, but when it was used in the movie Vision Quest, it was re-released and made #54 in America. The soundtrack also featured the #1 Madonna hit "Crazy For You."

The Spider album where this song first appeared contains another song that would also become a hit for another artist: "Better Be Good To Me," which was later a hit for Tina Turner. Holly Knight also wrote that one, this time with help from Spider's producer Mike Chapman.

John Waite changed a few of the verse lyrics from the original version of the song and slowed down the tempo a bit. Holly Knight, who wrote the song, told us: "I have to say that I much prefer John's version. It's much more guitar driven and I love his vocals."

Neil Giraldo, who is Pat Benatar's guitarist, husband and producer, produced this track. Little did he know that the woman who wrote it would provide his wife's most popular song: the next year, Benatar recorded "Love Is A Battlefield," which was also written by Holly Knight.

There's another Knight hit-recipient on "Change" as well: Patty Smyth did the the backup vocals on the track. With her band Scandal, Smyth had a hit with Knight's song "The Warrior" in 1984. Says Knight: "That's six degrees of separation working it's magic right there."

Waite made a video for this song, which was directed by Kort Falkenberg III, who also did Billy Idol's "Hot In the City" clip and Waite's "Missing You." MTV had been on the air for less than a year when the video showed up in their offices. They were craving videos from American Rock musicians, as that's how they envisioned their format, but these were very hard to come by at the time. Waite is British, but he sounds American and the video was very USA - it was shot in Los Angeles with a California model/actress as the female lead. In our interview with John Waite , he said: "'Change' was a brilliant video. Way ahead of its time. We were getting like 10 spins a day on MTV because nobody was making videos. And we'd gone in and made a work of art, really."

The video follows a woman whose star has fallen and is trapped in a cycle of bad decisions. Lines of cocaine (actually powered sugar) appear on a mirror over the lyrics, "Look in the mirror and see how you've been taken." MTV had a problem with this, but the clip's director Kort Falkenberg III called them to explain that the video is actually anti-drug, as Waite is seen knocking over the cocaine-laden mirror and the woman meets her demise in the end when she jumps off the building.

The woman in the video is Tina Gullickson, who joined Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band as a backup singer in 1995.

John Waite - Missing You

John Waite - Missing You Lyrics and Youtube Music Videos

Album: No Brakes
Released: 1984

Missing You Lyrics

Everytime I think of you, I always catch my breath
And I'm still standing here, and you're miles away
And I'm wonderin' why you left
And there's a storm that's raging through my frozen heart tonight

I hear your name in certain circles, and it always makes me smile
I spend my time thinkin' about you, and it's almost driving me wild
And there's a heart that's breaking down this long distance line tonight

I ain't Missing You at all since you've been gone away
I ain't missing you, no matter what I might say

There's a message in the wire, and I'm sending you this signal tonight
You don't know how desperate I've become
And it looks like I'm losing this fight
In your world I have no meaning, though I'm trying hard to understand
And it's my heart that's breaking down this long distance line tonight

[Chorus]
I ain't missing you at all since you've been gone away
I ain't missing you, no matter what my friends say

And there's a message that I'm sending out, like a telegraph to your soul
And if I can't bridge this distance, stop this heartbreak overload

[Chorus]

I ain't missing you, I ain't missing you, I can lie to myself

And there's a storm that's raging through my frozen heart tonight

[Chorus]

Ain't missing you, I ain't missing you
I ain't missing you, I can lie to myself
Ain't missing you, I ain't missing you
I ain't missing you, I ain't missing you
I ain't missing you, I ain't missing you, ain't missing you, oh no
No matter what my friends might say, I ain't missing you...

Writer/s: SANDFORD, CHAS / LEONARD, MARK / WAITE, JOHN CHARLES
Publisher: Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC, BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Missing You

This song came at a very emotional time for Waite, who lays down his burdens in his sentimental lyrics and passionate vocal performance. In our interview with John Waite, he explained that the song was about a phone call.

Waite got married in his native England before moving to New York, where he recorded his first solo album, Ignition, which was released in 1984. The album was a disappointment, and after some squabbles with his record company (Chrysalis), he returned to England and settled into married life. After extricating from his contract, he signed a new deal with EMI and returned to New York, leaving his wife behind while he made his second album, No Brakes.

"My wife was a long way away," Waite told us. "There were quite a few women in my life at the time, and it all came sort of floating to the top."

Waite's feelings poured out of him in the song - on one level, he missed his wife dearly, but on a more superficial plane he didn't miss her at all, which is what he sang on the refrain: "I ain't missing you at all."

The song encapsulates the disconsolation that comes with long distance love. Waite and his wife would later divorce.

The songwriters Mark Leonard and Charles Sandford wrote the music for this song. Sandford also wrote the Stevie Nicks hit "Talk To Me" and co-wrote "What Kind Of Man Would I Be?" for Chicago. Leonard wrote the music for the 1986 movie Back To School, and also co-wrote "Let Me Be The One," which was recorded by Terri Nunn.

One of the more memorable parts of this song happened spontaneously. Says Waite: "I had no idea I was going to sing, 'Missing you, since you've been gone away, I ain't missing you no matter what my friends say.' I had no idea I was going to sing that, and when it came out, it floored me. I stood back from the mic, and I thought, 'F--k it. Number 1.' I just knew. I just knew in my heart that it was that good."

Tina Turner took this song to #12 in the UK when she recorded it on her 1996 album Wildest Dreams. Around the same time, the soul singer Millie Jackson also recorded the song, but Turner released her version first. Jackson told us: "I recorded 'Missing You' And I was all excited about it, it was gonna be my next single, and the guys at Muscle Shoals said, 'Boy you got the song out quick! I heard it at a truck stop.' And I'm trying to figure out how in the world did they hear my song at a truck stop when it won't be out for two weeks. And of course it was Tina Turner and we had to pull the single and come back with a different one."

John Waite was the lead singer of a group called the Babys, whose 1978 song "Every Time I Think Of You" reached #13 in the US. Waite cribbed a lyric from that song (which was written by the songwriters Jack Conrad and Ray Kennedy) to get him started on "Missing You." Compare the opening lyrics to these songs:

"Every Time I Think Of You" - "Every time I think of you, it always turns out good."
"Missing You" - "Every time I think of you, I always catch my breath."

Once he had the first line, the rest of the lyrics flowed downhill, and the rest of it was written in about 10 minutes. Waite told us: "I sang the whole first verse, bridge, and chorus without stopping. Then I had to stop, I was so overwhelmed. I stood back from the mic and I couldn't speak. Then I just rolled the tape again and got on with it."

Some of the symbolism in this song was inspired by Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" and Free's "Catch A Train." Both songs depict lonely scenarios far from a loved one.

The song was a last-minute addition to the album, but Waite had no trouble convincing his crew that it needed to be on the tracklist. "I took the tape down to the guys in the studio who were mixing, thinking the record was finished, and I knew it wasn't, since we didn't have 'Missing You,' he told us. "I played it in the control room and everybody stopped talking. It had that effect on people from the word go. It was one of those songs that defined a decade, really. It was one of the biggest. I think it's been played about 9, 10 million times on American radio - it's a huge thing."

The video was in hot rotation on MTV, which helped the song climb to #1 in the US. In the clip, Waite gives a tortured performance, but what he was feeling at the time was more anxiety than heartbreak. "You can tell how shy I was at the time," he told us. "I'm trying to sing this song and sort of look at the camera and then not look at the camera. I'm embarrassed, you know. I mean, it's okay being on stage, because you're in some sort of persona. But being filmed was a new experience for me on that level. I suppose it was kind of charming. But there was a million places I would rather be than being filmed at that point in my life."

Kort Falkenberg III, who also did Waite's video for "Change," directed the clip. It was shot in downtown Los Angeles near Pershing Square. "The biggest thing I remember about 'Missing You' is that the night before I went down to Let It Rock, which was a clothes store on Melrose Avenue," said Waite. "I bought a Johnson suit, this black two-piece suit from London that was a beautiful suit. Tiny. I was very thin at the time. And then I went and had all my hair shaved off. I thought, 'If I'm going to do this, I'm going to go in whole hog, you know. I'm just going to do it flat out European.'

I showed up with a black suit and a crew cut, and it worked. I do everything on instinct, basically, and half of the time it's a bullseye."

Waite performed this on the short-lived ABC TV series Paper Dolls in 1984.