Hey there Dialophiles,
thanks for tuning to the ever lovin' Radio Dial!
What say we kick off the weekend with an upbeat pop ditty courtesy of songstress Melissa Manchester? Allow us to present 1982’s under appreciated top 10 smash “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”!
“She’s so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she’s on your mind…”
A cover of a relatively obscure album track by Charlie Dore (who charted in 1980 with “Pilot of The Airwaves” – see my review from March 2012), “You Should…” was the biggest hit single extracted from Melissa’s “Hey Ricky” LP, peaking at US #5 in September of 1982. It also went on to earn her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance the following year.
A serious departure from the adult contemporary ballads she was known for (‘75’s “Midnight Blue” and ‘78’s “Don’t Cry out Loud” being the best examples), “You Should…” bears a curious new wave-meets-Broadway stamp, and has a bubble-gum style chorus that instantly catches the ear and won’t let go.
Reportedly inspired by the theme of the Beatles classic “She Loves You”, “You Should…” introduces the listener to a female protagonist who is telling a male friend of his secret admirer, until she spills the beans that the secret admirer is actually herself.
“Aww, can’t you see it? Don’t you think she’s feeling the same? Aww, I guarantee it, she’s the one who’s calling your name.”
I remember having a discussion with a friend back in the '90s about a line in the second verse. I maintained that the line is…
“She’s been talkin’ sweet and it’s on the street, how the girl’s been spreadin’ the word.”
My friend claimed the line actually was… “how our girlfriend’s spreading the word”.
Her argument was that “girlfriend” is sometimes used in a casual fashion to mean a platonic female friend, (as in “Heyyyy girlfriend!”) but personally, I didn’t hear the word used that way until the early nineties, when we were having this disagreement, about a full decade after the song was released. Maybe the part of Maryland that I called home lagged behind in adoption of slang terms, but I don’t really think so.
Despite the fact that seven out of ten lyrics websites agree with my friend’s interpretation, I still just don’t hear the line as “Girlfriend”. I distinctly hear a “B” sound after the word “girl”, which supports my theory. Unfortunately I don’t have the original LP to check the liner notes, so unless Miss Manchester sees this post and reaches out to offer clarification (please?), the Dial’s official position is that the line is… “How the girl’s been spreadin’ the word.” So there.
“Talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk TALK… cant’cha see? (cant’cha see?) It’s me! OOOH! What she said, what she said!”
"You Should” was another one of those songs that that I stayed up late in order to try and tape off the radio back in the 90s, when my nostalgia for early 80s pop was reaching its peak.
Of course, in the pre-internet era, you couldn’t just log onto to your favorite music program (I’m a Rhapsody man, myself), and get a perfect copy of the track you want immediately. Back in those days, if you didn’t have the money to buy every single or LP you wanted (and I sure as heck didn’t), you had to hunt your music on the wild frontier of the airwaves, fingers poised over the record button on your stereo or boombox, in hopes to capture a song that’s sparked your memory, or lodged in your mind. Sure, the recording may not have been the greatest quality, and sometimes you had to wait days or even weeks to get the song you wanted (especially if it was an older song that was rarely played), but MAN, what a great rush when you finally bagged it!
So give Melissa’s expertly crafted top 5 smash a spin, and make sure to tell your friends all about the Radio Dial blog. Maybe we’ll hear how you talk about US someday!!!
“You should hear how she talks about you, you should hear what she says. She says she would be lost with you, she’s half out of her head (out of her head).”
What say we kick off the weekend with an upbeat pop ditty courtesy of songstress Melissa Manchester? Allow us to present 1982’s under appreciated top 10 smash “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”!
“She’s so very nice, you should break the ice, let her know that she’s on your mind…”
A cover of a relatively obscure album track by Charlie Dore (who charted in 1980 with “Pilot of The Airwaves” – see my review from March 2012), “You Should…” was the biggest hit single extracted from Melissa’s “Hey Ricky” LP, peaking at US #5 in September of 1982. It also went on to earn her a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance the following year.
A serious departure from the adult contemporary ballads she was known for (‘75’s “Midnight Blue” and ‘78’s “Don’t Cry out Loud” being the best examples), “You Should…” bears a curious new wave-meets-Broadway stamp, and has a bubble-gum style chorus that instantly catches the ear and won’t let go.
Reportedly inspired by the theme of the Beatles classic “She Loves You”, “You Should…” introduces the listener to a female protagonist who is telling a male friend of his secret admirer, until she spills the beans that the secret admirer is actually herself.
“Aww, can’t you see it? Don’t you think she’s feeling the same? Aww, I guarantee it, she’s the one who’s calling your name.”
I remember having a discussion with a friend back in the '90s about a line in the second verse. I maintained that the line is…
“She’s been talkin’ sweet and it’s on the street, how the girl’s been spreadin’ the word.”
My friend claimed the line actually was… “how our girlfriend’s spreading the word”.
Her argument was that “girlfriend” is sometimes used in a casual fashion to mean a platonic female friend, (as in “Heyyyy girlfriend!”) but personally, I didn’t hear the word used that way until the early nineties, when we were having this disagreement, about a full decade after the song was released. Maybe the part of Maryland that I called home lagged behind in adoption of slang terms, but I don’t really think so.
Despite the fact that seven out of ten lyrics websites agree with my friend’s interpretation, I still just don’t hear the line as “Girlfriend”. I distinctly hear a “B” sound after the word “girl”, which supports my theory. Unfortunately I don’t have the original LP to check the liner notes, so unless Miss Manchester sees this post and reaches out to offer clarification (please?), the Dial’s official position is that the line is… “How the girl’s been spreadin’ the word.” So there.
“Talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk TALK… cant’cha see? (cant’cha see?) It’s me! OOOH! What she said, what she said!”
"You Should” was another one of those songs that that I stayed up late in order to try and tape off the radio back in the 90s, when my nostalgia for early 80s pop was reaching its peak.
Of course, in the pre-internet era, you couldn’t just log onto to your favorite music program (I’m a Rhapsody man, myself), and get a perfect copy of the track you want immediately. Back in those days, if you didn’t have the money to buy every single or LP you wanted (and I sure as heck didn’t), you had to hunt your music on the wild frontier of the airwaves, fingers poised over the record button on your stereo or boombox, in hopes to capture a song that’s sparked your memory, or lodged in your mind. Sure, the recording may not have been the greatest quality, and sometimes you had to wait days or even weeks to get the song you wanted (especially if it was an older song that was rarely played), but MAN, what a great rush when you finally bagged it!
So give Melissa’s expertly crafted top 5 smash a spin, and make sure to tell your friends all about the Radio Dial blog. Maybe we’ll hear how you talk about US someday!!!
“You should hear how she talks about you, you should hear what she says. She says she would be lost with you, she’s half out of her head (out of her head).”
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