Bradley's Buzz

bu95 Anne Murray – Fall In Love Again
October 2007

Okay, if you’re done laughing now maybe we can talk a little about this Canadian gym teacher/singer. First let me say anything she sings takes me way back to when I was a kid and my parents had an 8 track player in their old Chevelle. They only had a few 8-tracks and I hadn’t yet been able to swing the whole thing of buying my own music so there were limited things I was able to listen to. Of course I had the Grease soundtrack, but that was the only thing I owned, as for my ‘rents they had a few 8-tracks including Dolly Parton’s Dolly Dolly Dolly which I have since discovered was the Leivas’ favorite Dolly album and of course it became a bubbatune (see bub69). They also had Crystal Gayle’s When I Dream which was the inspiration for bub64 Crystalized, and they had Anne Murray’s Let’s Keep It That Way from 1978 which included Anne’s most recognizable ditty “You Needed Me.”

So when I hear the salty saccharine of Anne’s voice it takes me way back to that time. My parents also listened to country music all through my childhood and anyone who grew up listening to country in the early 80’s knows that country and pop kind of meshed for a few years with people like Juice Newton crossing both charts, and one other person who seemed to be a mainstay on both country and pop throughout the 80’s was little Miss Anne Murray.

First of all, I will admit you may have to be in a certain mood to listen to our compilation Fall In Love Again, but then again that may be said about most of our Bubbatunes. Secondly, I will admit that I do love Anne Murray’s voice. She isn’t all high and sweet like a lot of other ‘adult contemporary’ people. There is a bit of rusty resonance in her delivery and that’s probably why I like her more than some of her contemporaries.

As for the songs, there are some damn fine ditties on here. I mean she didn’t score upteen top tens for nothing. We begin with my all time favorite Anne song, 1983’s “A Little Good News” – it’s an up tempo ditty about the state of the world circa ’83 and other than a few name changes here, the song could be relevant today – “I woke up this morning/ the kids had the morning news show on/ Bryant Gumbel was talking about the fighting in Lebanon/ some senator was squawking about the bad economy/ it’s gonna get worse you see/ we need a change in policy/ There’s a newspaper rolled up in a rubber band/ one more sad story’s one more than I can stand…” and the first chorus, “Tell me nobody robbed a liquor store in the lower part of town/ no one OD’d / no one burned a single building down/ no one fired a shot in anger/ nobody had to die in vain/ sure could use a little good news today” – and it just goes from there mentioning the kids of Ireland and her own desires to hear the news report about something good. It’s actually pretty powerful stuff wrapped up in a little pop/country song.

Most of the rest of Anne’s catalog isn’t quite as deep as love – both unrequited, just found and just lost – make up the sum of her music. But that’s not to say these touches of love are something to make fun or stay away from. I mean she did have hit after hit, and they are all here for us to enjoy – “Could I Have This Dance”, “Shadows In The Moonlight”, “Blessed Are The Believers”, “I Just Fall In Love Again”, “Just Another Woman In Love” – they’re all great, though I must admit I love some of the lines from “Just Another Woman…” the best – “Just another woman in love/ a kid out of school/ a fire out of control/ just another fool/ with you I'm just another woman/ just another woman in love."

There’s some interesting covers that you might not expect as well including a total upbeat and fun cover of the Beatles’ “You Won’t See Me” from her 1974 album Love Song which actually hit #8 on the pop charts. Don’t tell John or Paul but I do love this version, it’s a lot of fun and something a tad more interesting than one might expect from the girl.

One of her most popular first singles was her take on Kenny Loggins’ “Danny’s Song” – “even though we ain’t got money/ I’m so in love with you honey…” and one of my all time favorites was her straight up 1986 pop hit “Now And Forever (You And Me)” which is a song I was looking for forever which is actually what prompted me to make this mix.

Another old time cover is the Monkees’ “Daydream Believer” from her 1980 album I Will Always Love You and I totally remember this song from the radio, and in fact when I first heard the Monkees’ version I couldn’t believe they were doing an Anne Murray song… strange how little kids think isn’t it?

The biggest draw to Anne Murray still seems to be her 1978 pop and country hit “You Needed Me” – it even hit the charts in the UK. It wasn’t until I made my top 100 Singles Of The 70’s list that I realized not only how much I liked the song but how good it really is. Being lifted up on a pedestal until you see eternity is really a dream come true, and though on paper the lyrics may seem a tad cheese whizzy, it’s really not.

Also from the 1978 that brought up “You Needed Me” and the 8-track my parents had all those years ago comes her cover of “Walk Right Back” which when I was a kid I thought it was so cool since most of the album was ballads and here we finally had some upbeat stuff going on. “Tennessee Waltz” is full on old country as also comes from the album. In “Waltz” our girl loses her man at a dance after introducing her man to an old friend of hers, poor girl. I would've included the title cut from Let's Keep It That Way but since owning that 8-track I discovered Miss Tanya Tucker did the song first and since hearing that version, I find it to be the better and why make Anne feel bad just because she's no Tanya Tucker.

To me it’s all about the poppy side of Anne Murray and in the mid 80’s she delivered some pretty good adult contemporary synthesized (think Olivia Newton-John not Depeche Mode) pop including “Time Don’t Run Out On Me” and the crazy “That’s Not The Way (It’s S’posed To Be)” which is almost rock in its delivery.

The twangy 70’s country hits on here as well with “Broken Hearted Me”, “Snowbird” (another very early hit) and “Love Song” – all songs you’d recognize if you have ever seen one of her old Anne Murray sings the hits collections on television. Another thing I happen to remember, our girl really schlepped the television with her collections years before anyone else did.

Apparently Dave Loggins happens to be Anne’s favorite singer and he shows up as her duet partner on 1984’s “Nobody Loves Me Like You Do” which is a pretty good love song except I know it more for the version sung by Whitney Houston and Jermaine Jackson on her first album that came out a year after this version. Anne may be able to sing but I think it’s safe to say she’s no Whit.

Stay tuned for next time when he head to a small town full of pink houses – did you get it? Do you know who’s coming up?

Anne Murray – Fall In Love Again (bub95)
Track List:
01. A Little Good News 02. Danny’s Song 03. Could I Have This Dance 04. Time Don’t Run Out On Me 05. Another Sleepless Night 06. Shadows In The Moonlight 07. Blessed Are The Believers 08. Now And Forever (You And Me) 09. Broken Hearted Me 10. You Won’t See Me 11. I Just Fall In Love Again 12. That’s Not The Way (It’s S’posed To Be) 13. You Needed Me 14. Daydream Believer 15. Snowbird 16. Tennessee Waltz 17. Just Another Woman In Love 18. Nobody Loves Me Like You Do 19. Love Song 20. Walk Right Back

Until our next trip to Bubbatunes land - have a great day and don't be jealous just cause I landed some poor schlub - as Anne shows, love is always right around the corner