Tanya Tucker Reloads
A few years ago I went and made Bubbatunes of all the Tanya Tucker albums not readily on CD, as is usually the case, people find my blog at other times and all the links are now dead, so here to all you TT fans are the 11 Days of Tanya Tucker reloads going new to old:
GIRLS LIKE MECHANGESLabels: Bubbatunes, Tanya Tucker, Tanya Tucker Reissues
bubbaTUNESday - New Tanya!!
Well it's been about 7 years since that Texas Tornado I like to call Ms. Bad Ass, Ms. T and a whole lotta other names is back! Wait, who? Oh yeah Tanya Tucker has a new song out! In fact come next month she'll have a whole new album out called
My Turn. It's actually her take on a whole bunch of old style country songs made famous or semi famous by men singers. The first single "
Love's Gonna Live Here" is now available on Itunes and
Amazon so check it out!
Labels: BubbaTUNESday, Tanya Tucker
bubbaTUNEreload2
There's still some Tanya Tucker fans out there who haven't been able to get all the stuff they need to make it a TT kind of day so here are some more reloads - get them while you can!
Labels: Bubbatunes, Tanya Tucker
BubbaTUNESday - Reloaded
I've had a number of requests on some of our past Bubbatunes that seemed to have expired or been downloaded too many times to still have a current link, so this week on BubbaTUNESday here are some of our popular titles - RELOADED. Get them while you can.
Download
TANYA TUCKER - DREAMLOVERS
DOWNLOAD
Kirsty MacColl - Desperate Character
DOWNLOAD
Tanya Tucker - Tanya Tucker 
DOWNLOAD
Tanya Tucker - Ridin' RainbowsLabels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, BubbaTUNESday, Kirsty MacColl, Tanya Tucker
Hot Happy Birthday Bichie Of The Week
We're doing something a tad different this week - as it's a very special occassion. Instead of the Hot Bastage Of The Week - I'm giving you the
Hot Bichie Of The Week..
For today is the day that brought a sassy well developed angel into the world - my best gal pal LISA! It's her birthday and she is our very special Hot Bichie Of The Week! and to celebrate why don't you download Tanya Tucker's song of what we all feel like on this momentous day -
I'm Not Lisa.
Labels: Hot Bichie Of The Week, Lisa, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub111 Girls Like Me
Can you even believe we’ve made it through all 11 days already? If only I had enough gumption we could have done the 23 days of Tanya Tucker to include every single album she’s ever done but with our latest CD, we have the last of my re-issues, the rest of her albums from here on out are fairly easy to find on the internet or in the stores. Some are probably out of print but they were all huge sellers so they are easy and cheap when you find them – and most importantly they are all frickin’ brilliant. That’s right, I said it – I said BIG SELLERS and BRILLIANT – so what happened you ask? Didn’t you post yesterday that everyone thought she was washed up at the ripe old age of 28? Well, yes I did but my friends along came
Girls Like Me – where her mesh of pop and country finally came together in sheer brilliance - and it just so happens to be our last Tanya album in the
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker! 
bub111 Tanya Tucker – Girls Like Me
December 11, 2007
Original Release: February 1986
Capitol Records #12474I don’t think there was ever anyone in the country music industry who doubted Tanya Tucker’s talent – from the minute she belted out
“Delta Dawn” at age 13 until she signed with Arista in 1983, everyone knew she could sing. But a few cases and missteps in the eyes of industry boys and radio left our girl in a bit of a pickle. What was she going to do if she couldn’t sing and record? Was she going to retire at 28? Was she just going to fade away…. Not our little Miss T… instead somebody with a very good lick of sense signed our girl to Capitol Records in late 1985 and what transpired was a whole new breath of Tanya loving including a string of hit singles and albums that would last all the way through the late 90’s.
A few things happen to make
Girls Like Me a very special album. First and foremost the songs are all incredible. If I’ve ever said there were a few low points on some of these past albums rest assured there isn’t a dull moment on this album. There’s also a revitalized Tanya in the voice, not that she has ever sounded bad or tired but there is just something brilliant about the way she performs these songs, a performance that lasts to this day – again I have to say had she not made those rock and pop albums I don’t think she would have ever found the voice she uses on her later recordings.
Two other reasons stand out for the brilliance of
Girls Like Me – the return of Tanya’s favorite producer Jerry Crutchfield and the addition of songwriters Paul Davis and Paul Overstreet. Jerry will go on to produce every album she releases from this 1986 album through 1995’s
Fire To Fire. The two Pauls will write numerous songs together and individually for Tanya through out the years and even duet with her on 1987’s #1 single
“I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love.”The most important thing
Girls Like Me brings for me is the fact that this is the album where I truly discovered Tanya Tucker. Now I was quite young when Tanya was flashing her way through the tumbling 70’s but I was well aware of
“Delta Dawn” and the
TNT and
Tear Me Apart albums, and I recall sitting at my Grandma’s coloring pictures when I heard
“Should I Do It” on the radio, then of course with Glen Campbell, she was on every magazine when I was a wee one. But by the time
Girls Like Me came out, I was older and wiser after all I was going through puberty.
While driving with my mother one day she had on her favorite country radio station when the opening guitar of
“I’ll Come Back As Another Woman” started playing, and there was Tanya – raspy, sassy, bitchy and bluesy – with each verse I turned it up just a little more until finally on the bridge Tanya growled,
“You’ll hear the echo of my prooomiise/ how you left and how I cried/ the one you finally give your heart toooo/ will leave you crying in the night….” I almost fell out of the car. This was the most intense performance of a country song I had ever heard. And with that Tanya T was back in my life. But more importantly she was back in everyone’s lives.
“I’ll Come Back As Another Woman” with its clever little take, not on reincarnation so much but as in “Some other woman is going to make you fall in love with her and then she’s gonna fuck you over just like you did to me..” only in more clever lyrics of course.
“Someday you’ll wake up with your arms around your dream/ the love that she will make to you will be too good to believe/ you’ll say ‘I love you’ and for once it will be true/ you fall to fast to realize who you’re talking to…” I love it!
By 1986 our girl had been trhough life, she had been through drugs (and would continue to go through drugs actually until a forced Betty Ford stint in '88), and when I think of tough Tanya – the Texas Tornado, Ms. Bad Ass – I realize it’s this Tanya – the new Tanya of 1986 – the Tanya that would end up dominating the country charts from 1986 through her last album of 2002 where she still managed to have top forty singles.
And so it is
Girls Like Me that becomes the ultimate in the Bubbatunes Tanya Reissues, and again it’s the songs that make this album (and those that follow) so great. I could almost see Tanya and Jerry picking out song after song deciding on one only if it sounded like a single because every single one of these gems probably could’ve been a hit.
The first single in fact wasn’t even the one I heard on the radio so many years ago – instead it’s the catchy first song
“One Love At A Time” that actually sets up the whole resurgence of Tanya mania. Easily believable as a problem Miss T may have she wonders,
“one’s got a birthday – it’s in December – which one’s in July – I can’t remember…” Poor girl, the whole having two men for lovers is just tearing her up and the song scored all the way to #3 on the charts making it her first top ten hit since
“Can I See You Tonight” in 1980.
The second single, released in the summer, became her first #1 since
“Here’s Some Love” a full decade before – the single
“Just Another Love” has our girl tempting fate with a bad, bad man –
“Well I’ve never been burned so I guess it’s my turn/ I’m gonna give your love a try…another love/ just another love/ I don’t want to be just another love on your list of hearts/ you’ve torn apart/ then cast them aside/ oh can’t you see/ that I don’t wanna be/ I don’t wanna be just anther love in your life…”
“Just Another Love” is a fast little country ditty, full of spirit and I do love it, but personally I think either
“One Love At A Time” or
“I’ll Come Back As Another Woman” should’ve been the #1, but hey MY single fav –
“I’ll Come Back..” was finally released as the third single and it scored at #2 on the charts. That’s right, three top 3 singles all in a row – that’s how frickin’ good this collection is.
There was even a fourth single released – the ballad and such a good ballad at that –
“It’s Only Over For You” which hit #8 – it shows the tender side of T, but even when tender, she can rip out your heart with her scratchier vocals and ‘been there been hurt’ delivery –
“as I watch you falling in love/ you can’t see me falling apart/ and even though you hurt me I know/ I still love you with all of my heart/ but I won’t hide my face in a stranger’s embrace/ when we dance into each other’s view/ no don’t be surprised at the tears in my eyes/ cause it’s only over for you…” Just her incredible emphasis on every syllable and every note will make you feel for the poor girl – that is talent.
But the singles aren’t the only great things about
Girls Like Me – for the very best thing on the entire album is found in the
title track – a semi-poppy country song featuring keyboards and a little bit of an 80’s sound, but it’s once again the lyrics and the delivery of those lyrics that make it the best cut on the entire album – “
Some girls have someone they can rely on/ they have a mailbox made for two/ well I feel that same need/ to have someone to lean on/ but that’s something I just never learned to do…” and chorus one,
“Girls like me/ we believe in/ passion found on some secluded beach/ it’s hard to please a paperback dreamer/ always holding on to something out of reach/ love may never come that easily to girls like me…” Oh it is so frickin’ good, I put it on compilation CDs all the time, I listen to it on its own cause I love it, and I’ve included here cause you have to hear it too.
The sensitive, I’ve been hurt and I should know better is a theme that permeates the album. She isn’t singing little ballads to make you weep about how she’s just a poor little girl and the big old mean man hurt her so much she wants to die – no, not Tanya, she will tell you all the nitty gritty details of how she got screwed over but by the next song she’ll tell you how she’s going to get even, or at least continue on –
“Fool Fool Heart” is an excellent interpretation of her ‘matter of fact’ attitude that I have come to love –
“I thought I learned the last time around/ if I don’t trust my heart/ I won’t be let down…” Once again her performance is brilliant.
The one upbeat love ballad
“You Could Change My Mind” also contains some lines about how love has kicked her ass in the past –
“I swore I’d never fall in love again/ only a fool would go back where I’ve been/ once the heartache finally faded to an end/ I swore I’d never fall in love again…” and the chorus where she rips it to shizz –
“But you, you could change my mind/ turn my heart around/ make these walls come tumbling down/ for you love could live again/ and it could be the real thing/ the true old fashioned kind/ oh you, you could change my mind…”I’ve always been a big sucker for story songs – and though those touching little country ditties of mothers, children, grandparents dying are fun – I much prefer the ones where no one actually gets offed, we just live their story together. Of course Miss T has always had story songs but for
Girls Like Me, she takes a poppy country tune and tells us the story of a boy in a hopped up Ford on his way to rob a liquor store because all he thought he needed was a little bit of cash to roll on – oh yes, it’s the little ditty known as
“Somebody To Care”.
As the boy heads into Waco to rob the store (though he’d never robbed one before) he finds a girl on the side of road holding a sign that says, “San Antone” – he picks her up telling her he could take her to the other side of Waco, and she tells him all she really needs is a good timing man with a little time to spare and you guessed it, all either one of them really needed was somebody to care. I still love this song.
But I’m saving two of the best for last (and for your download) – the gutsy, heart wrenching, crotch grabbing, bluesnapping (??), dirty and deep
“Daddy Long Legs.” Now there’s a couple things about this song – some good some bad.
Of course there is no bad in Tanya’s smoky performance of a man with the heart of a snake, who is
‘the kind of man who doesn’t have to talk/ he gets what he wants by the way he walks/ long legs moving in a pair of Levi’s/ looking so good it hurts my eyes…” This song is just a heap of a good ol dirty fun and Tanya’s oohs and growls is pure sexual in only that TT way. The thing that is mildly disturbing about this hot bed of sexual innuendo is that we always called my daddy, as in my father, daddy long legs. Let’s not even go there.
When I finally got around to buying the
Girls Like Me album (on vinyl none the less – because that hot cover pic of Tanya would be bigger than on the cassette) imagine my ultimate surprise when we got to the final cut of the album and it was a cover of one of my other favorite scratchy voiced chanteuse – an excellent cover of Kim Carnes’
“Still Hold On” which happens to be one of the best songs Kim has ever written and one that Tanya totally makes her own here.
The lyrics are incredible and though Tanya keeps pretty much the same arrangement as Kim did on her version from 1981’s
Mistaken Identity album – Tanya still manages to sing it with every ounce of her own conviction – “
If I told you tonight that I was leaving/ would you walk away/ would you say lies that I wanted to hear/ and if I told you tonight that I loved you/ would you call my name/ take the blame/ or turn it all around again…” It’s an awesome lyric, it’s an awesome song, it’s an awesome performance.
As you have probably figured out
Girls Like Me is a true highlight in the Tanya Tucker catalog and though it was released on CD once in the early 00’s, it is almost impossible to find and my artwork – along with the lyrics and such, make it so much better and definitely an album I HAD to have on CD.
For her next album
Love Me Like You Used To, Tanya proved that her new found success was no fluke – that album alone would spawn two #1 singles plus another top ten hit, and all of her next albums –
Strong Enough To Bend, Tennessee Woman, What Do I Do With Me, Can’t Run From Yourself, and
Soon – would all spawn at least a #2 single and sometimes higher. Tanya was back and she took it all back with her. This is the true version of Tanya that everyone should have and love – for these are all the albums that provided us without any filler – every single song on every single one of those albums is a gem and it all started here with
Girls Like Me.
Tanya Tucker – Girls Like Me (bub111)
Track List:
01. One Love At A Time 02. I’ll Come Back As Another Woman 03. Fool Fool Heart 04. Just Another Love 05. Girls Like Me 06. Somebody To Care 07. It’s Only Over For You 08. Daddy Long Legs 09. You Could Change My Mind 10. Still Hold On
Listen to these ditties and love up a girl like me… or you… oh you know Miss T at her finest:Tanya Tucker – Girls Like Me
Tanya Tucker – Daddy Long Legs Download entire album and artwork:
TANYA TUCKER - GIRLS LIKE MEIncidentally, I didn’t upload any of her big hits from Girls Like Me, as you can find them and should find and buy them on numerous Tanya collections – and by all means go and find the next set of albums – Love Me Like You Used To, Strong Enough To Bend, Greatest Hits (1990), Tennessee Woman, What Do I Do With Me, Can’t Run From Yourself and Soon – for starters – they’re all on CD and they’re all brilliant….
And thus concludes our 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker – I hope you had as much of a blast as I did – for now, I’ll be ridin’ rainbows til we meet again... Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, bub111, Bubbatunes, Daddy Long Legs, Girls Like Me, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub110 Changes
Here we are spending time in the world of Tanya Tucker as we head through day ten of the 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - this time around there are changes galore - Tanya is head long into a new decade, she changes record labels, she changes her personal life and she changes her producer - oh and she names her new album
Changes. So let's look at it shall we?
bub110 Tanya Tucker – Changes
December 11, 2007
Original Release: January 1983
Arista #9596The early 80’s seemed to have been hard on our girl, the whole Glen Campbell fiasco blew up all over her world, the critics seemed to have come up with a whole washed out idea for her and she didn’t get renewed by MCA Records after what I imagine they thought were dismal sales for her last few albums. Now I don’t claim to know all the details but frankly I never understood the hoopla, I mean
Tear Me Apart may not have had any hit singles and I can see why people may have told her to go back to country but the album did hit #33 on the charts on its own, while she then took back the charts by releasing two top ten singles in a row and though the album
Dreamlovers and its follow up didn’t chart on the top 40, they were both in the top 50. Perhaps they just expected more out of Tanya.
Whatever the reasoning or lack there of, Tanya held her head up high and recorded a single for the new country branch of Arista Records in late 1982 – the single ended up with both sides hitting the country top 100 – the A side, the rollicking rock a billy of
“Feel Right” hit #10 while the ballad on the B side
“Cry” hit #77. Because of the success of the single around October of 1982, Tanya was granted an album all her own for Arista – what sweet charity.
Changes found our girl working with David Malloy who is one of the good producers who tends to mix pop and country together in a unique and often entertaining blend, he’d go on to do Rosanne Cash’s
Rhythm & Romance and he worked with Dolly Parton on a few albums, and here he works with our girl.
The album was released in January 1983 and included both the A and B side single that had already charted and then threw on a few more interesting cuts. The fast songs are all rollicking good times full of life while her ballads punch through just like they always have.
My ultimate favorite on the entire album is
“Until You’re Mine” another in a rock-a-billy flavor, the song is awesome. Her voice is amazing, the melody gets your toes and fingers a tapping and the whole thing makes you want to sing along –
“There’s something baby that you don’t know/ and I hope it doesn’t show/ I’ve spent a whole lot of time/ and I’ll spend a whole lot more until you’re mine…” with Tanya’s hiccupy throaty vocals driving forward we hit the melodic chorus –
“until you’re mine/ I won’t have time to mind..I’ve got a lot of love hidden away/ and that’s just where it’ll stay/ until you’re mine…” I frickin’ love this song – you can listen to it at the bottom of this post.
“Too Long” is in a similar vein which is probably why it’s my second favorite track on the album – again Tanya is pining for some man’s affections – only this time she’s already had him and he’s long gone. My favorite line is the opener (which is happily repeated as the third verse as well) –
“I spend the night in my easy chair/ it’s the only thing that’s easy there…”If you were to analyze the album and it’s lyrics you may come to the conclusion that Tanya was nursing a pretty big broken heart – after all, this is after her career seemed to have been falling apart and her time with Glen Campbell had ended in much heat and anger. Songs like
“Heartache And A Half”, “Cry” all have the theme of love gone bad, but so do a lot of country songs so I could just be stretching.
Another of my favorites has the broken hearted theme going for it and it just tore me apart when I heard it – I loved it so much –
“I Don’t Want You To Go” is excellent, written by Bruce Roberts and Allee Willis who wrote some of the best songs of the 80s including
“Neutron Dance” and even
“I’ll Be There For You” (okay those are just off the top of my head) and the song has some excellent lyrics –
“and heroes die when they ignore the cause inside/ but they learn from what’s left behind/ and fight for something else/ and so it goes/ that we have both learned to go…” and the chorus is great with Tanya just ripping into it –
“and from the start/ maybe we were trying too hard/ it’s crazy cause it’s breaking our hearts/ things can fall apart/ but I know/ that I don’t want you to go…” Aww.
One of the more interesting covers for Tanya to do is
“Shame On The Moon” and I’m not sure what year Bob Segar really recorded it – it could’ve been later than this January 1983 release but I doubt it – but it really has always been his song, so imagine my surprise to find out he didn’t write himself. In fact the song was written by Rodney Crowell who was married to one of my other all time favs Rosanne Cash. What a small world and what a really good song.
I’ve always liked the sentiment in the song but I don’t think I ever really paid attention to all the lyrics until I heard this version by our Tanya. With lines like, “
Til you’ve been beside a man/ you don’t know what he wants/ you don’t know if he cries at night/ you don’t know if he don’t…” With the turmoil that had been Tanya’s life the previous couple of years, you have to wonder if this insightful ditty into the mind and soul of a man, sung by a woman, was a way for her to express her enlightenment or still yearning questions regarding such a volatile relationship and man as she has said Glen Campbell actually was…. Or maybe she just liked the song.
“Baby I’m Yours” was the third single released from
Changes and it too has a bit of the melancholies running through it –
“baby I’m yours/ and I’ll be yours til two and two make three/ yours until the mountains crumble to the sea/ in other words yours til eternity…” It’s a sweet little ditty that actually did chart at #22 on the singles chart making it the second top 40 from the album.
The title track is another ballad but this time she’s not only pondering about her love gone wrong but actually taking steps to make sure she’s living through it and going on with her life –
“Changes/ I’m gonna have to make some changes/ now that I know what the game is/ I know that I would only lose/ no matter what I do/ and the first change that I’ll make is gonna be you…”
Changes, the single nor the album really burned up the charts or radio but they weren’t disappointments either – the single hit #41 on the country charts and the album hit #47 on the album charts in the country genre so it wasn’t like the album just stalled and no one paid attention to it. But for whatever reason it may be – Tanya’s lack of enthusiasm or Arista’s or even Tanya just wanting to take a much needed break – Arista and Tanya parted company after
Changes and she would take the next two years off of recording – making the years 1984 and 1985 the only years she hadn’t had an album of some sort out since she first started back in 1972.
Tanya Tucker - Changes (bub110)
Track List:01. Cry 02. Shame On The Moon 03. Until You're Mine 04. Baby I'm Yours 05. I Don't Want You To Go 06. Heartache And A Half 07. Changes 08. Feel Right 09. A Thing Called Love 10. Too Long
and just for you - check out these brilliant little pieces from Changes:Tanya Tucker - Until You're MineTanya Tucker - Too LongTanya Tucker - I Don't Want You To GoTanya Tucker - Shame On The MoonDownload entire album and artwork:
TANYA TUCKER - CHANGESAnd don't worry if you feel Tanya got a bum rap for this album or the few before it, they are great albums and you can like them no matter what the sales might've suggested; and should you worry that the next two years Tanya was absent and everyone said she was washed up was the end for our girl - our last day in the 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker will prove just how wrong they were for as we come to an end, Tanya was just getting started (again)....Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, Changes, David Malloy, Feel Right, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub108 Dreamlovers
Well here we are again, our 7th day of our
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - and this time we are at a whole new venture in the world of our Texas Dynamo, she leaves LA and the rock world behind to head back to Tennessee and country. Of course she also hooks up with an older, wild man, heads back to the country charts and starts her role as the Texas Tornado - Miss Bad Ass that she will always be remembered for. Oh yes, it's the pop country chanteause at some of her biggest tabloid headlines - welcome to
Dreamlovers.
bub108 Tanya Tucker – DreamloversDecember 11, 2007
Original Release: October 1980
MCA Records #5140Our girl had quite a time between the releases of her rock album
Tear Me Apart and her return to radio friendly country in 1980. Because of the less than lackluster response to her album, Tanya was still able to tour to support it and then went and then hooked back up with producer Snuff Garrett, who had produced her 1975
Tanya Tucker album, for a one off single
“Pecos Promenade” from the film
Smokey & The Bandit 2.
Whether Tanya decided she was made for country or if MCA Records wanted her to go back to where she was actually successful is something I don’t particularly know but what did happen is Tanya ended up with a top ten single on the country charts where
Tear Me Apart didn’t launch a single that charted on either chart.
Apparently being booed playing rock and roll at the Grand Ole Opry, the no charting singles and the Los Angeles life style were too much for our girl and she opted back to the country forum – though by 1980 country itself was changing and all those pop forms Tanya had been playing with were now coming into vogue.
Perhaps Tanya wanted to find a nice comfort zone for her first country album in a few years so she chose old pal producer Jerry Crutchfield, who had been at the helms for
Lovin’ & Learnin’, Here’s Some Love and
Ridin’ Rainbows, to produce
Dreamlovers.
But another more famous hook up would keep Tanya front and center in the tabloids even if she couldn’t keep record buyers – a certain Mr. over 40 Glen Campbell. Somehow the two hooked up and started what can best be described as a very turbulent relationship. One that sparked open fights, open fists, broken teeth, black eyes and a whole heaping helping of tabloid fodder. Of course being a sexy 22 year old to the older man didn’t hurt magazine sales either.
Because of the famous country singers hooking up it was only natural they would record songs together and the very first single from Dreamlovers was the take on the title, a cover of Bobby Darrin’s excellent
“Dream Lover” with Glen and Tanya singing off to each other. It’s a very enjoyable record and one where you can see the pop elements complimenting the country sound. For some reason the song wasn’t a huge hit – though it did hit #59 on the country charts which is something at least.
The best song on the entire Dreamlovers album is the second single,
“Can I See You Tonight” provided everything Tanya fans and Tanya herself had been culminating for the past five years – a perfect country/pop hybrid – lively, jumpy and full of life. It also has some of Tanya’s best singing on it and is one of the first singles where her now famous growl and hic cup laden voice is in tact. Personally I think had she not made the pop
TNT and the rock
Tear Me Apart, she would have never found that most excellent voice which has permeating through the rest of her career.
“Love Knows We Tried” was the final single from the album and appears as the second track on
Dreamlovers. Again, it’s a perfect little poppy ballad that reflects back to the songs on some of her previous work but still stands up by itself by having such clever lyrics as,
"Goodbye/ doesn't mean we really didn't try/ so you can hold your head up high..."
My favorite songs are still those that are peppy and poppy and
“I’ve Got Somebody” is incorporated with some funky little guitar sounds that I could almost hear it being remixed into a disco tune a la Dolly Parton’s
“Baby I’m Burnin’” – take a listen at our downloads and see if you don’t hear what I’m talking about.
“All The Way” is superb fun full of country twangs and a sing along chorus –
“I’m going down down down spinnin’ round round round/ falling deeper in love every day/ I’ve tried so hard to take it slow/ but I’m losing control/ this time I think I’m gonna fall all the way…”
“Somebody (Trying To Tell You Something)” is another great little gem in the Tanya back catalog – a bluesy funky little number similar in sound to
“I’ve Got Somebody” but a little on the darker side –
“Somebody’s knocking on your door/ is your day finally coming/ is it the hand of fate or maybe somebody tryin’ to tell you something?”
Where I really think
Ridin’ Rainbows, TNT and
Tear Me Apart do not have a single dud in the bunch, Dreamlovers sort of slows down some compared to those previous albums. “
Let Me Count The Ways” is just a tad too boring for my taste, while
“Tennessee Woman” (not to be confused with the similar titled track from 1990's Tennessee Woman album which is actually brilliant) and
“Don’t You Want To Be A Lover Tonight” both feel very much like filler, which is something those albums didn’t really have.
The final song on
Dreamlovers is yet another duet with Glen, this time an original country pop number called
“My Song.” I love the idea, I love their vocals but the song sort of falls apart for me. The whole idea is that one of the two lovers writes a love song for the other and they promise to never let anyone else take the song away, but by the end the whole thing just doesn’t click. I think if it had slightly better lyrics it could’ve been great.
Luckily, I have stepped up the
Dreamlovers album a bit with some bonus tracks. The single
“Pecos Promenade” is here as it came out prior to the actual album, as well as
“Bronco” a very interesting old style country song about a rodeo rider and the crazy ass horse that brought them both a little fame. The song was actually the B-side to the
“Dream Lover” single.
The final track is another duet with Glen Campbell –
“Why Don’t We Just Sleep On It Tonight” that was released on Glen’s album It’s The World Gone Crazy that was released in early 1981. This time the duo actually get it just right – it’s not as good as
“Dream Lover” but it’s far better than
“My Song”. Unfortunately it didn’t score much on the charts either hitting #85 on the country. It was released in between Tanya’s solo
“Can I See You Tonight” which scored at #4 on the charts and her
“Love Knows We Tried” which hit #40 on the country charts so perhaps people were a tad tired of Tanya’s re-emergence on the radio or perhaps their tabloid fodder was too much. Either way, the song didn’t really stand out on radio then but I think it’s a damn good song.
Tanya Tucker – Dreamlovers (bub108)
Track List:
01. Can I See You Tonight 02. Love Knows We Tried 03. I’ve Got Somebody 04. Let Me Count The Ways 05. Dream Lover
(with Glen Campbell) 06. Somebody (Tryin’ To Tell You Something) 07. All The Way 08. Tennessee Woman 09. Don’t You Want To Be A Lover Tonight 10. My Song
(with Glen Campbell)Bonus Tracks:11. Pecos Promenade 12. Bronco 13. Why Don’t We Just Sleep On It Tonight
(with Glen Campbell) and come back tomorrow where the country pop influence of Urban Cowboy is alive and well not only on country radio but on Tanya's albums as well, and if you're thinking well should I do it? Should I come back? I think I just answered your question.
Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, Bronco, Dreamlovers, Glen Campbell, Pecos Promenade, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub106 Ridin' Rainbows
I'll bet you guys thought I forgot about Tanya Tucker days didn't you? Well never fear, I would never forget the 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - particurlarly on this oh so important day 6 where we talk about one of my favorite Tanya albums ever!
bub106 Tanya Tucker – Ridin’ RainbowsDecember 4, 2007
Original Release: February 1977
MCA Records #2253Of her first four albums for MCA Records this is by far my favorite. So what exactly makes Ridin’ Rainbows so much better than Tanya Tucker, Lovin & Learnin or Here’s Some Love – well let me tell you.
First and foremost the song selection is above and beyond what Tanya has chosen prior to this – also there’s a whole new image that is starting to emerge. By 1977 our girl was over 18 and it seems she was trying to spruce up her looks and her music.
Just look at the glamour shots on the front and the back of the album and you realize this isn’t the
Delta Dawn era teenager. The songs reflect this new type of big city sophisticate as well – there’s still country leanings on a few songs but it’s a more upscale type of country – something that reflects big city Dallas than say the prairie towns of 300 reflected on some of her other songs. Most of the album is set in a contemporary pop mode than country and even the ballads aren’t of the sawdust and cheating wife variety – instead they’re laced with pop drums, guitars, strings and loads of emotion.
Ridin’ Rainbows opens with the piano and guitar pop/country hybrid
“Dancin’ The Night Away” and it’s just uphill from there – the music falls away and our girl sings,
“Standin’ beside the ocean lookin’ across the water/ everything is beautiful here but I still don’t feel like I oughtta…” for she remembers dancin’ the night away with her man. The song was released as a single and hit #16 on the country charts. It’s a really catchy song and our girl embraces this new urban cowboy persona perfectly.
Then we break into the
best song on the album –
“Love Me Like You Never Will Again”. Now I’ve never been a big fan of ballads – the songs that are supposed to be so heartfelt to people come off as cheesy to me. But not on Ridin’ Rainbows, as my all time favorite song on the album,
“Love Me Like You Never Will Again” is a winding string laden sweep of raw passion and emotion – no doubt thanks to the excellent chops of our singer, but the lyrics are there to bring her to us and it doesn’t disappoint at all. As I’m sure you’ll agree once you hear it. It’s just fricking incredible from beginning to end – including a piano break that breaks into a drum/string/choir laden third verse. Just listen to Tanya sing,
“Let my lips taste the sweetness of your skin and then love me like you never will again…” It’s pretty hot, and I’m certainly not of the persuasion to be turned on by a Tanya, but cripes it’s that good. (See our downloads below).
Then we get a one two kick with some fun with
“Wait Til Daddy Finds Out” a cute little song about infidelity (I know huh?) But the song is catchy as hell and the bridge is fun as Tanya tells us,
“Well Daddy’s been a hell of a father/ and daddy’s been working seven nights in a row/ Daddy let mama get a little bit lonely/ sitting home waitin’ for her sugar to show…” The bridge finds us cowering with Miss T when she hears a car coming up the drive –
“I’m gonna run and find me a safe place to hide/ cause I know what’s gonna hit that fan/ Oh mama you better take a look outside….” But don’t worry about T, Daddy, Mama or the other man, cause by the end of the song ‘one man walked in the bedroom/ one man walked out of run and one woman’s shopping for a new nightgown…”
Then another favorite of mine comes up –
“Let’s Keep It That Way” a song Anne Murray would do the following year and a version I was more familiar with. However, now I know what I was missing because Tanya totally makes this song.
Again, the sophisticated new lady of the 70’s has emerged and in the mid tempo
“Let’s Keep It That Way” she’s contemplating having a hot and heavy affair but as she reminds her wine drinking partner,
‘we’re not cheaters yet/ let’s keep it that way…’ and the chorus always gets me singing along, “cause I don’t want to have to tell him a lie when I get back home/ cause it would tear apart his fairy tale world if I did him wrong…”
The formula of fast song then slow song continues as we break into the total pop of
“White Rocket” which is a song I thought I wouldn’t particularly care for. This time the hero of the story is a homeless drunk though most of that story is told through the euphemism of the white rocket –
‘he’s on a white rocket through the night/ sailing on a white rocket/ every night he gets right back where he belongs/ and his white rocket keeps him smilin’ til it’s all gone…” But the song is actually really touching and a fairly interesting take on a social disease that has surely never played so seriously on a Tanya Tucker record. Plus it’s really a fun song – and did I mention it’s pop – I mean pure pop.
Our title track was the first single and I’m not really sure why. Not because it isn’t a good song, it’s just there’s so many other choices on here I think. I’ve kind of talked about “Ridin’ Rainbows” in previous posts as the theme to the song is Tanya being with a rodeo rider who’s always gone and to keep a part of him with her she wants to have a baby.
“While you’re out there ridin’ rainbows/ I get awful lonely on the ground/ so I was thinkin’ maybe we could have a little baby/ that I could love when you’re not around….” For a long time I never really cared for it, but the years have softened me and I like it again. Of course being in the middle of this album certainly helps it, since by the time you get to the song you’re full into Tanya’s new world of greatness.
Pure country makes its return in
“It’s A Cowboy Lovin’ Night” that has the chorus ringing,
“shuffle with me Houston stranger/ it’s a cowboy lovin’ night” as Tanya spends her time waiting for the dance at some
“It’s been so long since Dallas/ many lonely nights have come and gone/ we may not last but a dance or two/ but it might last all long…” Normally I wouldn’t care for something so country but this is Tanya Tucker and the song just oozes cowboy loving – you can practically see the smoky bar and smell the beer. Yep it’s that good and was once again another top ten single hitting #7 on the country charts.
“It Was Always You” is another sweeping ballad and it’s almost as good as
“Love Me…” I just love Tanya all emotional and adult and full of softness. I’m not sure where the voice came from she uses in some of the song, but it’s just superb. The song opens with the awesome line,
“I’ve been loved before/ there’s no use pretending/ I have been around/ more than most I guess/ still each chance that came my way/ I turned around and walked away/ wondering why I never knew but now I know/ it was always you…” It’s very sweet but not in the icky way – just sweet, simple and great!
“Knee Deep In Loving You” is another fast country pop song that’s full of fire and fun. While the final cut on the original album is another sweeping ballad –
“Wings” is something you really have to hear to believe – I mean she ends up singing in French by the end of it; and it’s not over done nor is it silly as it may sound – what it is, is a super cool song and the end to a super cool album – until now.
Sometime in 1977, Tanya recorded yet another single for her Japanese fans (Huh?) – this time out it’s a pop number called
“Rock'n Roll Girl From Alaska” and it’s just as crazy and fun as it sounds – and of course it had to be part of our bonus tracks.
But there’s more where that came from because in the summer of 1978 Tanya ended up in Los Angeles and the world was about to see a whole new side of our girl – but first she recorded a lovely little song to help raise money and awareness about baby seals and the inhumane way they were/are being butchered for their fur.
“Save Me” actually became a bit of a hit charting on both the country and the pop charts.
But the great surprise is, though I had heard
“Save Me” before, I didn’t actually own the 7” until recently where I discovered there was a B-side that was never released on anything else. It was well worth the wait to hear it,
“Slippin’ Away” is the pop side of Tanya as it’s a precursor to her work on her next album
TNT, which would blow the lid off of Tanya-ologists.
Tanya Tucker – Ridin’ Rainbows (bub106)
Track List:
01. Dancing The Night Away 02. Love Me Like You Never Will Again 03. Wait Til Daddy Finds Out 04. Let’s Keep It That Way 05. White Rocket 06. Ridin’ Rainbows 07. It’s A Cowboy Lovin’ Night 08. It Was Always You 09. Knee Deep In Loving You 10. Wings
Bonus Tracks:
11. A Rock’n Roll Girl From Alaska 12. Save Me 13. Slippin’ Away
After Ridin’ Rainbows, MCA released Tanya Tucker’s Greatest Hits collecting songs from the four albums we’ve been discussing – Tanya Tucker, Lovin & Learnin, Here’s Some Love and Ridin’ Rainbows which you can sometimes find on CD at Amazon.Then came the “Save Me” single and the TNT album featuring her best work to date but that’s where we have to veer off of our Tanya road – for the fabulous album TNT is actually on CD and you can and should buy it at Amazon. But note the CD isn't actually remastered, I'm not sure why it says that cause it's so not true. The CD is also missing the awesome gatefold of Tanya all in red – but I’m included that here for you, plus a few little downloads! Cuz that’s how we roll at Bubbatunes.
So we’ll skip our review of TNT for now and come back to talk about our next reissue that isn’t on official CD – 1979’s full on rock/pop album Tear Me Apart – and believe me it’s great so I have plenty to say about it.
Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, bub106, Bubbatunes, Ridin Rainbows, Rockn Roll Girl From Alaska, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub105 Here's Some Love
Well here we are again - our sixth day in the 11 DAYS OF TANYA TUCKER - and today we look at her 1976 effort Here's Some Love, so why wait around forever, let's get into it...
bub 105 Tanya Tucker – Here’s Some Love December 4, 2007
Original Release: September 1976
MCA Records #2213
The fall of 1976 saw our girl with her second album of the year – yeah she’s that good.
Here’s Some Love uses the same pop country formula of
Lovin’ & Learnin’ particularly on the first single, the title track which hit #1 on the country while also crossing over to the pop charts. Of her string of poppier singles around this time,
“Here’s Some Love” is probably my all time favorite. A simple little love song with some breezy arrangements country enough to be played on C&W radio while poppy enough to be played next to anything Olivia Newton-John may have released in 1976.
The pop really pops on my all time favorite song on the album
“Short Cut.” Tanya is absolutely super cool in this strange little gem of 1976 fun. I mean, there’s even a frickin’ piccolo solo! The song was released as a promo single but never did anything chart wise but it always makes me happy when I hear it, and I know it will bring you some happiness as well. It really is one of her more overlooked songs.
The rest of
Here’s Some Love brings more country including
“Round And Round The Bottle” full of twang and lyrically about an alcoholic father,
“The Gospel Singer” is old school Tanya singing about some small town where they anxiously await the arrival of the gospel singer only to find out the guy is a drunk cheating liar so they hang him! I know pure gothic drama; it’s a heap of fun! The song is driven with a chugging guitar, piano, and a full on choir singing “Hallelujah!” - I frickin’ love it.
“Gonna Love You Anyway” is catchy as all hell but unfortunately I hate the lyrics. Instead of the fire and brimstone Tanya we get a song about a woman who catches her man cheating but she’s fine with it, in fact in the repeated bridge she takes full blame for his swaying ways saying she must’ve done something to make him go to another woman. But I sing along with it every time – cause well like I said it’s catchy as all hell.
As is
“Holding On” a great little pseudo ballad with a catchy guitar riff and Tanya doing a sweet little voice. The song was written by Rafe Van Hoy who would be a songwriter Tanya would incorporate on many albums to come.
“I Use The Soap” is another catchy song full of la la la’s and of course a bit of heartache as the lyrics say,
“I use the soap to wash the dirt from my face/ I write with a pencil so I can erase/ but what’s there to do when someone’s taken my place with you?”
“Comin' Home Alone” is a Dave Loggins composed song that is filled with fun imagery and perfect balladry from our girl – all about a woman living alone and spending her time with her TV Guide while her man is away at school, but she will never mind coming home alone as long as she knows she’s coming home to love.
The same theme comes up in “Take Me To Heaven” as our girl reflects her man who is oceans apart from her. Using strings and a very subtle arrangement, our girl sweetly sings, “take me to heaven tonight my love/ but tomorrow please take me with you.”
Full on country fronts “You Just Loved The Leaving Out Of Me” – a song that could be an Olivia song but it’s Tanya’s full voice that brings this one up a notch or two – she has that growl and that softness all in one little song. It’s a fun little trip.
Sometime in 1976 Tanya decided to record a catchy little song called
“Hello Mr. Sunshine” and then release it as a single only in Japan. I’m not sure why this happened but I do know on the cover of the 7” is a strange looking man who may have had some kind of variety show in Japan??? UPDATE: I just learned the man is Peter Fonda and they did Sanka commercials in Japan - so perhaps this song was the commercial jingle..
Other than that, I really have no idea how this came about but the fact is she did it, and so we have included it on the Bubbatunes version of
Here’s Some Love as one of those rare and faboo things known as a bonus track.
As a whole album
Here’s Some Love isn’t quite as consistent as
Lovin’ And Learnin’ nor is it as great as our next album
Ridin’ Rainbows, but there are certainly some really good moments to be found.
Tanya Tucker – Here’s Some Love (bub105)
Track List:01. Here’s Some Love 02. Round And Round The Bottle 03. Comin’ Home Alone 04. Gonna Love You Anyway 05. Holding On 06. You Just Loved The Leavin’ Out Of Me 07. The Gospel Singer 08. Take Me To Heaven 09. Short Cut 10. I Use The Soap
Bonus Track11. Hello Mr. Sunshine
Here are a few of our highlights from Here’s Some LoveTanya Tucker – Short Cut Tanya Tucker – The Gospel Singer Tanya Tucker – Hello Mr. Sunshine
or download the entire album with artwork:
Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, bub105, Bubbatunes, Here's Some Love, Tanya Tucker
11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub102 You Are So Beautiful
Okay here we get veer a little more from convention and it’s all because of money hungry corporate record companies that we are forced to it too. Let’s explain a little – so in 1975 Tanya Tucker left Columbia Records and signed with MCA Records, but before she did this, she was still working on songs for Columbia and recorded a hand full of songs in January and February of 1975. Seeing as she owed Columbia a record, they decided to release little by little.
In the summer of 1975 while also promoting the Columbia compilation Greatest Hits, the record company released the single
“Spring” and then in October came
“Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)” and its b-side
“Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More.” Meanwhile, she was scoring hits on MCA Records at the same time from her self titled album which came out towards the middle of the year.
The main purpose of me making the
Tanya Reissues was so I could listen to every single album in a row and listen to her progression of singing if I wanted to. With the
You Are So Beautiful album it hits a snag as the actual album wasn’t released until 1977 in between Tanya’s MCA output of
Ridin’ Rainbows and
TNT, both very pop influenced.
Since the singles from her 1975 Columbia recordings were released two years before the actual album I thought it fit this spot nicely – right before we head into her 70’s MCA output which as I’ve said is a lot poppier than her Columbia output..
bub102 Tanya Tucker – You Are So BeautifulDecember 4, 2007
Original Release: September 1977
Columbia/CBS Records #34733
So now that you’re exhausted here we are at
You Are So Beautiful, our second of the 11 Tanya Tucker Reissues. For some reason I didn’t think I’d really care for this album. I mean it is essentially a collection of non released songs that were actually put on the public two years after recording but I was actually amazed at some of the songs.
The title track is exactly the song you are thinking of, I’m not sure what inclined Miss T to record it but she certainly rings the nuances out of it with her sassy spiky voice and even hits a rather strange high note at the end. The song was released as a single to go along with the album in 1977 and actually hit the country charts.
One of her better covers is the second track, the Eagles’
“The Best Of My Love” – her voice is supreme on this one and I have to admit I have a little soft spot for the 70’s Eagles. I really like their music and since they were (along with Linda Ronstadt) marking their territory on both pop and country charts, I’m sure Tanya wanted to be a part of that.
My favorite song on the whole album is our third track,
“There Is A Place” – a sort of wispy waltz with some clever little lyrics about love,
“There is a place/ where you can go/ where Marilyn still dances with Dimaggio/ and Juliet with Romeo/ and the name of the place is love…” I know it’s a little cheesy but once again Tanya sores above and beyond with her voice and I like the sentiment… as I believe the love affair of Marilyn and Joe is legend… almost like the Brad and the Leivas…
The rest of You Are So Beautiful falls in perfectly with the three previous albums Tanya had recorded –
“Loving Arms”, “Can I Be Your Lady”, “Loving Arms”, “Almost Persuaded” and
“Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More” all have the longing for love feeling firmly implemented though
“Can I Be Your Lady” does have the best of the lyrics – “
Would you walk with me across the bridges I forgot to burn/ will you face the future…” It’s not too surprising that the lyrics are very adult and very intense as the song is written by David Allen Coe who also penned Tanya’s “
Would You Lay With Me (In A Field Of Stone)” from 1973 and the single “
Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)” which is here as a bonus track since it was never actually included on the
You Are So Beautiful album for some reason. It’s one of the best of Tanya’s one off little singles telling the tale of those sad days of losing your virginity to the bastard who runs off into the sunset – the worse part is Tanya is fully aware that her mother knows what she had been doing! Oh the horror.
David also shows up as writer on the album’s final cut
“I Still Sing The Old Songs” which reminds me a lot of the song
“I Believe The South Is Gonna Rise Again” which Tanya recorded a few years earlier. In this song, Tanya (as David I’m sure) is singing to her dead grandfather informing him that she still sings the songs he taught her, she even prays to Jesus every now and then and (important to a true Southerner apparently - ) the grandchildren have never crossed the Mason-Dixon line – does that thing really still exist?
“You Know Just What I’d Do” is a song I just can’t quite figure out if I like it or not. It’s catchy as hell and the sentiment is nice and all, but the gist of the storyline is such – Tanya informs her lover that
“if we lost all we had/ would I walk your rocky road or take a different path/ would I sell my pride for you/ If you’d ask me to walk the streets you know just what I’d do…” Umm okay, I mean it sounds nice and moody and all, and the idea of giving up one’s self for the man you love, sure I get it.. but it may be a tad too co-dependant for me. I mean if the Leivas asked me to hit the streets to hook would I? You frickin’ bet I would, but would I really be doing it for him? Mmmm?
All in all
You Are So Beautiful is a catchy little collection of country songs, conveniently saved by the brilliance of
“The Best Of My Love”, “There Is A Place” and
“Greener Than The Grass” and though it’s not up to par to some of the albums we have coming up, I’m still quite surprised it was only a composite of throw away tracks for the most part, because it is still very Tanya Tucker.
Tanya Tucker – You Are So Beautiful (bubbatunes; bub102)
Track List:
01. You Are So Beautiful 02. The Best Of My Love 03. There Is A Place 04. Can I Be Your Lady 05. Loving Arms 06. You Know Just What I’d Do 07. Almost Persuaded 08. Spring 09. Guess I’ll Have To Love Him More 10. I Still Sing The Old Songs
Bonus Track:
11. Greener Than The Grass (We Laid On)
To listen to a few cuts:
Tanya Tucker – There Is A Place Tanya Tucker – The Best Of My Love
Download the entire album and artwork:
TANYA TUCKER - YOU ARE SO BEAUTIFUL
Next up in our exciting Tanya Reissues series is Miss T's million dollar signing with MCA Records where she begins to veer into more pop territory so I know you'll want to stick around for that! Labels: 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker, bub102, Bubbatunes, Tanya Tucker, You Are So Beautiful
Bubbatunesday - 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - bub101 Delta Dawn
It’s been a little over 35 years since
Tanya Tucker first hit the airwaves at the ripe old age of 13. Now I have loved this woman for many many years and have everything she’s ever put out but it was always frustrating to know there were so many albums of hers that weren’t on CD. From her debut album
Delta Dawn in 1972 through 1986 Tanya released 14 full length albums (I know huh!), one live album and 3 greatest hits compilations. Of those original 14 albums only three are available and easy to track down on CD – 1973’s
What’s Your Mama’s Name and 1974’s
Would You Lay With Me are available on one CD from Collectibles and 1978’s excellent
TNT is on CD while her
Live album from 1982 is also on CD as well as her collected Greatest hits which gathered hits in between each compilation – 1974’s
Greatest Hits (Columbia/CBS), 1978’s
Tanya Tucker’s Greatest Hits (MCA) and 1982’s
The Best Of Tanya Tucker (MCA). So what were you supposed to do if you wanted to find those classic little gems hidden away? Well, luckily Bradley got himself a USB Record player, ink and some paper and created for Bubbatunes,
The Tanya Reissues – 11 classic Tanya Tucker albums finally on CD with as close to original artwork as we could get, lyrics to all the songs and gasp! In some cases, bonus cuts.
So hold on to your cowboy hats, cause we are headed into 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker!
bub101 Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn
December 4, 2007
Original Release: October 1972; Columbia/CBS Records #31742It surprised me when Collectibles Records released Tanya’s
What’s Your Mama’s Name and
Would You Lay With Me on CD about a year ago as it made me wonder if there had been a release of
Delta Dawn that I missed. I searched high, I searched low, I found a new release page on a couple of websites saying the album was actually coming out and I even ordered it, only to find out they were all wrong. The
Delta Dawn being advertised is not the debut album but is actually a budget priced live album and it’s not all that exciting, so the actual CD release of Tanya’s debut still eludes collectors – until now that is.
The Bubbatunes version of
Delta Dawn may not have the superb sound quality a remastered record company release may warrant but I think we did a damn fine job collecting these songs and making them sound as clear and great as they always were.
By the time of the album’s release, Tanya had already scored big with the title single released earlier in the summer. I’m sure most people are aware of the little ditty that launched a very adult sounding 13 year old girl into the country books –
“Delta Dawn” a simple little ditty about a crazy woman carrying around a faded bouquet of flowers waiting for her man to come and marry her. Poor thing – it should be a television movie.
Originally when Tanya was signed to Columbia producer Billy Sherrill wanted her to record Donna Fargo’s
“The Happiest Girl In The Whole USA” and release it as her debut but Tanya saw
Bette Midler perform
“Delta Dawn” on The Tonight Show and wanted to do that song instead. Despite Bette’s awesome version and
Helen Reddy taking the song to the top of the pop charts the following year, I really think of the song as Tanya’s and she is the first to actually have a hit with it.
As for the Donna Fargo song – Miss Fargo took it to the top of the charts herself but Tanya still recorded it and it’s on the album in all its crazy glory –
“shine on me sunshine/ walk with me world/ it’s a skip a dee doo dah day/ I’m the happiest girl in the whole USA…” it’s interesting to hear Tanya singing about waking up next to her man, getting lunches together and heading off to work when she’s only 13 years old. But if you don’t know the age of the singer, it’s downright amazing how adult she sounds. All those little Lolitas of now have nothing on Tanya’s natural talent and ability.
Delta Dawn launched another couple of singles – well one single actually but both sides of the 7” hit the top ten in country –
“The Jamestown Ferry” tells the honky tonk story of Tanya’s man up and leaving her while
“Love’s The Answer” is a kind of
“Stand By Your Man” rip off but still very good – “
be proud of him when you know he’s done his best/ let him know you think he’s better than the rest/ if you wanna hold your man/ this is the way/ love him more today than you did yesterday/ love’s the answer…”
Of course this is 1972 country so you won’t hear any pop elements really as it’s pretty high on the slide guitar and country roots but that doesn’t mean these songs don’t punch some kind of wallop. Of course the lyrics are fairly simplistic in the storylines – lost love, cheating husbands and boyfriends, and all that country fun.
Some of the songs are super cool including one of my all time favorites –
“He’s All I Got” – “Well I said friend/ don’t take him he’s all I got…” and
“New York City Song” which though it’s not a sentiment I would happen to feel is a cool little song about a woman in New York City and the desire to go back home cuz she don’t know no new york city song. Then there’s the fairly strange
“If You Touch Me (You’ve Got To Love Me)” which starts out as a straight up honkey tonk song about a man trying to get out of the city and going back to his small town woman and then the song switches tempo completely and becomes a ballad as Tanya’s character is the woman welcoming him home but only if he loves her. It’s sassy and brassy and like I said, a tad strange.
The album ends with a rendition of Hank Williams’ classic
“I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” – quite an endeavor for a debut album, not too mention a debut album by a 13 year old girl, but let’s say simply that Tanya, even back then, knocked it out. Her voice and inflections are excellent – it’s interesting to hear her sing these songs knowing she had nil for life experience with the subject matter but you’d never know it by the sound of her voice – it’s like she’s living it all right there in front of you.
For years, I thought the flip side for the first single
“Delta Dawn” was
“Love’s The Answer” – I found various versions of the 7” for sale everywhere so imagine my surprise when upon a little more research I found out the single actually had a b-side that isn’t on the
Delta Dawn album. I had to track it down and track it down I did. Just so I could add it as a
bonus track to our Bubbatunes’ version of
Delta Dawn.
Very similar to the other songs on the album,
“I Love The Way He Loves Me” is a sweeping little ballad about a man who may let our girl down a bit but she just can’t get over him and she will
“always be in the palm of his hand.”
Our final bonus track has a bit of back story to explain. As we journey through our Tanya Reissues we have to skip certain albums here and there as they are on official compact disc release. After
Delta Dawn came
What’s Your Mama’s Name and
Would You Lay With Me (followed by her first Greatest Hits compilation at age 15!), which is on CD, so our next release is actually an album from 1975. But before we get to that, there is one rarity that isn’t on CD – that’s our final song here,
“Satisfied With Missing You” – a song written by Tanya herself and released as the b-side to the single “
The Man That Turned My Mama On” from the album
Would You Lay With Me.
Luckily I have the 45 of
“The Man...” and was able to rip that elusive b-side and put it on here. It’s a really great song and I was so totally impressed with it… the voice, the attitude and the storyline. Where you think the song is just a sad love song about missing her relationship, it turns into the classic early 70’s Tanya story song where
“it’s sad that she won’t see you in her younger years/ she won’t have a daddy to soother her fears..” and there go the water works (okay only if I’ve had too much whiskey but you get it).
Tanya Tucker – Delta Dawn (bubbatunes; bub101)
Track List:
01. Delta Dawn 02. New York City Song 03. Smell The Flowers 04. If You Touch Me 05. He’s All I Got 06. The Jamestown Ferry 07. Loving You Could Never Be Better 08. Soul Song 09. Love’s The Answer 10. The Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A. 11. I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry
Bonus Tracks:
12. I Love The Way He Loves Me 13. Satisfied With Missing You
And click below for your own taste of the ultimate Tanya debut:
Tanya Tucker – He’s All I Got
Tanya Tucker – I Love The Way He Loves Me
Tanya Tucker – Satisfied With Missing You OR DOWNLOAD the entire album and artwork:
TANYA TUCKER - DELTA DAWN
Now go buy What's Your Mama Name/Would You Lay With Me and/or Greatest Hits and y'all come back tomorrow when we head ever further into Tanya’s albums as our 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker continues.
Labels: Bonus tracks, bub101, Bubbatunes, Delta Dawn, Tanya Tucker
The Ladies Of The News
13 DAYS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!Two of the more interesting women of the entertainment world are in the news today, and sadly neither of the news is very good...
First, the $300,000 manicure - My girl Tanya Tucker has herself some probs as her manicurist is suing her because TT's dog Belle bit the beatch on May 2nd - the manicurist was even in an episode of the great Tuckerville show laughing and cracking with the country singer.. here's the whole story and note about the new music.. that is more than exciting to me:
A manicurist filed a $300,000 lawsuit against the country singer last week, alleging that she was attacked by one of Tucker's dogs during a house call last year.
In her court documents, Danielle D. Hobbs claimed that the incident occurred when she arrived at Tucker's Nashville area home to do the singer's nails on May 2, 2006.
She said that a canine by the name of Bella charged out of Tucker's bedroom without warning and latched onto her leg, leaving painful and disfiguring scars.
Though Bella was the only dog accused in the attack, Hobbs said she had felt threatened by Tucker's pack of at least eight dogs during previous visits to the house and had asked that they be restrained.
She claimed in her lawsuit that the singer's assistant told her the dogs were "just babies" and would not harm her.
Tucker's publicist, Kirt Webster, said Tuesday that the suit came as a "total surprise" and was filed without merit.
According to Jim Higgins, a principal partner at Higgins, Himmelberg & Piliponis, a Nashville firm specializing in personal injury law, Tennessee does not have particularly strict dog-bite laws in place.
He said the burden would be on Hobbs to prove that Tucker knew that her dog had vicious tendencies.
"If you have reason to believe that your dog may bite someone, then you can be liable for any injuries," Higgins told E! Online via email.
"This is especially true if she invited her into the home and did nothing to warn or protect her from the dog."
In happier days, Hobbs appeared in at least one episode of Tuckerville, Tucker's fly-on-the-wall series that aired on TLC in 2005, and was shown exchanging friendly banter with the country star as she did her nails.
Tucker, 49, burst onto the music scene at the age of 13, with her debut single "Delta Dawn," which reached number six on the country charts. By age 15, she had already released a greatest hits album and earned her first Grammy nomination.
Now in her fourth decade as a performer, Tucker is slated to release her latest album, Lonesome Town, later this year. Then in really sad news, it appears our Maybelline Maven Tammy Faye of the former Tammy Faye Bakkers is in a losing battle with cancer. She has put up a note to her fans on her website saying the doctors have stopped her treatments and it is now up to God. She has her daughter and some friends staying with her as she needs help, falling to only 65 lbs "I look like a scarecrow" she says. The note is up at her official website www.tammyfaye.com (but it keeps having server problems) and just to remininse how incredibly insane Tammy Faye was and well, probably always will be - I found this on a blog, and it's something every God fearing person should see and hear:
Tammy's Run Towards The Roar
Labels: Lawsuit, Manicurist, Run Towards The Roar, Tammy Faye Bakker, Tanya Tucker
True Stories
Ever wonder how and why the great little 80's anthem "Johnny Are You Queer?" got made or how and why the singer that made it so famous fell off the national radar - or even how such a song got airplay and what those original ramifications may have been? Of course you have and after all these years Josie Cotton wrote an excellant article about the subject for a magazine. You can read the article on her My Space space - the article titled "The Queer Story Of Josie & Johnny" is excellant reading... so check it out
here!
In other news, I just finished reading up all about that sweet songstress known as Donna Summer in her autobiography Oridinary Girl - first and foremost I love biographies, particularly musicians and Tanya Tucker's Nickel Dreams remains one of my favs but Donna's was a bit on the boring side, I finished the 200 page book in 2 days as it was a bit light. She would touch on numerous subjects including what appears to be some reproductive problem and some stuff about homophobia and even a physical abuse but by the next paragraph she's off and running on another subject. I guess she didn't want to give too much detail but personally I could've used just a tad more. Tanya's was a little the same way though she did give us a bit more dirt but I still know Miss T sugarcoated a lot and I just found an unauthorized biography of Tanya that I'm going to pick up and leaf through - I'll let you know what they tell me...
and in final queer true stories - I am just a pub hair away (I know it's a gross saying but it makes me laugh and in fact my phrase is cleaned up from the one normally used by some of my pals) anyhoos, as I was saying the final touches are being put on the final episodes of Carlton Heights. Now before you get too excited let me just say that the final touches include massive editing and rewriting and the extreme nuisance of having to put the scripts away from sight for awhile so I can regroup - but before you know it the final 2 "Sweet Child O Mine" and "Backfired" will be completed and then I'm going to put them up on the internet as episodes - though where and when also remain a mystery right now...
Labels: 80's music, Autobiography, Carlton Heights, Donna Summer, Johnny Are You Queer?, Josie Cotton, Nickel Dreams, Ordinary Girl, Tanya Tucker
We're doing something a tad different this week - as it's a very special occassion. Instead of the Hot Bastage Of The Week - I'm giving you the Hot Bichie Of The Week..
Can you even believe we’ve made it through all 11 days already? If only I had enough gumption we could have done the 23 days of Tanya Tucker to include every single album she’s ever done but with our latest CD, we have the last of my re-issues, the rest of her albums from here on out are fairly easy to find on the internet or in the stores. Some are probably out of print but they were all huge sellers so they are easy and cheap when you find them – and most importantly they are all frickin’ brilliant. That’s right, I said it – I said BIG SELLERS and BRILLIANT – so what happened you ask? Didn’t you post yesterday that everyone thought she was washed up at the ripe old age of 28? Well, yes I did but my friends along came Girls Like Me – where her mesh of pop and country finally came together in sheer brilliance - and it just so happens to be our last Tanya album in the 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker! 
Here we are spending time in the world of Tanya Tucker as we head through day ten of the 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - this time around there are changes galore - Tanya is head long into a new decade, she changes record labels, she changes her personal life and she changes her producer - oh and she names her new album Changes. So let's look at it shall we?
bub110 Tanya Tucker – Changes
Well here we are again, our 7th day of our 11 Days Of Tanya Tucker - and this time we are at a whole new venture in the world of our Texas Dynamo, she leaves LA and the rock world behind to head back to Tennessee and country. Of course she also hooks up with an older, wild man, heads back to the country charts and starts her role as the Texas Tornado - Miss Bad Ass that she will always be remembered for. Oh yes, it's the pop country chanteause at some of her biggest tabloid headlines - welcome to Dreamlovers.
bub106 Tanya Tucker – Ridin’ Rainbows
Well here we are again - our sixth day in the 11 DAYS OF TANYA TUCKER - and today we look at her 1976 effort Here's Some Love, so why wait around forever, let's get into it...
bub 105 Tanya Tucker – Here’s Some Love December 4, 2007
Sometime in 1976 Tanya decided to record a catchy little song called “Hello Mr. Sunshine” and then release it as a single only in Japan. I’m not sure why this happened but I do know on the cover of the 7” is a strange looking man who may have had some kind of variety show in Japan??? UPDATE: I just learned the man is Peter Fonda and they did Sanka commercials in Japan - so perhaps this song was the commercial jingle.. 
Okay here we get veer a little more from convention and it’s all because of money hungry corporate record companies that we are forced to it too. Let’s explain a little – so in 1975 Tanya Tucker left Columbia Records and signed with MCA Records, but before she did this, she was still working on songs for Columbia and recorded a hand full of songs in January and February of 1975. Seeing as she owed Columbia a record, they decided to release little by little.
It’s been a little over 35 years since Tanya Tucker first hit the airwaves at the ripe old age of 13. Now I have loved this woman for many many years and have everything she’s ever put out but it was always frustrating to know there were so many albums of hers that weren’t on CD. From her debut album Delta Dawn in 1972 through 1986 Tanya released 14 full length albums (I know huh!), one live album and 3 greatest hits compilations. Of those original 14 albums only three are available and easy to track down on CD – 1973’s What’s Your Mama’s Name and 1974’s Would You Lay With Me are available on one CD from Collectibles and 1978’s excellent TNT is on CD while her Live album from 1982 is also on CD as well as her collected Greatest hits which gathered hits in between each compilation – 1974’s Greatest Hits (Columbia/CBS), 1978’s Tanya Tucker’s Greatest Hits (MCA) and 1982’s The Best Of Tanya Tucker (MCA). So what were you supposed to do if you wanted to find those classic little gems hidden away? Well, luckily Bradley got himself a USB Record player, ink and some paper and created for Bubbatunes, The Tanya Reissues – 11 classic Tanya Tucker albums finally on CD with as close to original artwork as we could get, lyrics to all the songs and gasp! In some cases, bonus cuts.
In her court documents, Danielle D. Hobbs claimed that the incident occurred when she arrived at Tucker's Nashville area home to do the singer's nails on May 2, 2006.
Ever wonder how and why the great little 80's anthem "Johnny Are You Queer?" got made or how and why the singer that made it so famous fell off the national radar - or even how such a song got airplay and what those original ramifications may have been? Of course you have and after all these years Josie Cotton wrote an excellant article about the subject for a magazine. You can read the article on her My Space space - the article titled "The Queer Story Of Josie & Johnny" is excellant reading... so check it out here!
