WALTER BECKER MEDIA

1 9 5 0 - 2 0 1 7 

  • Home

  • Forum

  • FAQ

  • Downloads

  • walterbecker.com

  • More...

    e s t.  2 0 1 8

    WB's 'Hey 19 Rap' of the Week

    preview-blocker.popup
    1. Walter Becker Media Forum
    2. Brill Bldg Becker
    3. Madeline Peyroux - You Can't Do Me
    Search
    Walter Becker Media
    Mar 15, 2018
      ·  Edited: Mar 15, 2018

    Madeline Peyroux - You Can't Do Me



    By Walter Becker, Larry Klein, & Madeline Peyroux


    You can't do me, you can't do me, you can't do me the way you did before You can't do me, you can't do me, you can't do me the way you did before 'Cause when you do, and when you do, 'cause when you do, you know I get so blue! When you do, and when you do, 'cause when you do, you know I get so blue and I go Down like a deep sea diver, out like a Coltrane tenor-man, Lost like a Chinese war, baby gone, gone, gone! Blewed like a Mississippi sharecropper, screwed like a high-school cheerleader, Tattooed like a popeyed sailorman − gone, gone, gone!

    I should have been, I should have been, I should have been a pair of ragged claws. I should have been, I should have been, I should have been a pair of ragged claws. And for a while, for just a while, for a good long while you'd see me smile, smile, smile I'd crawl the seas on my bony knees, no apologies for my brave new style. I wouldn't go Bust like an internet millionaire, boom like a Lebanese belly-dancer, Bang like a new year's firecracker − gone, gone, gone! I wouldn't get Bent like a rattan rockin' chair, blanked like a last place also ran, Burned like an Arkansas griddlecake − gone, gone, gone!

    I should have been, I should have been, I should have been a pair of ragged claws. And if I was, if I was, if I was then I'd complain no more. And for a while, for just a while, for a good long while you'd see me smile, smile, smile. I'd crawl the seas, on my bony knees, no apologies for my brave new style. I wouldn't get Wrecked like a rebel on a racetrack, jacked like a '51 Cadillac, Macked like a bunny in a mansion − gone, gone, gone! Spitooned like an Alabama 'backy wad, harpooned in a Melville sailor yard, Cartooned like a Charlie Brown Christmas card − gone, gone, gone!

    Schooled like a milk money bully whip, sued like a teenage downloader, Unglued like a bull in a china shop − gone, gone, gone! Cranked like a speed freak high-roller, yanked like a little league ball swatter, Spanked like a fly on a bar counter − gone, gone, gone!

    Duked like a pistol whipped card swapper, rebuked like a Bible Belt border crosser Juked like a payola chart topper − gone, gone, gone

    6 comments
    3rd World Dan
    May 29, 2018

    These lyrics are so Becker to me, and the way Madeline sings them is so reminiscent of Walter's own laid back style. Some of them are genuinely funny, too ("sued like a teenage downloader" had me rolling).


    Gotta check more of this out.

    0
    Moderator: D-Mod
    May 29, 2018

    I agree, 3rd WD, that Maddie and Walter were a good fit. You should see the brainstorming list of things to go after " and I go..." maybe if I get permission from Larry and Maddie I'll post it -- it's a riot

    Matthew Kerns
    Feb 1, 2020

    I was reflecting today on the difference between Walter and Donald as song writers. I think if you listen to this (and maybe to Bare Bones) as compared to the Fagen tune Do Wrong Shoes (either the Jackie Allen version or the Carmela Rappazzo version), you really get it. Its easy to call it "the edge," but I think we just use "the edge" to shorthand the way Walter cuts to the bone.


    In Bare Bones, there's a lyric:


    I remember what my daddy taught me

    'Bout how warm whisky is in a cold ditch

    And one more thing about good and evil

    You can't tell which is which


    They preached the gospel down in Metairie

    They preached it in school

    It never made much sense to me

    Wonder if it was supposed to


    Compare that to the lyric in Do Wrong Shoes:


    Like a rock star

    Zoom around in a fast car

    Find a guy in a blues bar

    He'll remind me of you


    I'll drink mai tais

    At a party in Van Nuys

    Struggle home around sunrise

    With a new tattoo


    There are elements of similarity there. We name check a liquor and a particular city. And I know these songs don't share a purpose and aren't competing. But there's something about Bare Bones where the lyrics cut to the heart of the character and the situation. I don't know. I'm not fully able to express what it is I'm feeling here. Just go listen to these two tracks and think about the songwriter, and why it was that these two men could, together, accomplish so damn much.



    Tony Favia
    Feb 2, 2020

    @Matthew Kerns Mostly agree, but with Bare Bones, since that tune was co-written with Klein and Peyroux, how can we be sure who was responsible for which lyrics?

    Matthew Kerns
    Feb 3, 2020

    @Tony Favia That's true. I guess I was just pontificating, and maybe chose the wrong set of lyrics to use as reference. I certainly didn't mean to take anything away from Peyroux or Klein on the one hand or Hirth Martinez (who cowrote Do Wrong Shoes with DF) on the other.

    Tony Favia
    Feb 3, 2020

    @Matthew Kerns Of course, nothing prevents us from making educated guesses as to who wrote what haha! By the way, true story, as I'm writing this reply, Bare Bones just randomly started playing on my playlist. You can't make stuff like this up.

    Walter Becker Media Forum