Song Lyric Sunday: Just Put Your Hand In Mine

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M Music & Musicians Magazine » SHAWN COLVIN

Having invited us last week to play a song that began with the first letter of our surname, guess what Jim has done this week? Yup, we are playing songs with titles beginning with the first letter of our first name, as his post Given Names tells us. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that for me that means songs beginning with a ‘C,’ but I had a hard time choosing from so many great candidates. For quite a while I had been thinking of leading with Badfinger’s Come And Get It but in the end I decided to play you a kind of matching pair: a song each from two of my favourite female singer-songwriters.

I couldn’t find a good live video for my lead song, but the official audio version will show you why I like it so much:

As the video showed, that was Shawn Colvin with Climb On (A Back That’s Strong). And here are the lyrics of a song of hope and encouragement:

Oh, my soulSometimes we don’t know what to doWe work so hardBeing tough on our ownBut now it’s me and youLet’s give it upSad bonesCause we all fall on hard timesBut you don’t have to stand up all aloneJust put your hand in mine
 
Climb onA back that’s strongHey heyYou can git’ what you wantClimb onA back that’s strong
 
If you could save meA place in heavenWith a clean well-lighted roomI’ll muscle up to ArmageddonAnd I’ll wave to you darlin’Be home soonAnd if you could show meThe story of loveI would write itAgain and againAnd then you could beThe woman you needIf you just let me beThe man that I am
 
Oh, I don’t knowSometimes we try too hard to seeBut we got one down nowOne more to goThat’s when you sayTo me
 
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: John Leventhal / Shawn Colvin
Climb On (A Back That’s Strong) lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc
 
Shawn has never been one to set the charts alight, but she has given us a whole load of fine records in a career that goes back to 1989. This was a track on her second album, Fat City, which was released in October 1992 and made #142 in the US, but didn’t chart in the UK. I must have been going against the grain there, as I bought this at the time and have loved it ever since, as indeed I did with her previous one, Steady On, and everything she has released since. This was released as a single but didn’t make the charts anywhere, as far as I can tell. That doesn’t worry me though: I still love the song and what it says. It is often said that the mark of a good musician is to see what company they keep: the list of those who played or sang on this album is incredible!
 
One of those helping out is one of my all time favourites. Regular readers will know that I have played her music a lot over the years, and the fact that she and Shawn are good friends who have played concerts together is another plus point for me. I am talking, of course, about the wonderful Mary Chapin Carpenter, who just happens to have a ‘C’ song  that was the title track of one of her albums. This live performance is amazing:
 
 

I don’t often post the lyrics of more than one song but today I’m making an exception. These deserve to be seen:

 
Some people remember the first timeSome can’t forget the lastSome just select what they want to from the pastIt’s a song that you danced to in high schoolIt’s a moon you tried to bring downOn a four-in-the-morning drive through the streets of town
 
Come on, come on, it’s getting late nowCome on, come on, take my handCome on, come on, you just have to whisperCome on, come on, I will understand
 
It’s a photograph taken in Paris at the end of the honeymoonIn 1948, late in the month of JuneYour parents smile for the camera in sienna shades of lightNow you’re older than they were then that summer night
 
Come on, come on, it’s getting late nowCome on, come on, take my handCome on, come on, you just have to whisperCome on, come on, I will understand
 
It’s a need you never get used to, so fierce and so confusedIt’s a loss you never get over the first time you lose
And tonight I am thinking of someone, seventeen years agoWe rode in his daddy’s car down the river road
 
Come on, come on, it’s getting late nowCome on, come on, take my handCome on, come on, you just have to whisperCome on, come on, I will understandCome on, come on, it’s getting late nowCome on, come on, take my handCome on, come on, you just have to whisperCome on, come on
 
Source: Musixmatch
Songwriters: Pam Rose / Mary Ann Kennedy / Pat Bunch
Come On Come On lyrics © Warner-tamerlane Publishing Corp., Choy La Rue Music, Bucks Music Group Ltd
 
Carpenter playing guitar
Try telling me that those don’t touch at your heart strings. Anyone who has loved and lost, and has lived beyond the age that the departed were back then, can relate to this, as some of the comments on YouTube attest. The video is from a live DVD – Jubilee: Live At Wolf Trap – which was released in January 1996 and spent nearly two years in Billboard’s Top Music Videos chart. Come On Come On was the title track of MCC’s fourth album, which was released in June 1992, just four months before Shawn’s record: that was a good year for me, musically speaking. This was her breakthrough album in the US, where it reached #31, though it didn’t make the UK charts: she had to await her next release for that to happen. This one also made #6 in the US Country Albums chart, and #4 in the Canadian one. Seven of the twelve tracks were released as singles, though not this one, and all made the US Country chart: four of them were either #2 or #4, and the other three came in between #11 and #16. It is still her best selling album, with sales of around 3m. Again, this was one I bought at the time and have loved ever since. As you will have seen from this, she writes beautiful lyrics from the heart, filled with meaning. And to round things off, guess who provided backing vocals on three of the album’s tracks, including this one? Yes, that would be Shawn.
 
That’s a wrap for me today. I hope you’ve enjoyed two songs from two wonderful singer-songwriters, and commend their back catalogues to you if you haven’t tried them before. See you again for Tuesday Tunes, I trust?

 

 
 

47 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Just Put Your Hand In Mine”

  1. Pingback: My August | Take It Easy

  6. I’ve been following you long enough to know that Mary Carpenter Chapin is one of your favorites. I have heard this one before, and it’s marvelous. I was unfamiliar with not only Climb On but Shawn Colvin as well. I probably like the Carpenter tune a little better, but I can see why you like the former.

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    • Thanks, Pete. MCC is, as you say, a favourite of mine but Shawn runs her close. Beautifully written and performed songs are both their trademarks. I should play Shawn more often!

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    • It’s the only challenge that I do regularly, and I have a lot of fun choosing the tunes to play. These two are closely linked, both in the timing of their release and in the involvement of both of them on the other’s record. The fact that they are both great songs helped too 😊

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  13. Exquisite songs, both. They touched me deeply, especially Shawn’s Climb On. I’m having a very difficult time with my back right now and my husband keeps reminding me to ask him for help with anything I need. These tracks brought on the tears, which should come as no surprise to you. Thanks, Clive. As much as I like Come and Get It, you made the perfect choice today. ♡

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  14. Nice pairing Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter as they both have lovely voices. Shawn is new to me, and I don’t keep up with music as much as you do, nut I have heard of Mary Chapin Carpenter although I am not able to name any of her songs. This was a very pleasant post today, Clive.

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    • They do go well together, don’t they, and as they are friends who play on each other’s records they made a natural connection for the post. I’m glad you enjoyed the songs – you should try more by both of them!

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  19. You’ve done it again Clive, two excellent choices. I especially like the Shawn Colvin song, I know little about her but know she’s been touring recently in the US with another favourite of mine, KT Tunstall. I bet that’s quite a show.

    Mary Chapin Carpenter, what a songwriter, and a gorgeous voice.

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    • Thank you, Paul, I’m pleased you liked them both. I follow both on Facebook so I knew about that tour – I’d have loved to go to one of the shows!

      MCC has the most beautiful voice, doesn’t she. It’s so warm, and just wraps you up in the song.

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      • Well yes, she’s another one with a great reputation and career but who is unknown to the vast majority of people. Not that that particularly bothers them I guess.

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      • I think they are both happy in what they do. Given the amount of crap that sells by the truckload it does sometimes make me wonder if too many people have no musical taste!

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