Last week I played a set of songs which had either your or you’re in their title, and I said then that I had several more for this theme. So I’m going round again this week, though by a coincidence – not by planning – these are all you’re tunes. But as usual I’m playing them because I like them.

I think this first one is an obvious choice, but when have I ever let that stop me? Do you fancy walking into a party…

I think that could have done with a little more cowbell, to be honest. You’re So Vain was released by Carly Simon as a single in November 1972. It topped the charts in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and reached #3 in the UK, going Gold in the US for 1m sales and Platinum in the UK for 600k. It is a fantastic song, and one that I have loved since I first heard it, but I didn’t buy it: it was on Carly’s No Secrets album, and that was what I spent my university grant money on (don’t tell anyone!). Wikipedia is a bit vague on the album’s release dates, telling us on one page that it came out in September-October 1972 and on another that it was in November 1972: all I know is that I went to uni at the very end of September that year and bought it during my first term there. Like the single it went to #1 in the US, Canada and Australia and to #3 in the UK. I’m sure you know of all the speculation over who the song was about, and Carly has kept her cards close to her chest over it. Some say it is about Mick Jagger, others that it is Warren Beatty.  Carly has said herself that it is about men, but not one particular one – sorry, guys, but these character traits must be fairly common to us! A little extra fuel to the fire of speculation was added when it became known that Mick Jagger sang backing vocals on the track without receiving an album credit: Carly’s take on that was that he was in the studio at the time so she invited him to join in. A great musical mystery, around one of the all time great songs.

There are several versions of my next tune. I could have used this as another excuse to play Linda Ronstadt but have chosen to go with the version I first knew from way back in 1964, when everything was grey:

The Swinging Blue Jeans were one of the Merseyside bands who became part of ‘the British Invasion’ of the States. They released their version of You’re No Good in May 1964, and it peaked at #3 in the UK, though it only reached #97 in the US. I was coming up to 11 at that time and very much into pop music: the BBC had started the long-running Top Of The Pops show that year and we suddenly had much more access to music that we liked – helped, of course, by the 24/7 coverage of the pirate radio stations. The song had first been recorded by Betty Everett, who took it to #51 in the US. Linda Ronstadt sang it at concerts for a while before recording it: her version came out in November 1974 and got to #1 in the US, though it wasn’t a UK hit.

I’m going back to the Seventies again now, for a track by a long time favourite band of mine:

The Cars released You’re All I’ve Got Tonight as a track on their debut album, snappily entitled The Cars, in June 1978. The album peaked at #18 in the US and #29 in the UK, selling more than 6m copies in the US alone. They took three singles from the album, the most successful of which was My Best Friend’s Girl which made #3 in the UK. This track wasn’t a single, but in my view it ought to have been. Then again, the whole album is great, and was where I began my collection of their music – I have them all!

This next one might be a surprise to you, but it comes from an album I played to bits when it first came out. That album was Come On Over, by Shania Twain, whose version of the song is fantastic, but for a change I’m going with a duet version she recorded some years later, just to give you an overload of beauty:

Come On Over was Shania Twain’s third album, released in November 1997. There were two versions – a more country based one for the US and a more pop/rock one for international release. You’re Still The One was the opening track on the international edition, the one we got here in the UK, and it began an amazing run of success for her. The album got to #1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several countries around Europe, but was a miserable failure in the US: it only got to #2 there! But it did top the US Country chart, of course. It has become one of the best-selling albums of all time, with over 40m worldwide, including 15.7m in the US and 3.5m in the UK. Paula Fernandes, who joined Shania here, is a very popular singer in her native Brazil, who has shared other guest collaborations with the likes of Taylor Swift and Michael Bolton, and has toured many other countries, including the UK, the US, and across Europe and South America. And in case you didn’t notice, she can sing a bit herself, and is drop dead gorgeous. The video was recorded in December 2013 and from Shania’s introduction it is clear that Paula guested at one of her series of Las Vegas shows. This version was released as a single in Brazil in August 2014, making #15 on their Radio Airplay chart.

After that, what could I play to close today’s set? How about one of the best performers of all time:

You’re My Best Friend first appeared on Queen’s fourth album, A Night At The Opera, which was released in November 1975, reaching #1 in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, and #4 in the US, driven no doubt in part by the first single taken from it – some Rhapsody thing. This was the only other single from that album, released in June 1976, and it got to #7 in the UK and #16 in the US, though it fared best in Canada, where it reached #2. I guess that by then most who wanted the song already had it on the album – that was certainly the case for me. The track was written by the band’s bass player, John Deacon, as an ode to his wife. He played the Wurlitzer organ as well as bass on the recording, though for this video, which was shot in April 1976, he played grand piano. Wikipedia cites a number of tv shows in which the song has featured: I would list them but as I haven’t heard of many of them I’ll forgo that pleasure!

That’s yer lot for today. I hope you’ve enjoyed the selection – I had a lot of fun listening to these as I compiled the set. See you again soon, I trust 😊