Song of the Day: Joan Armatrading – “(I Love It When You) Call Me Names”
Released: 1983
Album: The Key
There’s always blind spots—artists whose names you’ve heard for years but you’ve never checked out. Until recently Joan Armatrading was one of them. I guess I always just assumed she’d sound like 60s Greenwich Village folk, and I couldn’t tell you why I have had that misconception. Upon hearing,”Less Than Zero,” the opening track to her self-titled 1976 record, I was immediately blown away. The entire album is a folk rock masterpiece. Her unique contralto voice reminded me of a contemporary personal favorite, Circuit des Yeux. It’s also impossible to think she wasn’t a huge influence on Tracy Chapman. Producer Glyn Johns even once said that Joan Armatrading was the best album he was ever associated with. That’s high praise from a guy who worked with The Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin, Small Faces, etc.
In the 80s, Armatrading shifted to more of a pop rock sound. Such a move could have been disastrous, but Joan Armatrading rules. In 1983, her album The Key featured a backing band that included Adrian Belew, Tony Levin, Stewart Copeland. The infectious “Drop the Pilot” was her biggest hit from the record, but album opener “(I Love It When You) Call Me Names” is equally as wonderful.
Incredibly, Joan Armatrading is still going steadily releasing albums straight into last year.
Lyrics
I just wanna see you at night
Don’t come round my house in the day
I love it when we start up a fight
And I love it when the fight ends your way
I love it when you call me names
I can’t wait to see you again
I know you’re gonna slap my face
You beat me up then beat me again
And over and over and over and over
And over and over
I love it when you call me names
Big woman
And a short short man
And he loves it
When she beats his brains out
He’s pecked to death
But he loves the pain
And he loves it
When she calls him names
She’s wearing heavy leather with lace
He dresses up in cowboy taste
They punish then they think up a crime
It’s their way of loving not mine
I love it when you call me names