Tempted (Squeeze song)

"Tempted"
Squeeze tempted cover.jpg
Artwork for original UK vinyl single
Single by Squeeze
from the album East Side Story
Released10 July 1981 (UK)
Recorded1981
GenrePop rock, blue eyed soul, new wave
Length4:04 (album version)
3:53 (US single edit)
4:07 (Tempted '94)
LabelA&M
Songwriter(s)Glenn Tilbrook, Chris Difford
Producer(s)Roger Bechirian & Elvis Costello
Squeeze singles chronology
"Is That Love"
(1981)
"Tempted"
(1981)
"Labelled With Love"
(1981)

"Tempted" is a song by the British rock band Squeeze, and it was released as the second single from their fourth album, East Side Story. Over the years it has become one of Squeeze's best-known songs, despite failing to reach the Top 40 of the charts in any country in which it was released (number 41 in the UK,[1] number 45 in Canada, number 49 in the US, number 90 in Australia). Stewart Mason of AllMusic remarked, "Although its increasing ubiquity on '80s hits radio and on television (it was used in a successful clothing commercial in 2003) would suggest otherwise, Squeeze's "Tempted" was not actually a hit single."[2] The song later became ingrained in public consciousness due to its use in commercials by Burger King and Heineken,[3] film soundtracks like that of Reality Bites (which featured a 1994 rerecording), and the video games Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (on the in-game radio station Emotion 98.3, and subsequently on the real-world CD, vol. 3, of the game soundtrack), and Rock Band. To this day, "Tempted" still gets moderate airplay from classic hits, classic rock and adult alternative-formatted radio stations. it can also be heard in the TV show Ashes to Ashes (TV series).

Unlike other Squeeze songs, which are sung usually by guitarist/songwriter Glenn Tilbrook or less often by guitarist/lyricist Chris Difford, the song's lead vocal is sung by keyboardist Paul Carrack, though Tilbrook and producer Elvis Costello also trade a few lines in the second verse (in the video and during live performances Difford sings the Costello parts; since Carrack's departure, Tilbrook has sung the lead vocal as well as his own original lines when live). The song was written by Difford and Tilbrook.

Information

Singer/guitarist Chris Difford wrote the lyric while the band was taking a taxi to Heathrow Airport. The descriptions of the city and airport sights are interspersed with the narrator's ruminations on a relationship that is failing, or has failed, due to his own infidelities. As Difford recalled,

The original story behind "Tempted" is we're going on another American tour. I got on a taxi and I started writing down what I saw lyrically. I don't know the course of time of how long it took, but then I gave Glenn the lyrics and then Glenn put the music to it. It's an extraordinary song. It's one of the most played songs that we have in our catalog.[4]

Tilbrook considers this one of his favourite songs: "It was our first song. It was when we grew up, really, as a band. When we finished it I couldn't quite believe it was us."[3] Difford also named the song as a favourite, saying "I do love 'Tempted'. It's so visual and again floats me back to that time when youth was a cloud I drifted around on from day to day".[5]

Other versions

"Tempted" has been covered numerous times, including versions by Sting, OK Go, Richard Thompson, Joe Cocker, Mickey Thomas, The Georgetown Chimes, Rockapella, Rita Coolidge and Jenny Morris. Jools Holland also covered this song on his album Lift the Lid, which was a nod to Jools' history with the band. In 2019, Erykah Badu recorded her version.

In 1993, Squeeze remixed and overdubbed the original recording to create a 'new' version of the song for the soundtrack to the film Reality Bites. This version received some radio airplay and was dubbed "Tempted '94".

In 2010, the song appeared in re-recorded form on Spot the Difference, a retrospective of Squeeze hits performed by the 2010 edition of the band. Though Carrack was no longer a member of Squeeze at this point, he sat in as a guest and sang lead vocals on this re-recorded track.

Track listing

7"

  1. "Tempted" (4:04)
  2. "Yap Yap Yap" (4:13)

7" (US release)

  1. "Tempted" (3:53)
  2. "Trust" (1:45)

References

  1. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 522/3. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. ^ Mason, Stewart. "Tempted" review. AllMusic. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  3. ^ a b Tempted by Squeeze. Songfacts. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
  4. ^ Nolasco, Stephanie. "Squeeze's Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook reveal the strangest fan encounter they've had: 'She wins the award'". Fox News. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  5. ^ "What's New (and Old)?: A Q&A with Squeeze's Chris Difford". Rebeat Magazine. Retrieved 11 November 2019.

This page was last updated at 2020-09-09 12:25 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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