Tragedy, cover songs, and a surprising tagline: I Can’t Make You Love Me (George Michael)
This episode reviews George Michael’s cover of “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” the classic Bonnie Raitt hit, covering the differences between the vocal delivery and instrumentation. But there's a mystery: the surprising tag that George Michael added to the end of his version, which takes a tragic song and gives a surprising twist of hope on it.
In the mailbag portion of the segment, Trist and Elaine discuss the importance of music in schools, especially at the elementary school level, in shaping lifelong musical engagement, both as creators and as consumers.
Listen to the song
- YouTube - https://youtu.be/2_lpN31PmD8
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/track/3dQVWKuUMjxtuyflV4tzHV?si=9cded47836ed433c (may not having ending)
- Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/song/i-cant-make-you-love-me-studio-version/429945624 (may not have ending)
- Amazon - https://amazon.com/music/player/albums/B011QPB5MO?marketplaceId=ATVPDKIKX0DER&musicTerritory=US&ref=dm_sh_q2daXareM97Nqr2K4FngIftPl&trackAsin=B011QPCN5W
Other links
- Playlist of the songs we’ve reviewed
- YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5bn23baJ4xQ1t0TMqukELY5W95HwuMoT
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7gCOF5M0zYS1fBvXgT5ccI?si=7F3yVdEDRRWa_gAArK3AYg
- Apple Music - https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/songs-reviewed-on-the-musicians-loupe/pl.u-V9D7maah06JNo
- Amazon Music - https://music.amazon.com/user-playlists/3b47be4937b7490982f4a872db32ec8dsune?ref=dm_sh_AEFZY8KhvSsz1TGoRmasg6zHZ
About us
Trist Curless is a Los Angeles-based vocalist, educator, and sound engineer. As a performer, Trist has toured worldwide as a co-founder of the pop-jazz vocal group m-pact and a 10 year member of the Grammy-award winning The Manhattan Transfer. In addition to these two vocal powerhouse groups, he’s also performed with Take 6, Bobby McFerrin, New York Voices, Vox Audio, Naturally 7, and The Swingle Singers. His latest venture, The LHR Project, is a new vocal group collective celebrating legendary jazz vocal group Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.
As an audio engineer, Trist has toured nationally with several vocal groups and bands in a large variety of venues, working for Grammy award winners Pentatonix and Take 6, as well as prominent a cappella vocal groups Straight No Chaser, VoicePlay, and Accent.
Elaine Chao, M.Ed is a San Francisco Bay Area-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, vocal percussionist, and songwriter whose career spans a cappella, contemporary worship, and classical music. She has leveraged her training in classical and choral music over the course of her contemporary performance, including in orchestras for musical theatre and in sacred spaces. In addition to music, she also is a martial artist and published author. She currently leads a product management team at a major software company dedicated to creative expression. All statements in this podcast are her own and do not reflect the opinions of her employer
Transcript
Elaine: Hey, Trist!
Speaker:Elaine: What do we have this week?
Speaker:Trist: Well, this time we start with a question that
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: I want to pose.
Speaker:Trist: Can a particular singer or artist make you hear a song that
Speaker:Trist: you never really heard before?
Speaker:Trist: The way that I said "hear" and "heard" in the air quotes.
Speaker:Trist: So there's a song, maybe you hear a cover of something.
Speaker:Trist: The song was never that big of a
Speaker:Trist: thing to you until you heard a
Speaker:Trist: certain artist do it, and then
Speaker:Trist: all of a sudden it spoke to you
Speaker:Trist: and made you even appreciate the
Speaker:Trist: original more.
Speaker:Trist: Like you needed the vehicle of the new artist to hear the art.
Speaker:Elaine: I can think of at least one, like the Whitney Houston version
Speaker:Elaine: of "I Will Always
Speaker:Trist: Oh,
Speaker:Elaine: Love You."
Speaker:Trist: right.
Speaker:Elaine: Right?
Speaker:Elaine: That's a classic one that Dolly Parton wrote.
Speaker:Trist: right.
Speaker:Elaine: That's an example of what you're talking about,
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: right?
Speaker:Elaine: Where
Speaker:Trist: And it's like,
Speaker:Elaine: it
Speaker:Trist: okay,
Speaker:Elaine: makes
Speaker:Trist: that's
Speaker:Elaine: it so big.
Speaker:Trist: a, that's a good song.
Speaker:Trist: Of course that's true.
Speaker:Trist: But then all of a sudden, with this other delivery mechanism,
Speaker:Trist: it's like, oh, wow, those lyrics didn't really hit me the way
Speaker:Trist: that they do now.
Speaker:Trist: This week's song.
Speaker:Trist: But quite in the same realm of being an amazing piece of music.
Speaker:Trist: "I Can't Make You Love Me."
Speaker:Trist: But the one we're going to
Speaker:Trist: listen to was recorded by George
Speaker:Trist: Michael.
Speaker:Elaine: Oh, interesting.
Speaker:Elaine: I had no idea that he had
Speaker:Elaine: recorded the song, so I'm
Speaker:Elaine: looking forward to listening to
Speaker:Elaine: it.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, it was not on a regular album.
Speaker:Trist: We'll get into those particulars.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay, so before we pause, can
Speaker:Elaine: you remind us how we listen to
Speaker:Elaine: music as a part of The Musicians
Speaker:Elaine: Loupe community?
Speaker:Trist: Here at The Musicians Loupe, we are always happy to have you in
Speaker:Trist: whatever way you can join us.
Speaker:Trist: And we appreciate you listening.
Speaker:Trist: But if you do have the ability
Speaker:Trist: and can take just a moment to
Speaker:Trist: improve your listening
Speaker:Trist: situation.
Speaker:Trist: Whatever it may be, at least just to listen to the song.
Speaker:Trist: If you can put on the nicer headphones or put it on the big
Speaker:Trist: speakers, or turn it up a little bit, or go into the nice study
Speaker:Trist: where you have the good listening room set up.
Speaker:Trist: Treat yourself and just listen the best way that you can.
Speaker:Trist: Again, if you're out on a run, thanks for having us and listen
Speaker:Trist: to this tune and come back.
Speaker:Elaine: All right.
Speaker:Elaine: So we're going to leave the links in the show notes and we
Speaker:Elaine: will be right back.
Speaker:Trist: And we are back.
Speaker:Trist: Is that a beautiful rendition or what?
Speaker:Elaine: It is.
Speaker:Elaine: We normally hear the Bonnie Raitt version, right?
Speaker:Trist: Yeah. That's the original, sung by Bonnie Raitt.
Speaker:Trist: Not written by her, but her
Speaker:Trist: original recording and
Speaker:Trist: performance with Bruce Hornsby
Speaker:Trist: playing piano with her, by the
Speaker:Trist: way.
Speaker:Trist: If you never knew that, now you know.
Speaker:Elaine: So I'm really interested in hearing why you selected this
Speaker:Elaine: version and also gave the lede that you did.
Speaker:Trist: So that was the song for me.
Speaker:Trist: So the thing is, for me, I needed George Michael's amazing
Speaker:Trist: voice to tell me the story.
Speaker:Trist: For whatever dumb reason, I think my brain, especially, you
Speaker:Trist: know, I'm just out of high school and I knew of this
Speaker:Trist: artist, Bonnie Raitt.
Speaker:Trist: She had finally had some success.
Speaker:Trist: She had been doing it for 15 or 20 years with enough success to
Speaker:Trist: be a professional musician and travel the world, making albums,
Speaker:Trist: but never a big hit.
Speaker:Trist: And man, had this album in like '89 or '90 called Nick of Time.
Speaker:Trist: "Let's give em something to talk about."
Speaker:Trist: Like all
Speaker:Elaine: Oh,
Speaker:Trist: the hits.
Speaker:Elaine: yeah.
Speaker:Trist: Like it just came out of nowhere.
Speaker:Trist: She was the hot new thing that
Speaker:Trist: had been doing it 20 years,
Speaker:Trist: right?
Speaker:Elaine: Yeah.
Speaker:Trist: So those were the kinds of
Speaker:Trist: songs, kind of bluesy, gritty
Speaker:Trist: country rock tunes, and not my
Speaker:Trist: bag.
Speaker:Trist: So I let, oh, that's like the slow, pretty song that the girl
Speaker:Trist: that sings, the stuff that I'm not into is singing.
Speaker:Trist: Somehow I let all of that stuff
Speaker:Trist: cloud my thoughts, even though
Speaker:Trist: that song, because it's so well
Speaker:Trist: written, it's such a good song,
Speaker:Trist: it often makes you know, the
Speaker:Trist: greatest sad songs of all time,
Speaker:Trist: all these lists, it's on those
Speaker:Trist: kinds of lists frequently
Speaker:Trist: because it's just so well
Speaker:Trist: written.
Speaker:Trist: But I just wasn't hearing that.
Speaker:Trist: I was like, oh yeah, that's the Bonnie Raitt thing.
Speaker:Trist: It's the same great song.
Speaker:Trist: I just wasn't gonna allow myself to actually listen to it and be
Speaker:Trist: as moved as maybe I should have.
Speaker:Trist: And because I was more of a fan of George and his music and his
Speaker:Trist: voice, I hear him cover it and yeah, I totally dig it.
Speaker:Trist: But also light bulb goes off like, oh, you idiot, you've
Speaker:Trist: heard this song for years now and you didn't pay attention to
Speaker:Trist: what an amazingly well written song this is.
Speaker:Trist: So going back and listening to her, she sounds great.
Speaker:Trist: It's really well delivered.
Speaker:Trist: It's just a different style.
Speaker:Trist: And I was glad that the George
Speaker:Trist: version let me realize what a
Speaker:Trist: dummy I was in not really giving
Speaker:Trist: credence to what a great song it
Speaker:Trist: was, no matter who's delivering
Speaker:Trist: it.
Speaker:Elaine: It's interesting to me to think about which version I prefer.
Speaker:Elaine: They're definitely different.
Speaker:Elaine: We recently covered a Patsy Cline song and we had been
Speaker:Elaine: talking about how Patsy Cline's voice just really had that
Speaker:Elaine: maturity to be able to sell the tragedy of it.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: And I felt
Speaker:Trist: You
Speaker:Elaine: the
Speaker:Trist: can.
Speaker:Elaine: same way about Bonnie Raitt's voice, and
Speaker:Trist: There's
Speaker:Elaine: I don't
Speaker:Trist: more
Speaker:Elaine: know
Speaker:Trist: pain.
Speaker:Elaine: Exactly, but I think that it
Speaker:Elaine: doesn't have the same level of
Speaker:Elaine: vulnerability that
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: George's voice has.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think about how he
Speaker:Elaine: delivers it, and the delivery
Speaker:Elaine: that he has is very light at the
Speaker:Elaine: very beginning.
Speaker:Elaine: I actually wrote down as a part
Speaker:Elaine: of this listen through that
Speaker:Elaine: there was that very tenderness
Speaker:Elaine: that he had at the very
Speaker:Elaine: beginning that showed that
Speaker:Elaine: vulnerability.
Speaker:Elaine: And eventually he ends up going more into the power voice, the
Speaker:Elaine: second half of the song or so,
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: and really has more of that belting kind
Speaker:Trist: The
Speaker:Elaine: of voice
Speaker:Trist: the money
Speaker:Elaine: in
Speaker:Trist: notes,
Speaker:Elaine: the second.
Speaker:Trist: the George Michael money notes
Speaker:Trist: that you're paying admission to
Speaker:Trist: hear.
Speaker:Elaine: So I heard that vulnerability.
Speaker:Elaine: I heard that of wistfulness and I felt like it was a slightly
Speaker:Elaine: different take because the voices were so different between
Speaker:Elaine: Bonnie Raitt's version and George Michael's version.
Speaker:Trist: Another key to just what a well
Speaker:Trist: written song it is, is how many
Speaker:Trist: covers.
Speaker:Trist: There's a Boys II Men cover.
Speaker:Trist: There's an Adele version.
Speaker:Trist: I'm an insanely crazy Prince fan, and Prince did a cover of
Speaker:Trist: it that I don't necessarily care for all that much.
Speaker:Trist: But yeah, there's the George- and there's also a live version.
Speaker:Trist: He did an MTV "Unplugged" special that he sings this on as
Speaker:Trist: well, with some live strings and background singers, and of
Speaker:Trist: course "Unplugged," so all mostly acoustic instruments,
Speaker:Trist: really cool performance, really beautiful, tender delivery.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, I heard that in this one.
Speaker:Elaine: Besides the voices, which were significantly different, the
Speaker:Elaine: instrumentation was very different as well.
Speaker:Elaine: And I felt like that really shifted the tone as well.
Speaker:Elaine: So instead of what you were
Speaker:Elaine: talking about, that blues rock
Speaker:Elaine: background of Bonnie Raitt, the
Speaker:Elaine: way that she delivered, the way
Speaker:Elaine: that the instrument supported
Speaker:Elaine: her was very different than the
Speaker:Elaine: very acoustic version that we
Speaker:Elaine: heard in this track, which was
Speaker:Elaine: much more strings, much more
Speaker:Elaine: piano, acoustic guitar, upright
Speaker:Elaine: bass, and,
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: uh, very simple kit drums.
Speaker:Elaine: And I just felt like it was a
Speaker:Elaine: bit more pulled back in some
Speaker:Elaine: ways a lot more restrained than
Speaker:Elaine: the
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: Bonnie Raitt version.
Speaker:Elaine: I don't know if this is mapping to reality because I haven't
Speaker:Elaine: heard that song in a little while, but this is
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: from memory here.
Speaker:Trist: I don't know if he did it for the MTV show first.
Speaker:Trist: And that's why I kind of stuck with that arrangement.
Speaker:Trist: I'm forgetting the exact order,
Speaker:Trist: but they're both very close in
Speaker:Trist: time.
Speaker:Trist: I like this one specifically the most, the one that we have in
Speaker:Trist: the show notes.
Speaker:Trist: And I believe it's only going to
Speaker:Trist: be a YouTube clip because it's
Speaker:Trist: not on any of the streamers this
Speaker:Trist: way.
Speaker:Trist: The live one isn't this way.
Speaker:Trist: There's a lot of ways to listen to the song and you feel like
Speaker:Trist: it's the same, but when you love it as much as I do, you miss all
Speaker:Trist: the little spots that you loved.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, "Wait.
Speaker:Trist: He took a breath there.
Speaker:Trist: That's what I loved, is that he didn't take a breath there."
Speaker:Trist: So there are a few differences.
Speaker:Trist: Listen again and listen to some of the phrasing and some of the
Speaker:Trist: places maybe he connects where you weren't expecting.
Speaker:Trist: It has a few different alternate
Speaker:Trist: notes, that are very much in his
Speaker:Trist: style, that actually fit this
Speaker:Trist: perfectly.
Speaker:Trist: Sometimes he does things that
Speaker:Trist: are very George Michael that
Speaker:Trist: don't necessarily fit the song,
Speaker:Trist: but this one, it really, really
Speaker:Trist: does.
Speaker:Elaine: That is interesting because
Speaker:Elaine: there were definitely some
Speaker:Elaine: vowels that he used that I
Speaker:Elaine: heard.
Speaker:Elaine: I was like, oh, that's such a George Michael thing to do.
Speaker:Elaine: And it was almost distracting to
Speaker:Elaine: me because it was very typical
Speaker:Elaine: George Michael
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: and it wasn't the Bonnie Raitt
Speaker:Elaine: kind of way of approaching
Speaker:Elaine: vowels or just the way that she
Speaker:Elaine: pronounces things that I'm like,
Speaker:Elaine: eh, well, I don't know if I
Speaker:Elaine: prefer it, but I understand it's
Speaker:Elaine: his style.
Speaker:Trist: When I first happened upon it, I
Speaker:Trist: was like, oh, wow, he's doing
Speaker:Trist: this song.
Speaker:Trist: Let me check this out.
Speaker:Trist: I remember specifically hearing, because I was such a fan and
Speaker:Trist: heard so many recordings.
Speaker:Trist: There was a few sounds that I
Speaker:Trist: was like, oh, wow, I've never
Speaker:Trist: heard that timbre or that part
Speaker:Trist: of his range on that vowel
Speaker:Trist: before.
Speaker:Trist: Like there were literally tone
Speaker:Trist: colors he was using that I had
Speaker:Trist: never heard him use in any other
Speaker:Trist: song before.
Speaker:Trist: So it really surprised me
Speaker:Trist: because he has again, his stock
Speaker:Trist: like this is the quiet little
Speaker:Trist: spot.
Speaker:Trist: This is the belty spot.
Speaker:Trist: And it's just consistent gold coming out of his chords that
Speaker:Trist: anytime I heard these other little vowel sounds, I was
Speaker:Trist: always surprised, but in a good way, like, oh, wow.
Speaker:Trist: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: He's either feeling this in a
Speaker:Trist: way, or he's aging in such a way
Speaker:Trist: that he can't transition between
Speaker:Trist: these two voices as much or I'm
Speaker:Trist: not sure what, but I
Speaker:Trist: specifically remember sounds
Speaker:Trist: that I hadn't heard from him
Speaker:Trist: before.
Speaker:Elaine: So there were two other things
Speaker:Elaine: that I heard that I'd love to
Speaker:Elaine: call out.
Speaker:Elaine: One of them was the treble chorus.
Speaker:Elaine: And so there's a chorus starting at about minute four or
Speaker:Trist: The
Speaker:Elaine: so.
Speaker:Trist: background singers come in.
Speaker:Elaine: Exactly.
Speaker:Elaine: And
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: it was funny because I didn't
Speaker:Elaine: hear them until the second time
Speaker:Elaine: through.
Speaker:Elaine: And I was like, Oh!
Speaker:Elaine: They are there
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: and they're so good.
Speaker:Elaine: But I think that part of the reason I didn't hear them at
Speaker:Elaine: first is that they are mixed in so well, they're
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: definitely part of the texture.
Speaker:Elaine: I know that you've
Speaker:Trist: Yep.
Speaker:Elaine: talked about background vocals
Speaker:Elaine: being more textural, and this is
Speaker:Elaine: one where I was like, oh, it was
Speaker:Elaine: textural.
Speaker:Elaine: I didn't even hear it until I was listening to it, but
Speaker:Trist: Yep.
Speaker:Elaine: it was also a lot more soulful.
Speaker:Elaine: I felt
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: like the voices in and of
Speaker:Elaine: themselves, it wasn't a choral
Speaker:Elaine: "ooh," it was definitely more of
Speaker:Elaine: a soul gospel "ooh" that I
Speaker:Elaine: heard.
Speaker:Elaine: Can you tell me anything about that?
Speaker:Trist: Right at that time he had
Speaker:Trist: anywhere between six and nine
Speaker:Trist: background singers that were
Speaker:Trist: just always incredible,
Speaker:Trist: especially strongly featured on
Speaker:Trist: that previously mentioned MTV
Speaker:Trist: "Unplugged."
Speaker:Trist: There's still not an official video release of that, but if
Speaker:Trist: you know the dark arts of the internet, you can find it.
Speaker:Trist: But they have officially
Speaker:Trist: released the audio from all
Speaker:Trist: those and the background singers
Speaker:Trist: are just incredible on those
Speaker:Trist: sessions.
Speaker:Trist: The original song actually has
Speaker:Trist: background vocals in about the
Speaker:Trist: same spot.
Speaker:Trist: They're not as predominant and there aren't as many of them.
Speaker:Trist: And yeah, they're also back into the texture.
Speaker:Trist: They're not even as forefront as these are.
Speaker:Trist: The background vocals are definitely an important part of
Speaker:Trist: this era of recording for him.
Speaker:Elaine: When you say the background
Speaker:Elaine: vocals, are you talking about
Speaker:Elaine: the original George Michael
Speaker:Elaine: version?
Speaker:Elaine: Are you talking about the Bonnie Raitt version?
Speaker:Trist: Uh, both.
Speaker:Elaine: Oh wow.
Speaker:Elaine: They both have the background
Speaker:Trist: They both
Speaker:Elaine: vocals
Speaker:Trist: have background
Speaker:Elaine: as texture.
Speaker:Trist: vocals in that
Speaker:Elaine: Oh,
Speaker:Trist: same spot.
Speaker:Elaine: interesting.
Speaker:Trist: Um, and it's easy to miss.
Speaker:Trist: When I listened again, I was
Speaker:Trist: like, oh, there are some
Speaker:Trist: background vocals right there in
Speaker:Trist: the original.
Speaker:Trist: It's voiced a little bit differently.
Speaker:Trist: There are more voices, it sounds
Speaker:Trist: like on the George and the
Speaker:Trist: chord's opened up a little bit
Speaker:Trist: more, spread a little bit
Speaker:Trist: farther.
Speaker:Trist: but it's the same basic function within each style.
Speaker:Elaine: Interesting.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, that brings me to the second thing that I noticed,
Speaker:Elaine: which was the ending.
Speaker:Elaine: And I was
Speaker:Trist: Uh,
Speaker:Elaine: like, whoa, whoa whoa whoa.
Speaker:Elaine: Where did
Speaker:Trist: okay.
Speaker:Elaine: that ending come from?
Speaker:Elaine: And
Speaker:Trist: We did
Speaker:Elaine: so.
Speaker:Trist: this whole podcast just so we can talk about this
Speaker:Elaine: Okay.
Speaker:Trist: ending.
Speaker:Elaine: And you know, he's talking about "someone's gonna love me."
Speaker:Elaine: It is a complete left turn.
Speaker:Elaine: And it was so interesting.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm like, wait, what do you mean you're stopping here?
Speaker:Elaine: I thought it was a new movement that we were going into that was
Speaker:Elaine: going to be his invention, some kind of introduction,
Speaker:Trist: Exactly.
Speaker:Elaine: his version of it.
Speaker:Trist: This is what I'm saying, Elaine.
Speaker:Trist: Send this to everybody you know, and somebody needs to find us
Speaker:Trist: the answer what the story is.
Speaker:Trist: So the first time I hear this,
Speaker:Trist: I'm just like, now wait a
Speaker:Trist: minute.
Speaker:Trist: I can't decide if I'm annoyed or that's the coolest thing ever.
Speaker:Trist: Or I've just got this wave of
Speaker:Trist: emotions because this song has a
Speaker:Trist: vibe.
Speaker:Trist: It is not a happy one.
Speaker:Trist: It's not looking forward.
Speaker:Trist: It's not things are going to get better.
Speaker:Trist: It's not life can be great.
Speaker:Trist: It's not you never know what's around the corner.
Speaker:Trist: That's not the message of this song.
Speaker:Trist: This song is a downer.
Speaker:Trist: It's beautiful.
Speaker:Trist: But man, it's deeply heartfelt.
Speaker:Trist: It's a bummer.
Speaker:Trist: I can't make you love me if you don't.
Speaker:Trist: just that line is just like, UGH.
Speaker:Trist: That's the vibe of this song.
Speaker:Trist: And he's gonna like, have a
Speaker:Trist: different little chord change at
Speaker:Trist: the end.
Speaker:Trist: And then just like a glass half
Speaker:Trist: full, someone's gonna love-
Speaker:Trist: what?
Speaker:Trist: No you can't- On one hand, I'm
Speaker:Trist: like, wait, wait, that changes
Speaker:Trist: the entire experience we just
Speaker:Trist: had!
Speaker:Trist: It's like, there's all this, but
Speaker:Trist: hey, the sun will come out
Speaker:Trist: tomorrow.
Speaker:Trist: So I need to know, did the songwriters ever hear this and
Speaker:Trist: have the same reaction as me?
Speaker:Trist: Like, no, what are you doing?
Speaker:Trist: Or they're mad because they actually like it and wish they
Speaker:Trist: had thought of it?
Speaker:Trist: But here's the next thing.
Speaker:Trist: So the recording that we keep referring, the highlighted one
Speaker:Trist: that we want you to listen to.
Speaker:Trist: It has that at the end.
Speaker:Trist: There are many versions of this that are out there online that
Speaker:Trist: the label put out.
Speaker:Trist: The line is not there.
Speaker:Trist: Even the MTV "Unplugged" video
Speaker:Trist: that I managed to obtain that
Speaker:Trist: I'm probably not supposed to
Speaker:Trist: have.
Speaker:Trist: He sings that on the live video.
Speaker:Elaine: I was going to ask that because I was wondering if
Speaker:Trist: He.
Speaker:Elaine: he had intentionally done it, because the alternate
Speaker:Elaine: explanation that I had was
Speaker:Trist: I'm not
Speaker:Elaine: that,
Speaker:Trist: done.
Speaker:Elaine: oh, maybe it has to do with the next track.
Speaker:Elaine: It's leading
Speaker:Trist: Nope.
Speaker:Elaine: into the next track, but
Speaker:Trist: Nope.
Speaker:Elaine: if he's singing it in the MTV
Speaker:Elaine: version, that means that it was
Speaker:Elaine: intentional.
Speaker:Elaine: Okay, tell me more about that.
Speaker:Trist: The ones that I've seen that have been put out there on
Speaker:Trist: YouTube by the label that you're supposed to see.
Speaker:Trist: It's taken out.
Speaker:Trist: It's not a different version.
Speaker:Trist: It's the same recording and it is edited out.
Speaker:Trist: The little chord happens
Speaker:Trist: differently and there's no
Speaker:Trist: vocal.
Speaker:Trist: There are several instances of that vocal being removed, so I
Speaker:Trist: just want to know the story.
Speaker:Trist: I want to know if the
Speaker:Trist: songwriters and the publishers
Speaker:Trist: came in and said, that isn't
Speaker:Trist: there.
Speaker:Trist: Get that out of there.
Speaker:Trist: I don't know who decided.
Speaker:Trist: I need to know the story about this, because I've always
Speaker:Trist: thought that that was a very interesting choice to just flip
Speaker:Trist: the whole vibe of the song to like this positive outlook.
Speaker:Trist: If anybody please somebody has to know more about this.
Speaker:Trist: I've looked in Reddit threads, I've looked in fan pages, I've
Speaker:Trist: looked all over the place, but I've not seen any information.
Speaker:Trist: at the most someone's like, "oh yeah, it was interesting how
Speaker:Trist: this one version has him sing this and this one doesn't."
Speaker:Trist: Well, I already know that.
Speaker:Trist: I just want to know.
Speaker:Trist: So I went on and on and on about that.
Speaker:Trist: So you tell me what you thought
Speaker:Trist: as you heard that at the end of
Speaker:Trist: the song?
Speaker:Elaine: I was surprised, and I think a
Speaker:Elaine: big part of the surprise had to
Speaker:Elaine: do with A, I wasn't expecting
Speaker:Elaine: it.
Speaker:Elaine: I was expecting the song to
Speaker:Elaine: close because I knew the song,
Speaker:Elaine: but I think B it was musically
Speaker:Elaine: so different.
Speaker:Elaine: It was definitely one of those things where the chord.
Speaker:Elaine: This is a very simple rock song.
Speaker:Elaine: This is
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: a very simple song
Speaker:Trist: Little
Speaker:Elaine: from
Speaker:Trist: pop ballad.
Speaker:Elaine: a chord
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: perspective, and it just definitely hit a different- I
Speaker:Elaine: mean, I said left turn.
Speaker:Elaine: I really do mean left turn, just musically, it sounds like, yep,
Speaker:Elaine: I've tacked something on at the very end and it's like, oh,
Speaker:Elaine: where did that come from?
Speaker:Elaine: It's interesting that you
Speaker:Elaine: mention the sense of hopefulness
Speaker:Elaine: in that.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm not entirely sure that I'd
Speaker:Elaine: processed enough to be able to
Speaker:Elaine: say whether it was hopeful or
Speaker:Elaine: not.
Speaker:Elaine: Definitely a huge surprise for
Speaker:Elaine: me, and I don't think I got
Speaker:Elaine: beyond that.
Speaker:Trist: Again, it's the only thing that looks ahead in the entire song.
Speaker:Trist: The entire song is looking back
Speaker:Trist: how, there's love going in one
Speaker:Trist: direction.
Speaker:Trist: And I can't make you love me back.
Speaker:Elaine: In previous songs, we've talked about how lyrics paint a series
Speaker:Elaine: of vignettes or they paint a picture of the emotions.
Speaker:Elaine: This one in particular sounds so
Speaker:Elaine: intimate because it describes
Speaker:Elaine: one moment,
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: one emotion.
Speaker:Elaine: In incredible depth.
Speaker:Elaine: And you find out so much about this relationship.
Speaker:Elaine: In just two verses and this repeated chorus.
Speaker:Elaine: So, the line that you've referenced is the one that
Speaker:Elaine: definitely tells us like, oh, this is what's going on.
Speaker:Elaine: But there's this very descriptive turn down the
Speaker:Elaine: lights, turn down the bed, we're going to have this intimate
Speaker:Elaine: moment, but there's a sense of wistfulness as a part of that.
Speaker:Elaine: Like, don't patronize me.
Speaker:Elaine: Right?
Speaker:Elaine: Just lay down with me.
Speaker:Elaine: And then you find out that at the very end of a relationship
Speaker:Elaine: as opposed to, your typical everyday, every night kind of
Speaker:Elaine: thing, an intimate moment.
Speaker:Elaine: In the second verse, the singer talks in some ways of
Speaker:Elaine: constructing this world in this moment, saying, I just want to
Speaker:Elaine: pretend that things are okay.
Speaker:Elaine: And I think that leads to that sense of tragedy.
Speaker:Elaine: We all understand what it means
Speaker:Elaine: to be in a relationship that is
Speaker:Elaine: breaking up.
Speaker:Elaine: You're in this moment at the
Speaker:Elaine: very end, and sometimes it's
Speaker:Elaine: explosive, right?
Speaker:Elaine: And like, all this stuff happens.
Speaker:Elaine: But this particular one is like, I know we're ending.
Speaker:Elaine: I know that tomorrow the reality is going to hit.
Speaker:Trist: Mhm.
Speaker:Elaine: But just for tonight, let's just pretend.
Speaker:Elaine: And so there is something in there that is heart wrenching,
Speaker:Elaine: but it's describing one particular moment in an
Speaker:Elaine: incredible depth, as opposed to the other types of lyrics
Speaker:Trist: Right,
Speaker:Elaine: that we've talked about previously.
Speaker:Trist: right.
Speaker:Trist: Which is just more follow up for
Speaker:Trist: not adding that line at the end
Speaker:Trist: about, well, someone's gonna
Speaker:Trist: love me.
Speaker:Trist: Like it's all of that, that we just said, yes.
Speaker:Trist: And it's so well crafted, so well done.
Speaker:Trist: So just to tag that on again is, I think really cool and also
Speaker:Trist: baffling and weird.
Speaker:Trist: And I still have never decided if I like it or hate it.
Speaker:Elaine: I file that under, "It's a choice."
Speaker:Trist: Well, and of course I like the version of it so much.
Speaker:Trist: And his singing is so beautiful and like I said, I really heard
Speaker:Trist: this song for the first time.
Speaker:Trist: I was like, oh wow.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, the song is really well done.
Speaker:Trist: Then when that is added, I'm always like, what is happening?
Speaker:Trist: Anyway,
Speaker:Elaine: Okay, so
Speaker:Trist: okay.
Speaker:Elaine: anything else to say about this song before we wrap
Speaker:Trist: Oh,
Speaker:Elaine: up?
Speaker:Trist: that's it.
Speaker:Trist: I hope this is the most comments we ever get.
Speaker:Trist: Tell us your favorite version.
Speaker:Trist: Tell us your least favorite version.
Speaker:Trist: Tell us versions of it that we might not even know about.
Speaker:Trist: You can let your friends know about this and spread the word
Speaker:Trist: and help us find out the mystery of that extra line and if it was
Speaker:Trist: added, by whom?
Speaker:Trist: And if it was taken out by whom?
Speaker:Trist: You can do all of that how, Elaine?
Speaker:Elaine: Well, you can email us at
Speaker:Elaine: themusiciansloupe@gmail.com,
Speaker:Elaine: that's L o u p e, or you can
Speaker:Elaine: message us on Instagram or
Speaker:Elaine: Threads @themusiciansloupe.
Speaker:Elaine: So help us out here.
Speaker:Elaine: Help us to figure this out.
Speaker:Elaine: We're on the hunt.
Speaker:Elaine: We have a mission.
Speaker:Trist: Yes. Please let us know.
Speaker:Trist: And now the mail bag.
Speaker:Trist: Yes. The mailbag where we answer your questions.
Speaker:Trist: What do we have today, Elaine?
Speaker:Elaine: Well, we have a comment from threads.
Speaker:Elaine: This is from @dannythefierce on Threads from December 2025.
Speaker:Elaine: And he is an elementary music educator.
Speaker:Elaine: He says cold take colon not a hot take cold take.
Speaker:Elaine: The number one goal of
Speaker:Elaine: elementary music teachers is to
Speaker:Elaine: build a community of people that
Speaker:Elaine: love music.
Speaker:Elaine: Not reading music, not writing it.
Speaker:Elaine: Not recalling the definition of symbols.
Speaker:Elaine: But if a music teacher can connect a community to the joy
Speaker:Elaine: of music making, singing with friends, playing games with
Speaker:Elaine: songs, and even fostering a passion for actively making
Speaker:Elaine: music with one another.
Speaker:Elaine: That's how you get kids to choose to be musicians in their
Speaker:Elaine: later years slash adult life.
Speaker:Trist: Yes. What is there to talk about?
Speaker:Trist: Yes.
Speaker:Elaine: I'm interested in hearing a little bit more about your
Speaker:Elaine: experience with music in elementary school in particular.
Speaker:Elaine: I have my own stories, and I
Speaker:Elaine: would love to be able to share
Speaker:Elaine: that.
Speaker:Elaine: But I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker:Elaine: What kinds of experiences did you have and how do you think
Speaker:Elaine: that's inspired you as an adult?
Speaker:Trist: I think the way I might be an anomaly here is that I always
Speaker:Trist: had some innate ability.
Speaker:Trist: It came easily to me.
Speaker:Trist: I naturally had a really good ear.
Speaker:Trist: Music was just fun, something I loved.
Speaker:Trist: So I never thought of it as something I was learning.
Speaker:Trist: Sure, I was learning different
Speaker:Trist: things, but I never thought
Speaker:Trist: about that as a class I had to
Speaker:Trist: learn something.
Speaker:Trist: Oh, this was fun time and again, because I didn't have to
Speaker:Trist: struggle through it.
Speaker:Trist: It wasn't like, oh, my voice doesn't work great.
Speaker:Trist: Or I don't have good pitch recognition.
Speaker:Trist: I just loved it already.
Speaker:Trist: I never thought about it as a thing you're even learning until
Speaker:Trist: I was in high school.
Speaker:Elaine: Well, can you tell me a little bit about the opportunities that
Speaker:Elaine: you had in elementary school?
Speaker:Elaine: Like, what did that look like?
Speaker:Elaine: Did you have a dedicated music teacher?
Speaker:Elaine: Was it a weekly thing?
Speaker:Elaine: I don't know if you remember like elementary schools
Speaker:Trist: Oh,
Speaker:Elaine: a long time
Speaker:Trist: I
Speaker:Elaine: for
Speaker:Trist: mean
Speaker:Elaine: both of
Speaker:Trist: yeah,
Speaker:Elaine: us.
Speaker:Trist: we well, in kindergarten, there
Speaker:Trist: would have been stuff integrated
Speaker:Trist: into the class with the regular
Speaker:Trist: teacher.
Speaker:Trist: But then starting in 1st through
Speaker:Trist: 6th grade, there was a
Speaker:Trist: particular teacher who was very
Speaker:Trist: musically oriented, who also in
Speaker:Trist: 4th grade, we did our own little
Speaker:Trist: plays and musicals about Wyoming
Speaker:Trist: history.
Speaker:Trist: But outside of the class, once a week you would go to the music
Speaker:Trist: class and there would be the Christmas performance and the
Speaker:Trist: Easter performance, the end of the year performance, etc. just
Speaker:Trist: the basic stuff.
Speaker:Trist: I can't think of any other special opportunities, but
Speaker:Trist: again, to me It was as much as saying, hey, it's recess time
Speaker:Trist: when you get to go there.
Speaker:Trist: So I didn't think of it in the way that you're asking, I guess.
Speaker:Elaine: Part of the reason I maybe
Speaker:Elaine: struggle with this a little bit
Speaker:Elaine: is that my elementary school
Speaker:Elaine: experience was, I don't want to
Speaker:Elaine: say unusual.
Speaker:Elaine: I just changed schools.
Speaker:Elaine: I went
Speaker:Trist: Ah.
Speaker:Elaine: to a private school from kindergarten to fifth grade, and
Speaker:Elaine: then I switched to public school in sixth grade.
Speaker:Elaine: I think my school at the time was very similar to a lot of
Speaker:Elaine: schools now, where arts funding was really a question mark.
Speaker:Elaine: And so there was band, - I didn't audition for band.
Speaker:Elaine: I remember there were some
Speaker:Elaine: volunteers that came in for
Speaker:Elaine: music appreciation, but that
Speaker:Elaine: wasn't a very hands on kind of
Speaker:Elaine: thing.
Speaker:Elaine: Now, at the same time, I had private music lessons,
Speaker:Trist: Mm.
Speaker:Elaine: so I started in first grade learning piano, and so I learned
Speaker:Elaine: how to play piano.
Speaker:Elaine: I learned how to read music.
Speaker:Elaine: Definitely by the time I hit fifth or sixth grade, I was
Speaker:Elaine: playing fairly advanced things.
Speaker:Elaine: So, your typical sixth grade kid learning how to play their
Speaker:Elaine: instrument at the same time as learning how to read music.
Speaker:Elaine: I was definitely playing Sonatinas at that point in time.
Speaker:Elaine: So I think about my music experience as an elementary
Speaker:Elaine: school kid and all of that was outside of school, so I really
Speaker:Elaine: didn't have that experience.
Speaker:Elaine: Now in my private school, I don't have memories of an
Speaker:Elaine: explicit music course.
Speaker:Elaine: And if I did, I probably would have been pretty bored because
Speaker:Elaine: of the private music lessons that I had for such a long time.
Speaker:Elaine: Like if I'm already reading at that level, putting a recorder
Speaker:Elaine: in front of me and having me play Three Blind Mice is
Speaker:Trist: Right.
Speaker:Elaine: probably not super interesting
Speaker:Trist: Exactly.
Speaker:Elaine: to me.
Speaker:Elaine: And as an adult, when I was a
Speaker:Elaine: teacher, I had an opportunity to
Speaker:Elaine: teach third graders recorder and
Speaker:Elaine: I said, oh, heck no, because
Speaker:Elaine: it's kind of like teaching
Speaker:Elaine: violin.
Speaker:Elaine: There's a lot of squeaking going on,
Speaker:Trist: Yeah.
Speaker:Elaine: so I wasn't entirely sure.
Speaker:Elaine: I was like, I don't know if I
Speaker:Elaine: want to be on the other side of
Speaker:Elaine: this.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, I'm remembering that now you're saying these things.
Speaker:Trist: So I do remember the recorder was third grade.
Speaker:Trist: I didn't even think about music being such an important part of
Speaker:Trist: my life until I was in high school and barely even then.
Speaker:Elaine: I think one of the things that
Speaker:Elaine: comes to mind as we're sharing
Speaker:Elaine: our different experiences, like,
Speaker:Elaine: first of all, how important arts
Speaker:Elaine: education is in elementary
Speaker:Elaine: school, and
Speaker:Trist: Mmhm.
Speaker:Elaine: especially in a world right now
Speaker:Elaine: where people are talking about
Speaker:Elaine: STEM.
Speaker:Elaine: And certainly I'm in
Speaker:Elaine: engineering, so definitely a big
Speaker:Elaine: STEM proponent.
Speaker:Elaine: But lately people have been talking about STEAM.
Speaker:Elaine: And adding arts in there because they understand that it is a
Speaker:Elaine: really important part of the human experience to be able to
Speaker:Elaine: explore all these different aspects of artistic expression,
Speaker:Elaine: and how we can inspire the next generation that way.
Speaker:Elaine: And at the same time, I think about my own experience.
Speaker:Elaine: And none of that applied to me because I did zero corporate
Speaker:Elaine: music until I hit college.
Speaker:Elaine: So I felt like that was an
Speaker:Elaine: interesting thing for me to
Speaker:Elaine: think about.
Speaker:Elaine: And in some ways, like, oh, I think I missed out.
Speaker:Elaine: And at the same time, I had so
Speaker:Elaine: much privilege because I had the
Speaker:Elaine: ability to take one on one
Speaker:Elaine: lessons with a piano teacher who
Speaker:Elaine: I loved.
Speaker:Elaine: So I think that that is an
Speaker:Elaine: interesting thing to think about
Speaker:Elaine: is like, what are the roles of
Speaker:Elaine: our early musical influences in
Speaker:Elaine: the choices that we make later
Speaker:Elaine: in life.
Speaker:Elaine: And I know other students of my
Speaker:Elaine: piano teacher, other students
Speaker:Elaine: who were active in music all
Speaker:Elaine: throughout middle school and
Speaker:Elaine: high school who aren't musicians
Speaker:Elaine: today.
Speaker:Elaine: And so I don't think it is so much a funnel as much as it is.
Speaker:Elaine: There are many roads that lead to Rome, and one of them is the
Speaker:Elaine: public school system or the school system in general.
Speaker:Elaine: And there is definitely this sense of for the kids who can be
Speaker:Elaine: inspired to a lifetime of passion when it comes to music,
Speaker:Elaine: there are lots of different ways to inspire a kid to do that.
Speaker:Trist: And I think what he's getting at
Speaker:Trist: here, even more importantly, is
Speaker:Trist: just having it be something
Speaker:Trist: that's understood.
Speaker:Trist: That's just an accepted thing.
Speaker:Trist: Music is an important part of their lives.
Speaker:Trist: And whether they go on to do it for the rest of their lives,
Speaker:Trist: they can appreciate it, goodness knows the artists need
Speaker:Trist: knowledgeable audiences that understand the level of the art
Speaker:Trist: that they're experiencing, even if it is just basic
Speaker:Trist: understanding of form, especially a little bit more
Speaker:Trist: complex musics, different classical styles, jazz styles.
Speaker:Trist: You don't need to know all about
Speaker:Trist: all the chords and all of the
Speaker:Trist: scales and the modes, but even
Speaker:Trist: just having that little bit of
Speaker:Trist: knowledge of form, the basis of
Speaker:Trist: improvisation, it leaves you
Speaker:Trist: open to be able to enjoy what's
Speaker:Trist: happening.
Speaker:Trist: Like anything, once you know
Speaker:Trist: just enough about how something
Speaker:Trist: works, it's a whole different
Speaker:Trist: experience.
Speaker:Trist: I noticed that when we traveled
Speaker:Trist: in different groups I've been
Speaker:Trist: in, I've traveled to Japan
Speaker:Trist: especially and throughout
Speaker:Trist: Europe.
Speaker:Trist: In Japan generally the
Speaker:Trist: requirements for arts go through
Speaker:Trist: university.
Speaker:Trist: It's like, oh, I'm a business major at this university.
Speaker:Trist: Oh, cool.
Speaker:Trist: What's the arts component you're taking this semester?
Speaker:Trist: So, it's just kind of a required
Speaker:Trist: part of their educational life,
Speaker:Trist: no matter what their main topic
Speaker:Trist: is.
Speaker:Trist: And then I see that when we go perform, jazz music there, the
Speaker:Trist: general attentiveness of the audience is different.
Speaker:Trist: They respect is different.
Speaker:Trist: They're listening for more
Speaker:Trist: particular things, understanding
Speaker:Trist: what's happening.
Speaker:Trist: And the applauses almost messes you up when you first get over
Speaker:Trist: there because they applaud for such a great amount of time in
Speaker:Trist: between, while they are absolutely dead silent while
Speaker:Trist: you're making the music and you're accustomed to some
Speaker:Trist: reactions and you don't get any, and the first couple times
Speaker:Trist: you're there, it's like, wait a minute, do they not like this?
Speaker:Trist: Because you get programmed to,
Speaker:Trist: oh, the response at that one
Speaker:Trist: stop time or the really high
Speaker:Trist: chord or something that happens,
Speaker:Trist: you'll hear reactions in the
Speaker:Trist: American audience.
Speaker:Trist: And then when the Japanese audience doesn't give it to you,
Speaker:Trist: you just think, oh man, maybe they don't like it, but they're
Speaker:Trist: just being respectful and they save that applause till the end,
Speaker:Trist: and it's four times as long as you're ready for, and you can't
Speaker:Trist: even move on to the next song.
Speaker:Trist: Anyway, it's important in creating audience as much as it
Speaker:Trist: is creating musicians.
Speaker:Elaine: I love that.
Speaker:Elaine: I want to go back to maybe the core of what Danny was talking
Speaker:Elaine: about here and maybe close on this, which is fun.
Speaker:Elaine: Music
Speaker:Trist: Yes.
Speaker:Elaine: is just fun, and so inspiring that sense of joy in music
Speaker:Elaine: creation is so important.
Speaker:Elaine: So, Danny, I'm guessing you're never going to hear this, but
Speaker:Elaine: shout out to you.
Speaker:Elaine: You are doing such important
Speaker:Elaine: work in investing in the next
Speaker:Elaine: generation.
Speaker:Elaine: So thank you very much.
Speaker:Trist: Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:Trist: The joy of the music making, not the judgment of the others that
Speaker:Trist: you're singing with, not who is the best one in the class.
Speaker:Trist: At that age, it's still just,
Speaker:Trist: hey, we're all just singing
Speaker:Trist: along.
Speaker:Trist: Definitely, Danny, the joy of music making is why you are
Speaker:Trist: there is to impart that to America's youth, and hopefully
Speaker:Trist: they can keep that with them throughout their lives.
Speaker:Elaine: And so with that, we're going to wrap up for this week.
Speaker:Elaine: But before we end, I do want to encourage you all, please,
Speaker:Elaine: please, please share an episode.
Speaker:Elaine: Obviously if you're listening to us, you love what we're doing.
Speaker:Elaine: We would love for you to share an episode or two with a friend,
Speaker:Elaine: someone who you think might enjoy our podcast as well.
Speaker:Trist: Or someone who might know the answer to our question.
Speaker:Trist: What's up with the last line of this song?
Speaker:Trist: or a friend of yours who their favorite version of this song is
Speaker:Trist: not the George Michael one.
Speaker:Trist: So please share this episode
Speaker:Trist: with someone or share the
Speaker:Trist: playlist that we have on any of
Speaker:Trist: the platforms where we have the
Speaker:Trist: links available and maybe they
Speaker:Trist: can file through and maybe some
Speaker:Trist: song will interest them and
Speaker:Trist: they'll want to know more about
Speaker:Trist: it.
Speaker:Trist: And this is where you can check it out.
Speaker:Trist: We appreciate it.
Speaker:Elaine: Awesome.
Speaker:Elaine: We'll see you next week.
Speaker:Trist: Bye!
Speaker:Trist: This week is about I Will Always Love You.
Speaker:Trist: No. Ha ha.
Speaker:Trist: How did you know, Elaine?
Speaker:Trist: That was an amazing guess.
Speaker:Elaine: it's almost done.
