Spitball Army

Who knows where we’d be without the back-up singer? Well, I do, for one. We’d be stranded in a world without harmony. Chew on that for a moment.

The first seven tracks on today’s playlist are by six very famous artists (and Valerie Carter), who all got their start in the music biz as backing vocalists for other folks. The most famous instance of this is, of course, Sheryl Crow’s early stint supporting Michael Jackson. Valerie Carter, incidentally, has had quite a lucrative career as a supporting vocalist for James Taylor.

The remaining tracks (8 through 17) feature some well-known singers supplying vocals behind their colleagues. There are tons of examples of these – I could go for weeks renewing such a playlist. I, however, will not.

Approximate playing time: 70 minutes.

1. Elton John  “Let Me Be Your Car”  (1973)
2. Whitney Houston  “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”  (1987)
3. Sheryl Crow  “Members Only”  (1998)
4. Phil Collins  “Another Day in Paradise”  (1989)
5. Valerie Carter  “Cowboy Angel”  (1977)
6. Cher  “Lay Baby Lay”  (1969)
7. Mariah Carey  “Vision of Love”  (1990)
8. Carly Simon [with Mick Jagger]  “You’re So Vain”  (1972)
9. Peter Gabriel [with Kate Bush]  “Games Without Frontiers”  (1980)
10. Rockwell [with Michael Jackson]  “Somebody’s Watching Me”  (1984)
11. Eric Clapton [with Dolly Parton]  “Lay Down Sally”  (1977)
12. Hootie & the Blowfish [with David Crosby]  “Hold My Hand”  (1994)
13. Indigo Girls [with Jackson Browne]  “Galileo”  (1992)
14. Neil Young [with Linda Ronstadt]  “Heart of Gold”  (1972)
15. John Denver [with Olivia Newton-John]  “Fly Away”  (1975)
16. Sam Cooke [with Lou Rawls]  “Bring It On Home to Me”  (1962)
17. David Bowie [with John Lennon]  “Fame”  (1975)

Some notes on the songs:

• Not too many people could get away with altering the lyrics to a Bob Dylan song like Cher has done with “Lay Baby Lay.” Do you think she should get a pass?
• I can’t hear David Crosby in the Hootie track, but I’m told by a reliable source that he’s definitely in there, buried beneath fifteen layers of Darius Rucker vocals.
• John Lennon is unrecognizable in “Fame,” but that’s him singing “fame, fame, fame, fame,…” at the end, his voice manipulated to sound like an electronic Chipmunk.
• This has nothing to do with backing vocals, but I still contend – as I have for years – that Carly Simon’s rhyming of ‘yacht’ with ‘apricot’ is utter brilliance.