The term continued to be used in the 1970s and 1980s, particularly by the British music press, to describe a new generation of white singers who adopted elements of classic soul music. To a lesser extent, the term has been applied to singers in other music genres that are influenced by soul music, such as urban music and hip hop soul.
Blue-eyed soul began when white musicians remade African American music to play for mass audiences, partly due to segregation laws that prevented blacks from performing for whites. Often the music was diluted for its new audience, a move that angered some African Americans as cultural expropriation, but pleased others who felt the growth of their music genre could only be a good thing. In some cases (most notably The Flaming Ember, Lonnie Mack and The Rascals), white artists initially passed as black singers on the radio - deliberately in many cases, to avoid alienating black radio audiences.
The regional beach music and Carolina shag (a type of dance) trends that originated in the areas around North and South Carolina in the late 1950s were, at least partly, a manifestation of blue-eyed soul. Local white bands backed nationally popular black R&B artists during their tours, and performed on their own at fraternity parties and other college social events. According to beach band historian Greg Haynes, artists such as Bonnie Bramlett and The Allman Brothers (originally known as The Escorts) began their careers on this circuit. Bill Deal and the Rhondels and The Swinging Medallions are beach bands which have charted nationally. Georgie Woods, a Philadelphia radio DJ, came up with the term blue-eyed soul in the 1960s to describe white artists receiving airplay on rhythm and blues radio stations. In the early 1960s, one of the rare female blue-eyed soul singers was Timi Yuro, whom many assumed to be black.
By the mid-1960s, British singers Dusty Springfield, Eric Burdon (of The Animals) and Tom Jones had become leading vocal stars of the emerging style in Europe. Other notable UK exponents of blue-eyed soul included The Spencer Davis Group (featuring singer-organist Steve Winwood) and archetypal mod band The Small Faces, whose sound was heavily influenced by the Stax label's house band Booker T. & The MG's. Most of the leading UK pop groups of the period — including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks and The Who — regularly covered Stax and Motown tracks on record or in concert, and all have acknowledged the influence of Motown and Stax artists on their own music. Outside the Anglo-American scene in the late 1960s, Mina fused elements of soul music with the classic Italian melody. Carola and Doris were notable Scandinavian artists who were influenced by soul music.
Jerry Lee Lewis, whose latter days at Sun Records (1961-63) had been characterized by R&B covers, recorded an album for Smash entitled Soul My Way in 1967. Delaney and Bonnie (Bramlett) produced the classic blue-eyed soul album Home on Stax in 1969. Tower of Power were the first white act to appear on Soul Train, on February 1, 1975. Elton John appeared on the May 17 episode. A notable blue-eyed soul album from the 1970s is Hall & Oates' Silver Album (real title Daryl Hall & John Oates) (1975), which includes the classic ballad "Sara Smile" (long considered a blue-eyed soul standard).
In the 1980s, blue-eyed soul hits were released by artists such as Hall & Oates ("Private Eyes"), Rick Astley ("Together Forever"), and Steve Winwood ("Roll With It"). Boy George, although not having the "black voice", was considered a blue-eyed soul artist because much of the music of Culture Club fit in the genre of R&B. Another 1980s British artist, Annie Lennox, of Eurythmics fame, was often cited as possessing "soul" and went on to record the female empowerment anthem "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" with Aretha Franklin. In the late 1990s, music video channel VH1 proclaimed Lennox to be the greatest living female blue-eyed soul singer. Around the same time as Boy George and Annie Lennox's debuts, audiences were struck by the soulfulness of Teena Marie.
Blue-eyed soul also made a crossover into instrumentals, as evidenced by the smooth sounds of rising star David Sanborn, who had guest appearances on select R&B hits, both by Black and White artists. Eventually, Sanborn laid the groundwork for what is now known as Smooth Jazz, and he has become a major influence on most of the current Smooth Jazz artists, such as Rick Braun, Euge Groove and Mindi Abair.
Hall & Oates' chart success was at its highest when their singles got heavy airplay on urban contemporary (black) radio, as was the case with "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", "One on One", "Say It Isn't So", "Adult Education", "Out of Touch", "Method of Modern Love" and "Everything Your Heart Desires". Most of those singles charted high or at #1 on the R&B and dance charts. The boy band New Kids On The Block were also part of the blue eyed soul movement with hits such as "Please Don't Go Girl", the Delfonics covered "Didnt' I (Blow Your Mind)" and their first number 1 hit "I'll Be Loving You Forever". A backlash ensued in the late 1980s as some blacks felt that whites were cashing in on the new popularity of their music. However, the extent of the backlash was not universally agreed upon. In 1989, Ebony Magazine published an article exploring whether whites were "taking over" R&B. The article featured various members of the music industry, both black and white, who believed collaboration was in fact a unifying force and there was agreement that the future of R&B was not compromised by the contemporary urban sound. A similar article in Ebony, written in 1999 highlighted conflicting opinions about the "blue-eyed" influence. However, the source of contention was not about the artistic merit of blue-eyed soul, but rather the economic inequality that persists both in American life and within the music industry.
George Michael was one of the first artists to successfully bring soul to pop music, and also the first white solo artist to sing a duet with Aretha Franklin, in their hit "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)". Michael was the first white male vocalist to hit #1 on the US R&B album charts, with his debut album Faith. Faith also is the best-selling Blue-eyed Soul album ever, with worldwide sales of approximately 20 million copies. His fourth single from the album the Ballad, "One More Try", hit #1 in the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. In 1989 he became the first white artist to win the American Music Award for Favourite Male Vocalist and Favourite Album (Faith) (Soul/R&B).
Happier Than Ever
Billie Eilish Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn't true
Give me a day or two
To think of something clever
To write myself a letter
To tell me what to do
Do you read my interviews?
Or do you skip my avenue?
When you said you were passin' through
Was I even on your way?
I knew when I asked you to
Be cool about what I was tellin' you
You'd do the opposite of what you said you'd do
And I'd end up more afraid
Don't say it isn't fair
You clearly weren't aware
That you made me miserable
So if you really wanna know
When I'm away from you
I'm happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn't true
You call me again, drunk in your Benz
Drivin' home under the influence
You scared me to death but I'm wastin' my breath
'Cause you only listen to your fuckin' friends
I don't relate to you
I don't relate to you, no
'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty
You made me hate this city
And I don't talk shit about you on the internet
Never told anyone anything bad
'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything
And all that you did was make me fuckin' sad
So don't waste the time I don't have
And don't try to make me feel bad
I could talk about every time that you showed up on time
But I'd have an empty line 'cause you never did
Never paid any mind to my mother or friends
So I shut 'em all out for you 'cause I was a kid
You ruined everything good
Always said you were misunderstood
Made all my moments your own
Just fuckin' leave me alone
The song Happier Than Ever by Billie Eilish talks about how she feels happier when she is away from her partner. She opens up about her struggles with the relationship and how it affects her mental state. The opening verse emphasizes how her partner makes her unhappy, and she is happier when they are apart. She wishes she could explain her feelings better, but she struggles to put them into words. However, she wants to write a letter to herself to figure out what she should do to make herself happier.
The next verse explores how Billie feels about her partner's actions. She questions if they read her interviews and if they listen to her music. She also wonders if they were ever on the same path as her. Moreover, she suggests that her partner does not treat her well, and she feels miserable in the relationship. She does not express her feelings to others, but they still affect her.
In the final verse, Billie ends up telling her partner that they ruined everything good in their relationship. She points out that her partner always said they were misunderstood, but they were the ones who made her feel bad. She concludes by saying that she just wants her partner to leave her alone.
Overall, the song portrays Billie struggling to cope with her partner's behavior and how it affects her mental health.
Line by Line Meaning
When I'm away from you
Whenever I am not with you
I'm happier than ever
I feel much happier and better emotionally
Wish I could explain it better
I desire to clarify this feeling even more effectively
I wish it wasn't true
I hope this feeling was not real
Give me a day or two
Allow me some time to think about it
To think of something clever
To come up with a wise solution
To write myself a letter
To compose a letter for myself
To tell me what to do
To guide me with what to do
Do you read my interviews?
Do you bother reading my interviews?
Or do you skip my avenue?
Or do you avoid engaging with me at all?
When you said you were passin' through
When you claimed you were coming around
Was I even on your way?
Did you even consider me in your journey?
I knew when I asked you to
I was well aware when I requested you
Be cool about what I was tellin' you
To stay calm when I tried to explain to you
You'd do the opposite of what you said you'd do
But instead, you did everything opposite of your promise
And I'd end up more afraid
And that makes me feel even more scared
Don't say it isn't fair
Do not claim that this is not justifiable
You clearly weren't aware
You were completely unaware
That you made me miserable
You caused me so much agony
So if you really wanna know
If you genuinely want to be informed
You call me again, drunk in your Benz
You phoned me while under the influence, driving your Mercedes Benz
Drivin' home under the influence
Driving while drunk or intoxicated
You scared me to death but I'm wastin' my breath
You terrified me, but it does not matter to you
'Cause you only listen to your fuckin' friends
Because you only take advice from your foolish friends
I don't relate to you
I don't associate with you
I don't relate to you, no
I don't relate to you at all
'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty
Because I won't treat myself as badly as you
You made me hate this city
You made me loathe living in this city
And I don't talk shit about you on the internet
I don't badmouth you on the web
Never told anyone anything bad
I have never portrayed you negatively to anyone
'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything
Because talking poorly of you is humiliating, and you were my everything
And all that you did was make me fuckin' sad
And all you did was fill me with suffering and misery
So don't waste the time I don't have
Please do not waste the time I don't possess
And don't try to make me feel bad
And please don't attempt to cause me to feel worse
I could talk about every time that you showed up on time
I could tell you about every single time you managed to arrive on schedule
But I'd have an empty line 'cause you never did
But I couldn't count any because you never arrived on time
Never paid any mind to my mother or friends
You never cared for or respected my mother or friends
So I shut 'em all out for you 'cause I was a kid
So I avoided them all for you, as I was still a child
You ruined everything good
You destroyed everything that was positive between us
Always said you were misunderstood
You regularly blamed being misperceived for your behavior
Made all my moments your own
You took over all my experiences
Just fuckin' leave me alone
Please just leave me be
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Billie Eilish O'Connell, Finneas Baird O'Connell
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
sdasdas
Hi lobbbbbbbbbbbbb
@purpleswan9559
My ears : listening the music
My lips: singing along with the song
My eyes: watching and reading the comments
My hand: scrolling down
My legs: moving with perfect sync with the song
My mind: recalling old memories
Never ignore a person who loves u, cares for u, misses u. Because one day, u might wake up from ur sleep and realize that u lost the moon while counting the stars
Tears Have no weight but it carries heavy feelings sometimes it's also present in smile and silent tears always hold the loudest pain uk? Cuz we can't force someone to feel like the same as we feel for them ☺
⠀ ｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡
ﾟ。 ｡ﾟ
ﾟ･｡･ﾟ
︵ ︵
( ╲ / /
╲ ╲/ /
╲ ╲ /
╭ ͡ ╲ ╲
╭ ͡ ╲ ╲ ﾉ
╭ ͡ ╲ ╲ ╱
╲ ╲ ╱
╲ ╱
︶
@NinoAsanashvili-m7q
When I'm away from you, I'm happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn't true
Give me a day or two to think of something clever
To write myself a letter
To tell me what to do, mm-mmm
Do you read my interviews?
Or do you skip my avenue? (My avenue)
When you (when you) said you were passing through
Was I even on your way?
I knew when I asked you to (when I asked you to)
Be cool about what I was telling you
You'd do the opposite of what you said you'd do (what you said you'd do)
And I'd end up more afraid
Don't say it isn't fair
You clearly weren't aware that you made me miserable
So if you really wanna know
When I'm away from you (when I'm away from you)
I'm happier than ever (happier than ever)
Wish I could explain it better (wish I could explain it better)
I wish it wasn't true (wish it wasn't true), mmm-mmm
You call me again, drunk in your Benz
Driving home under the influence
You scared me to death, but I'm wasting my breath
'Cause you only listen to your fucking friends
I don't relate to you
I don't relate to you, no
'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty
You made me hate this city
And I don't talk shit about you on the internet
Never told anyone anything bad
'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything
And all that you did was make me fucking sad
So don't waste the time I don't have
And don't try to make me feel bad
I could talk about every time that you showed up on time
But I'd have an empty line 'cause you never did
Never paid any mind to my mother or friends
So I shut 'em all out for you 'cause I was a kid
You ruined everything good
Always said you were misunderstood
Made all my moments your own
Just fucking leave me alone
JUST LEAVE ME ALONEEEEE!!! OH OH OH OHHHHHH JUST LEAVE ME ALONEE
OH OH OH RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH LEAVE ME ALONEEEEE
(Worked hard for this then lost it then typed it again please like it it took so long! And i added the raaah thing and some thing too at the end :3)
@limonli648
When I'm away from you
I'm happier than ever
Wish I could explain it better
I wish it wasn't true
[Verse 1]
Give me a day or two to think of something clever
To write myself a letter
To tell me what to do, mm-mm
Do you read my interviews?
Or do you skip my avenue?
When you said you were passin' through
Was I even on your way?
I knew when I asked you to (When I asked you to)
Be cool about what I was tellin' you
You'd do the opposite of what you said you'd do (What you said you'd do)
And I'd end up more afraid
Don't say it isn't fair
You clearly werеn't aware that you made me misеrable
So if you really wanna know
[Chorus]
When I'm away from you (When I'm away from you)
I'm happier than ever (Happier than ever)
Wish I could explain it better (Wish I could explain it better)
I wish it wasn't true, mm-mm
[Verse 2]
You call me again, drunk in your Benz
Drivin' home under the influence
You scared me to death, but I'm wastin' my breath
'Cause you only listen to your fuckin' friends
I don't relate to you
I don't relate to you, no
'Cause I'd never treat me this shitty
You made me hate this city
[Verse 3]
And I don't talk shit about you on the internet
Never told anyone anything bad
'Cause that shit's embarrassing, you were my everything
And all that you did was make me fuckin' sad
So don't waste the time I don't have
And don't try to make me feel bad
I could talk about every time that you showed up on time
But I'd have an empty line 'cause you never did
Never paid any mind to my mother or friends, so I
Shut 'em all out for you 'cause I was a kid
@Paytonfroehlich261
I love how this song can relate to toxic relationships,friendships or a toxic family.It’s just a masterpiece and I listen to it all the time.
@zc7694
currently listening to this because I finally freed myself from the toxic environment a friend put me in and brooooo this song helps so much
@kimwhitley310
I feel the same at school so many fake and toxic friends
@Riri_fr.
@@kimwhitley310 same here
@whyeveryonesowierdtoday4890
Toxic famliy😕🖐🏻
@tjimin4311
You're right 😭😭😭😭
@ArmyBlink-69028
“I don’t relate to you. I don’t relate to you, no. Cause I’d never treat me this shitty. You made me hate this city. And I don’t talk shit about you on the internet, never told anyone anything bad. Cause that shit’s embarrassing. You were my everything and all you did was make me fucking sad“
These lyrics hit me
@sudhakarappe8427
You are a army and blink me too 💜
@nevaehhyatt6348
Same