Raitt began playing guitar at an early age, something not a lot of her high school girlfriends did. "I had played a little at school and at camp," she later recalled in a July 2002 interview. "My parents would drag me out to perform for my family, like all parents do, but it was a hobby—nothing more...I think people must wonder how a white girl like me became a blues guitarist. The truth is, I never intended to do this for a living. I grew up...in a Quaker family, and for me being Quaker was a political calling rather than a religious one."
In 1967 Raitt continued her pursuit in that path when she entered Harvard's Radcliffe College as a freshman, majoring in African Studies. "My plan was to travel to Tanzania, where President Julius Nyerere was creating a government based on democracy and socialism," Raitt recalled. "I wanted to help undo the damage that Western colonialism had done to native cultures around the world. Cambridge was a hotbed of this kind of thinking, and I was thrilled."
One day, Raitt was notified by a friend that blues promoter Dick Waterman was giving an interview at WHRB, Harvard's college radio station. An important figure in the blues revival of the 1960s, Waterman was also a resident of Cambridge. Raitt went to see Waterman, and the two soon became friends, "much to the chagrin of my parents, who didn't expect their freshman daughter to be running around with 65-year-old bluesmen," recalled Raitt. "I was amazed by his passion for the music and the integrity with which he managed the musicians."
During Raitt's sophomore year, Waterman relocated to Philadelphia, and a number of local musicians he counted among his friends went with him. Raitt had become a strong part of that community, recalling that "these people had become my friends, my mentors, and though I had every intention of graduating, I decided to take the semester off and move to Philadelphia...It was an opportunity that young white girls just don't get, and as it turns out, an opportunity that changed everything."
Raitt eventually went back to school, but her time performing in Philadelphia had encouraged her to pursue music as a career. When Waterman contacted her and invited her to tour with The Rolling Stones, she made a second trip to the admissions office at Radcliffe and told them, "I'm going to take a leave of absence, but this is only going to last a year." As Raitt would later recall, "Imagine being 20 in 1970—wouldn't you have gone on tour with the Rolling Stones?"
By now, Raitt was also playing both folk as well as rhythm and blues clubs in the Boston area, performing alongside established blues legends like Howlin' Wolf, Sippie Wallace, and Mississippi Fred McDowell, all of whom she met through Waterman. In the fall of 1970, while opening for Fred McDowell at the Gaslight Cafe in New York, a reporter from Newsweek Magazine saw her and began to spread word of her performance. Scouts from major record companies were soon attending her shows to watch her play. She eventually accepted an offer with Warner Bros. who soon released her eponymously titled debut in 1971. The album was warmly received by the music press, many of which praised her skills as an interpreter and as a bottleneck guitarist; at the time, very few women in popular music had strong reputations as guitarists.
While admired by those who saw her perform, and respected by her peers, Raitt gained little public acclaim for her work. Her critical stature continued to grow but record sales remained modest. Her second album, Give It Up, was released in 1972 to universal acclaim, and though many critics still regard it as her best work, it did not change her commercial fortunes. 1973's Takin' My Time was also met with critical acclaim, but these notices were not matched by the sales.
Raitt was beginning to receive greater press coverage, including a 1975 cover story for Rolling Stone Magazine, but with 1974's Streetlights, reviews for her work were becoming increasingly mixed. By now, Raitt was already experimenting with different producers and different styles, and she began to adopt a more mainstream sound that continued through 1975's Home Plate.
In 1976, Raitt made a notable appearance on Warren Zevon's self-titled album with Warren Zevon's friend Jackson Browne and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.
1977's Sweet Forgiveness gave Raitt her first commercial breakthrough when it yielded a hit single in her cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway." Recast as a heavy r&b recording based on a rhythmic groove inspired by Al Green, Raitt's version of "Runaway" was disparaged by many critics, but its commercial success prompted a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia Records. "There was this big Columbia – Warner war going on at the time," recalled Raitt in a 1990 interview. "James Taylor had just left Warner Bros. and made a big album for Columbia...And then, Warners signed Paul Simon away from Columbia, and they didn't want me to have a hit record for Columbia — no matter what! So, I renegotiated my contract, and they basically matched Columbia's offer. Frankly the deal was a really big deal."
Warner Bros. held higher expectations for Raitt's next album, 1979's The Glow, but it was released to poor reviews as well as modest sales. Raitt would have one commercial success in 1979 when she helped organize the five MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) concerts at Madison Square Garden. The shows spawned a three-record gold album as well as a Warner Bros. feature film, No Nukes. The shows featured co-founders Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, John Hall, and Raitt as well as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Gil Scott-Heron, and numerous others.
For her next record, 1982's Green Light, Raitt made a conscious attempt to revisit the sound of her earlier records, but to her surprise, many of her peers and members of the press would compare her new sound to the burgeoning New Wave movement. The album received her strongest reviews in years, but her sales did not improve and this would have a severe impact on her relationship with Warner Bros.
In 1983, as Raitt was finishing work on her follow-up album, titled Tongue & Groove, Warner Bros. cleaned house, dropping a number of major artists from their roster. Van Morrison and Arlo Guthrie were two of the most high-profile cases, and the day after mastering was completed on Tongue & Groove, Raitt was notified that she was to be dropped too. The album was shelved indefinitely, and Raitt was left without a label. By now, Raitt was also struggling with alcohol and drug abuse.
Despite her personal and professional problems, Raitt continued to tour and participate in political activism. In 1985, she sang and appeared in the video of "Sun City," the anti-apartheid record written a produced by Steven Van Zandt. Along with her participation in Farm Aid and Amnesty International concerts, Raitt would later travel to Moscow in 1987 as part of the first joint Soviet/American Peace Concert later shown on Showtime television. Also in 1987, Raitt would organize a benefit in Los Angeles, for Countdown '87 to Stop Contra Aid, featuring herself, Don Henley, Herbie Hancock, Holly Near and others.
Two years after dropping her from their label, Warner Bros. notified Raitt of their plans to release Tongue & Groove. "I said it wasn't really fair," recalled Raitt. "I think at this point they felt kind of bad. I mean, I was out there touring on my savings to keep my name up, and my ablility to draw was less and less. So they agreed to let me go in and recut half of it, and that's when it came out as Nine Lives." A critical and commercial disappointment, 1986's Nine Lives would be Raitt's last new recording for Warner Bros.
In late 1987 she joined k.d. lang and Jennifer Warnes as female background vocals for Roy Orbison's television special, Roy Orbison and Friends, A Black and White Night. By now, Raitt was clean and sober, having broken her substance abuse — for which she would credit Stevie Ray Vaughan in a Minnesota State Fair concert[1] the night after Vaughan's 1990 death. Following this highly acclaimed broadcast, she began working on new material. During this time, Raitt considered signing with Prince's own label, Paisley Park, but negotiations would ultimately fall through. Instead she began recording a bluesy mix of pop and rock under the production guidance of Don Was at Capitol Records.
Raitt had met Was through Hal Wilner, who was putting together Stay Awake, a tribute album to Disney music for A&M. Was and Wilner both wanted Raitt to sing lead on an adult-contemporary arrangement created by Was for "Baby Mine," the lullaby from Dumbo. Raitt was very pleased with the sessions, and she asked Don to produce her next album.
After more than twenty years of singing and recording popular music, Bonnie Raitt achieved immense success with her 10th album. Released in 1989, Nick of Time went to the top of the U.S. charts and won three Grammy Awards. At the same time, she walked away with a fourth Grammy Award for her duet "In the Mood" with John Lee Hooker on his album "The Healer".
She followed up this success with three more Grammy Awards for her 1991 album, Luck of the Draw, then, in 1994 she added two more Grammy's with her album Longing in Their Hearts. Both of these albums were multiplatinum successes. Raitt's collaboration with Was would amicably come to an end with 1995's live release, Road Tested. Released to solid reviews, it sold well enough to be certified gold.
For her next studio album, Raitt hired Mitchell Froom and Tchad Blake as her producers. "I loved working with Don Was but I wanted to give myself and my fans a stretch and do something different," Raitt said. Her work with Froom and Blake was released on Fundamental in 1998.
In March of 2000, Raitt was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Silver Lining was released in 2002 while Souls Alike was released in September of 2005.
Finest Lovin' Man
Bonnie Raitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You won't ever find my baby hustlin' after me all over town
You don't have to shout, you don't even have to call
Knows I'm comin' home even if I got to crawl
He'll get me when he wants me, he's the finest lovin' man around
When he gets up in the morning or when he comes home late at night
You know the man's always hungry, knows I'm gonna cook it up just right
Just a little taste is all it takes to make him mine
He'll get it when he wants it, he's the finest lovin' man around
Some women they act just like their men will never amount to no good
You know they are always on the cheat
And never treat him like a good woman should
You want him to do you right, honey, that ain't the way, yeah
You got to love him all night, you do just what he say
And you get just what you give out, that's the only way to gain his place
Now me and my baby, we always know just what we're puttin' down
And we know we'll be together
Till the day when something better comes around
Till that day comes you won't hear me complaining, yeah
I'll take him like he is 'cause you know I can't change him
I'll love him best I can, he's the finest lovin' man around
Oh yeah yeah
The lyrics of Bonnie Raitt's song "Finest Lovin' Man" describe a woman's affection for a man who treats her well and respects her boundaries. The man she loves doesn't need to worry about her being unfaithful because she is committed to him. Even if she were to stumble, he is confident enough in their relationship to trust that she will always come back to him. The woman speaks of how their love is built on mutual trust and a deep connection, that is why he is the finest lovin' man around.
The song emphasizes the importance of treating your partner with respect and how it can help to create a strong bond in a relationship. Bonnie Raitt sings about how some women treat their men badly, and they never treat them with the love and respect that they deserve. She says that in order to keep a good man, you need to treat him well and respect him. The beauty of the song lies in the way that Bonnie Raitt reminds her listeners that love is about mutual respect and understanding.
Line by Line Meaning
The man I'm lovin' don't worry 'bout me runnin' around
My lover trusts me and doesn't feel the need to keep tabs on me.
You won't ever find my baby hustlin' after me all over town
He won't bother chasing after me because he knows I'll come back to him.
You don't have to shout, you don't even have to call
My lover is so attuned to my movements that he doesn't need to constantly check up on me.
Knows I'm comin' home even if I got to crawl
My lover understands that life gets tough sometimes, but he knows I'll always come home to him in the end.
He'll get me when he wants me, he's the finest lovin' man around
My lover is secure enough in our relationship to not worry about me leaving him, and he is an excellent lover.
When he gets up in the morning or when he comes home late at night
No matter when my lover comes home, I'll always be ready for him.
You know the man's always hungry, knows I'm gonna cook it up just right
My lover knows what he likes, and I'm happy to cater to his needs and desires.
He don't ever hurry, he just takes his time
My lover is patient and unhurried, and he thoroughly enjoys every moment we spend together.
Just a little taste is all it takes to make him mine
My lover is easily satisfied, and even the smallest gestures of affection are enough for him.
He'll get it when he wants it, he's the finest lovin' man around
My lover is so confident in our relationship that he knows he can have me whenever he wants, and he is an exceptional lover.
Some women they act just like their men will never amount to no good
Some women don't believe in their men and treat them badly as a result.
You know they are always on the cheat
These women are always cheating on their partners because they don't trust them.
And never treat him like a good woman should
These women don't give their men the love, respect and trust they deserve.
You want him to do you right, honey, that ain't the way, yeah
If you want your man to treat you right, you can't treat him badly in return.
You got to love him all night, you do just what he say
To have a successful relationship, you need to show your partner love and submission.
And you get just what you give out, that's the only way to gain his place
If you give love, respect and trust to your partner, you'll get the same in return and keep your place in their heart.
Now me and my baby, we always know just what we're puttin' down
My lover and I have a deep understanding of each other, and we know what we're getting into.
And we know we'll be together
We're committed to each other and know we'll stay together.
Till the day when something better comes around
We're content with what we have now, but we're open-minded to other options if they present themselves.
Till that day comes you won't hear me complaining, yeah
Until something better does come along, I'm happy with what I have and won't complain.
I'll take him like he is 'cause you know I can't change him
I love my partner for who they are and don't want to change them.
I'll love him best I can, he's the finest lovin' man around
I'll love my partner to the best of my ability because he is an exceptional lover and partner.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BONNIE RAITT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind