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.
Gnawin' On It
Bonnie Raitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I just can't concentrate
You keep messin' with my mind, baby
Yeah, I'm circlin' round the bait
I got to take off early
I got to get you home
I'm gonna show you little woman
Why a dog loves a bone
I'll be gnawin' on it
I said, gnawin' on it
We'll be gnawin' on it, baby
Ah, nah, nah, girl don't do that
I dropped the kids at school this morning
I hung the clothes in the back
I'm trying to take care of my business, darling
But my mind ain't on the track
You got me feeling kind of squarely
I got to get you in this place
Oh 'cause what I got in mind'll put a grin on your face
We'll be gnawin' on it, honey
I said, gnawin' on it
I'll be gnawin' on it
Ah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah baby don't do that
They say it's hard to keep it going
When you're together for so long
They say combustion's for the youngsters
We should be glad we get along
But they don't know nothin' 'bout it
They way you love me it's a shame
You know there ain't nobody better
Blowin' embers to a flame
We'll be gnawin' on it, baby, that's what we're doing
We're gonna keep gnawin' on it till we get it
Baby come one and
Nah, nah, nah, oh, nah, nah, nah honey, not like oh
In Bonnie Raitt's song "Gnawin' On It," the lyrics speak of someone who is struggling to focus on their job because they are constantly thinking about their lover. The repeated phrase "We'll be gnawin' on it" suggests that they have something exciting planned, something that involves physical intimacy. There is a sense of urgency and impatience as the singer wants to take off early from work and get their lover home - they have something in mind that will "put a grin on your face." Despite the fact that they have responsibilities like dropping off their kids at school and doing laundry, they are consumed by desire.
The bridge of the song explores the idea that keeping a long-term relationship going is difficult. However, the singer seems confident that they have something special with their partner that keeps the flame burning. They are unfazed by what others may say about their age or how much time they've been together. The final "Nah, nah, nah" refrain implies that this intimate moment is not something that can be fully expressed through words.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm down here workin' at my job
I'm at work, but I can't focus
But I just can't concentrate
I'm distracted by you
You keep messin' with my mind, baby
You're playing games with me
Yeah, I'm circlin' round the bait
I'm falling for your tricks
I got to take off early
I need to leave work early
I got to get you home
I want to take you home with me
I'm gonna show you little woman
I'm going to impress you
Why a dog loves a bone
Why I desire you so much
I'll be gnawin' on it
I'll be consumed with desire
I said, gnawin' on it
I can't get you out of my head
We'll be gnawin' on it, baby
We'll be consumed with desire together
Ah, nah, nah, girl don't do that
Don't tease me anymore
I dropped the kids at school this morning
I took care of our children earlier
I hung the clothes in the back
I did some chores around the house
I'm trying to take care of my business, darling
I'm trying to be responsible
But my mind ain't on the track
I'm still distracted by you
You got me feeling kind of squarely
You're making me feel insecure
I got to get you in this place
I want to be with you
Oh 'cause what I got in mind'll put a grin on your face
I have some sexy plans for us
We'll be gnawin' on it, honey
We'll be consumed with desire together
Ah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah baby don't do that
Don't tease me anymore
They say it's hard to keep it going
People say relationships are hard
When you're together for so long
Especially when you've been together a while
They say combustion's for the youngsters
They say passion is for young people
We should be glad we get along
We should be happy we get along so well
But they don't know nothin' 'bout it
But they don't understand our relationship
They way you love me it's a shame
You love me so well it's almost a shame
You know there ain't nobody better
You're the best
Blowin' embers to a flame
Reigniting our passion
We'll be gnawin' on it, baby, that's what we're doing
We'll be consumed with desire together
We're gonna keep gnawin' on it till we get it
We'll keep going until we're satisfied
Baby come one and
Come on, baby
Nah, nah, nah, oh, nah, nah, nah honey, not like oh
Don't tease me like that
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: BONNIE RAITT, ROY ROGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@terrylodercreative
How do you sit still when Roy and Bonnie wang this thang? Young players need to see and hear Roy thashin with an ACOUSTIC, A CAPO, A PICKUP AND SLIDE WITH POWER AMP distortion. ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Gnaw on that! Safe to say, these two together are a lifetime event. Two of my favorites.
@ralphsims
In my humble opinion, two of the greatest living slide guitar players in the world.
@sassulusmagnus
Bonnie Raitt is such a gracious performer and a consummate pro, and Roy Rogers does not disappoint. The dude wails. They look like they're thoroughly enjoying playing together. A treat to watch.
@richardberger414
I've been following Bonnie for....well quite a while. This is smokin!
@julieann287
So very excellent! Roy Rogers and Bonnie Raitt, am I in heaven???
@daviddragavon7555
WOOF! Knocks my breath away in the best of ways!
@cherylgaudetable
Happiness is dueling slides by these two masters!!! Oh yaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
@MrDirkjung
How mean Roys guitar sounds...love it
@00000.o
This is sick!!!! I may only beable to watch it 15 or 20 more times. 'Tonight'
@2MAKEKAOS
I've seen both several times, but never together. This was awesome. Roy opened the season last year here in Napa, and just killed it! I mean, man was this guy superb! The best show I have ever seen Roy perform at. You shouldn't miss the chance to see him, as I think he is without a doubt, the best slide guitarist alive, and I say that with all respect for Bonnie, Derek Trucks, and others.