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.
Nothing Seems to Matter
Bonnie Raitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And felt you close and warm beside me
Another night is getting late and I'm alone with just the ache
And the memory of you inside me
Darling, I've never been so blue
I've tried to see it through, there's nothing I can do
I won't make it on my own, so won't you please hurry home
Last time I saw you, there was nothing we could say
We knew it was a time for a change
A time to think you said that night and I lied and said, "All right"
And I left you in the morning, I watched you in the window
And Mexico will never be the same
It was time to be apart, but somehow it seems this heart of mine
Will never find a way to live without you
And now I'm out here on the road and I'm feeling bought and sold
And tonight I just can't but think about you
Darling, I've never been so blue
I've tried to see it through, there's nothing I can do
I won't make it on my own, so darling won't you hurry home
Because nothing seems to matter without you
No, nothing seems to matter without you
The lyrics to Bonnie Raitt's song "Nothing Seems to Matter" vividly expresses the feeling of heartbreak and loneliness after a relationship has ended. She sings in detail about the memories she shares with her former partner and how much she misses his warmth, companionship, and love. Despite trying to move on, she finds herself struggling with just the thought of existing without him, and everything has lost its meaning.
The first verse paints a picture of how her longing for her partner hasn't decreased over time, showing how there's hardly any relief or closure she receives after separation. The second verse hints at the reason behind their break up- the two lovers had reached an understanding that they needed to be apart, which we can only assume is lost when she recalls taking one final glance at him gazing through a windowpane while leaving for Mexico. The last verse shows how her emotions are impacting her professional life and her need for him to return contrasts with her inability to come to an internal resolution with their separation. In the end, it's a plea to her former lover to come back so that she can feel alive again.
Overall, "Nothing Seems to Matter" is a beautifully introspective ballad that articulates the pain of letting someone that meant the world to you go. Raitt's vocals throughout the song are melancholic, but she perfectly captures the emotions the lyrics convey.
Line by Line Meaning
Seems like such a long time, since I held you in my arms
It feels like it's been an eternity since I was able to hold you close to me
And felt you close and warm beside me
I miss the feeling of having you near me, being able to feel your warmth
Another night is getting late and I'm alone with just the ache
As the night wears on, I can feel the deep pain of loneliness setting in
And the memory of you inside me
Even though you're not here, I can still feel your memory inside me
Darling, I've never been so blue
My sadness and longing for you is so intense, I've never felt this sad before
I've tried to see it through, there's nothing I can do
I've tried to move on but it seems impossible, I just can't stop thinking about you
I won't make it on my own, so won't you please hurry home
I need you by my side to get through this, please come back to me as soon as you can
'Cause nothing seems to matter without you
Everything I do seems pointless and empty without you, you are the only thing that truly matters to me
Last time I saw you, there was nothing we could say
When we parted ways, there was nothing left to be said because we both knew it was for the best
We knew it was a time for a change
We both realized that it was time for us to move on and make changes in our lives
A time to think you said that night and I lied and said, 'All right'
You suggested that we take some time apart to think about things, and I pretended to be ok with it even though it hurt me deeply
And I left you in the morning, I watched you in the window
The next morning, I left and watched you from outside as you looked out the window
And Mexico will never be the same
Even though we were in Mexico at the time, the memories we created there will never be the same
It was time to be apart, but somehow it seems this heart of mine
Even though we needed to be apart, I can't help but feel that my heart will never fully recover from losing you
Will never find a way to live without you
I don't think I'll ever be able to move on and live my life without you
And now I'm out here on the road and I'm feeling bought and sold
I'm out here alone on the road, feeling like I've been used and tossed aside
And tonight I just can't but think about you
Every thought and feeling in my mind is consumed by thoughts of you, I can't escape them
Because nothing seems to matter without you
Without you, every aspect of my life feels meaningless and unimportant
No, nothing seems to matter without you
I can't stress enough how much you truly mean to me, without you nothing seems to matter
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BONNIE RAITT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind