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.
Something To Talk About
Bonnie Raitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it
They think we're lovers kept under cover
I'll just ignore it, but they keep saying
We laugh just a little too loud
Stand just a little too close
We stare just a little too long
Maybe they're seeing something we don't, darlin'
Let's give 'em something to talk about
Let's give 'em something to talk about
Let's give 'em something to talk about
How about love?
I feel so foolish, I never noticed
You'd act so nervous
Could you be falling for me?
It took a rumor to make me wonder
Now I'm convinced I'm going under
Thinking 'bout you everyday
Dreaming 'bout you every night
I'm hoping that you feel the same way
Now that we know it, let's really show it, darlin'
Let's give 'em something to talk about
A little mystery to figure out, babe
Let's give 'em something to talk about
How about love, love, love?
Let's give 'em something to talk about, babe
A little mystery to figure out
Let's give 'em something to talk about
How about love?
Ooh, listen up, baby
A little mystery won't hurt
Let's give 'em something to talk about
How about our love, love, love, love?
How about love, love, love?
The song "Something To Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt is about the rumors and gossip that people spread about two individuals who are not in a relationship but are getting close. The song highlights how people tend to talk without knowing the truth or the situation that might be. The lyrics describe how the individual in the song feels embarrassed about the rumors to the point where they are starting to believe them as well. The chorus of the song is an ironic take on the situation; the lyricist is suggesting that the rumors have become so pervasive that it would not hurt to give the people something to talk about, in this case, love.
The song is also trying to express the idea that the truth doesn't matter as long as people are talking. If the rumors turn out to be false, it could still be a good thing because it gives people something to talk about. The lyricist is leaving the idea open-ended that the two individuals in question in the song could possibly be in love, just as the rumors suggest.
Overall, the song "Something To Talk About" highlights how people tend to spread rumors without knowing the truth while also playing on the idea that the rumors may be true. The song is celebrated as a classic rock-blues tune that has stood the test of time as an important part of the music industry.
Line by Line Meaning
People are talking, talking 'bout people
People are talking and gossiping about us.
I hear them whisper, you won't believe it
I can hear them gossiping, and it's unbelievable.
They think we're lovers kept under cover
They believe that we are secretly in love.
I'll just ignore it, but they keep saying
I try to ignore it, but they keep on talking.
We laugh just a little too loud
We enjoy each other's company and have fun together.
Stand just a little too close
We are physically close and have a connection.
We stare just a little too long
We have intense eye contact and may have feelings for each other.
Maybe they're seeing something we don't, darlin'
Perhaps the gossipers see something between us that we do not see ourselves.
Let's give 'em something to talk about
Let's do something to give the gossipers even more to talk about.
A little mystery to figure out, babe
Let's keep things just ambiguous enough to keep them guessing.
How about love, love, love?
What if we give them something to talk about by being openly in love?
I feel so foolish, I never noticed
I feel foolish for not realizing that you might have feelings for me.
You'd act so nervous, could you be falling for me?
I notice that you are acting nervous or different around me, and I wonder if you are starting to fall in love with me.
It took a rumor to make me wonder
It's only because of the gossip and rumors that I started to wonder if there was something between us.
Now I'm convinced I'm going under
Now I am falling in love with you for real, and I cannot help myself.
Thinking 'bout you everyday, dreaming 'bout you every night
I cannot stop thinking about you and fantasizing about us being together.
I'm hoping that you feel the same way
I am hoping that you have the same feelings that I have for you.
Now that we know it, let's really show it, darlin'
Now that we have acknowledged our feelings, let's be open and public about it.
Ooh, listen up, baby
Hey, listen to me carefully.
A little mystery won't hurt
It's not a bad thing to keep some mystery and intrigue in our relationship.
How about our love, love, love, love?
What if we show them that we are in love, and give them even more to talk about?
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Shirley Eikhard
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@di4c4christ12
I don’t know why I choose to look up Bonnie Raitte videos tonight. I know her music from my childhood but never thought much about it. I’ve watched 3 videos so far and there’s something that brings a tear to my eye. Not for the reason some might think though.
See…I’m someone immersed in study. I spend my days studying history, religion, and politics.
I grew up in the early 1990s. My country has changed.
The thing that brought a tear to my eye was watching these videos reminded me when everyone was proud to be an American. A time when we weren’t divided. A time when we celebrated our culture and history and had real conversations with each other.
I’m exhausted with trying to convince my fellow Americans who have lost their fucking minds that they have diverted down a path of no return. I’m truly tired of the lunacy.
I wish people would get back to how things were.
@lashondacorderakawizdomwitaz
2023❤ My husband and I met in the first grade in 1980 on the first day of school. He’s white and I’m brown… we never said anything about our obvious crushes on each other because we were in Mississippi and racial tension was too high. 42 years later he found me on Facebook in October 2022… 2 months later we eloped and everyone on Facebook from high school is surprised ! But very supportive! This song reminds me so much of my husband and I. I love you Che’ Nethery for my whole entire lifetime ❤❤❤🎉🙌🏽🙏🏽
@chenethery8869
Yes baby. Let’s do give ‘em something to talk about. When they look at us they gonna wish they had this. I’ll always cherish you n love you.
@debralynnneidenthal-davis4524
Bless your Hearts!!!!!!
@fancysfolly554
This is so sweet. All the happiness in the world to you both.
@matthewmcgrath3116
I've always felt bad about racial differences when we were growing up in southern Virginia. I'm glad you reconnected, Lashonda and found your mate!
@wallytidwell1439
Love ❤️ that story
@SylviaBrockovich
Bonnie Raitt makes my heart glad and she is so comfortable. Her music is like comfort food to the soul. Thank you Bonnie.
@gapch1964
Congrats on that Grammys win last night. 2023 & this song still hitting
@murphycormac3089
Hello Sylvia 👋 Simple music can make you sing, a simple hug can make you feel better, simple things can make you happy, I hope my simple hello will make you smile.
@cyndedawson3129
This song is soooo right yesssss 💕💫🌌🌹🌹😍