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.
What You're Doin' to Me
Bonnie Raitt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Above the fray, my heart got tucked away
And I finally found some peace
I lost the taste for it, the pain and the waste of it
Love just wasn't meant for me
Just when I thought the coast was finally clear
And pull me outta here
Now there's no denying, baby, what you're doing to me
Honey, I ain't lying, 'cause baby feels so good to me
I did my best to put you to the test
And I brought out my darkest stuff
I pulled in tight, pushed back with all my might
And still you couldn't get enough
My last defense is slipping out of reach
You got me where you want me
Now I'm fallin' into the breach
Now there's no denying, baby, what you're doing to me
Ain't no use in trying, 'cause baby, you're so good to me
After all that Sturm and Drang
I gave up long ago
One too many times around
And nothing left to show
You got that something, baby
That shakes me to the core
Pulled me straight out by the roots
And got me howling more
Just goes to show
No way you'll ever know
What love's got up her sleeve
You think the game's up
Heading home and guess what?
She shows up with a sweet reprieve
No use in wondering if it's real or if it's not
With nothing left to lose you might as well give it a shot
Now there's no denying, baby, what you're doing to me
Ain't no use in trying, 'cause baby, we were meant to be
Meant to be
Meant to be, yeah
The song "What You're Doin' To Me" by Bonnie Raitt is a classic tale of love finding someone when they least expect it. The song centers on the singer's past experiences with love, and how they had given up on it. They had found peace by not searching for it anymore but just when they let their guard down, love comes knocking again. This is when the singer realizes that they are falling in love, and despite their attempts to resist and push away, the person they are falling for keeps drawing them close. The lyrics explain the singer's surprise at the power of love and how it has changed their perspective.
The lyrics also acknowledge the risk taken in opening up and giving their hearts to someone new. The singer admits to having struggled with their own feelings and testing their newfound love, yet they feel safe and taken care of. Even though they have faced heartbreak before, they give love another chance because this time it feels different. The power of the love they've found is finally pulling them out of their shell and causing them to open up and release their past pains.
Overall, the lyrics of the song showcase a journey of someone who has survived heartbreaking love experiences but is willing to take the risk once again because of the strong love that they have found.
Line by Line Meaning
Above the fray, my heart got tucked away
I had hidden away my heart to avoid getting hurt again
And I finally found some peace
But I was at peace with the idea of not finding love again
I lost the taste for it, the pain and the waste of it
I had lost interest in love due to the hurt and effort it took
Love just wasn't meant for me
I believed that I was not meant to experience love
Just when I thought the coast was finally clear
But just as I was content with being single,
You come busting in the door
you came into my life forcefully
And pull me outta here
and convinced me to give love another shot
Now there's no denying, baby, what you're doing to me
Now I can't deny the effect you have on me, I am falling in love with you
Honey, I ain't lying, 'cause baby feels so good to me
I'm not lying when I say that being with you feels wonderful
I did my best to put you to the test
But I tried to make sure you were what I wanted
And I brought out my darkest stuff
So I tested you by revealing my flaws and weaknesses
I pulled in tight, pushed back with all my might
And I put up a good fight, refusing to give in to love easily
And still you couldn't get enough
But you still wanted to be with me, despite all of my resistance
My last defense is slipping out of reach
My resistant tendencies are fading away
You got me where you want me
You have convinced me to give love a chance and have control over my heart
Now I'm fallin' into the breach
Now I am falling in love with you
Ain't no use in trying, 'cause baby, you're so good to me
There's no use in fighting love anymore, because being with you feels too great
After all that Sturm and Drang
After all of the turbulence in my love life
I gave up long ago
I gave up on love a long time ago
One too many times around
I had been through too many disappointments to count
And nothing left to show
Without any positive outcomes to show for it
You got that something, baby
But you have that something special that drew me in
That shakes me to the core
You have shaken me to my core with the strength of your love
Pulled me straight out by the roots
You have uprooted my belief about being unlovable
And got me howling more
You have made me fall deeper in love with you and feel more content
Just goes to show
Which just goes to prove
No way you'll ever know
There's no way to know for sure
What love's got up her sleeve
What surprises love has in store for us
You think the game's up
When you think that you will never find love again
Heading home and guess what?
But as soon as you give up, suddenly something happens
She shows up with a sweet reprieve
Love surprises and gives you a break
No use in wondering if it's real or if it's not
There's no point in questioning whether it is real or not
With nothing left to lose you might as well give it a shot
When you have nothing else to lose, you may as well take the chance and give love another try
Ain't no use in trying, 'cause baby, we were meant to be
There's no need to resist our love, we were meant to be together
Meant to be
We were destined to be together
Meant to be, yeah
We were always meant to find each other
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Bonnie Raitt
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind