On his return, Lewis entered Cornell University, joining the engineering program. While there, he made friends with Lance and Larry Hoppen, who later played with Orleans and King Harvest. Initially being an active student and a member of the fraternity Eta Lambda Nu, Lewis soon lost interest in college. He signed up with a band called Slippery Elm, and in December 1969, during his junior year, he dropped out of Cornell, moving back to the San Francisco area. His aim was to continue playing music, but along the way he also tried other fields of work including landscaping, carpentry and natural foods.
In 1971, Lewis joined the Bay Area band Clover. Around this time he took the name Huey Lewis. The Lewis is for his mother Magda Cregg's boyfriend, Beat Generation poet Lew(is) Welch, whom he considered his stepfather. Sean Hopper joined the band in 1972; other members of the band were John McFee, Alex Call, John Ciambotti, Mitch Howie, Mickey Shine and Marcus David. Lewis played harmonica with the band and only sang lead vocals on a few tunes. Clover's main rival band (which developed into a friendly rivalry) was Soundhole (Johnny Colla, Mario Cipollina, and Bill Gibson were band members).
In 1976, after playing in the Bay Area with limited success, Clover went to Los Angeles. They had their "big break" in a club there when their act was caught by Nick Lowe, who convinced Clover to travel to Britain with him. However, Clover was not successful in Britain, and the band arrived just as their folk-rock sound (known as pub rock in Britain) was being replaced by punk rock. They recorded two albums for the British Phonogram label; both albums produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, but neither were successful.
While Huey went on vacation, the rest of Clover backed Elvis Costello on his debut album My Aim is True. The band returned to California, McFee joined the Doobie Brothers, and Clover disbanded.
Huey Lewis played harmonica on Thin Lizzy's 1978 landmark album Live and Dangerous. That same year, Lewis was playing at Uncle Charlie's, a club in Corte Madera, California, doing the 'Monday Night Live' spot, along with future members of the News. After recording the song "Exo-Disco" (a disco version of the theme from the film Exodus), Huey landed a 'singles contract' from Phonogram Records, and Bob Brown became his manager. Huey Lewis and the American Express formed in 1979, with the same line-up as the News. The band played a few gigs (including an opening for Van Morrison), but on Brown's advice, they changed their name again. Huey Lewis and the News became their moniker.
After a failed self-titled debut in 1980, the band finally broke through to Top 40 success with the gold album Picture This (1982) riding to #13 on the Albums chart thanks to the Mutt Lange-penned "Do You Believe In Love" (#7), which became the band's first hit.
The band's third LP, the #1 Sports (1983), is one of the best-selling pop releases of all time. It has sold ten million copies in the US alone.[4] It was followed up by Fore! (1986), another #1 multi-platinum smash.
in 1995, Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker, Jr. over similarities between Parker's theme for the 1984 movie Ghostbusters and Lewis' own "I Want A New Drug". The case was settled out of court, with both parties agreeing to keep the settlement secret. Mr. Parker sued Mr. Lewis in 2001, alleging that Mr. Lewis violated the agreement in a "VH1- Behind the Music" Episode, when he stated that Mr. Parker paid some amount to settle the case.[5]
Lewis produced Nick Lowe's 1985 cover of "I Knew The Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)". Huey Lewis and the News provided backup vocals and played on the song. He and his bandmates also performed on USA for Africa's 1985 fund-raising single "We Are the World", and spent the remainder of the 1980s and early 1990s adding to an impressive string of 14 Top-20 Billboard Hot 100 hits and releasing two more hit albums: Small World (1988) #11 and Hard At Play (1991) #27. By the time the band released their critically-acclaimed album of cover songs Four Chords & Several Years Ago (1994) #55, their chosen lower profile and lack of promotion from new label Elektra saw their Top 40 appeal dip for good, yet they have endured as one of America's top drawing live acts[citation needed] and have continued to have the occasional hit on adult contemporary radio.
As well as singing lead vocals and playing harmonica with the band, Lewis also writes or co-writes many of the band's songs.
Huey Lewis has sung with Umphrey's McGee at several shows beginning with the 2005 Jammys and is featured on two tracks of their album Safety In Numbers.
The band, now in self-proclaimed semi-retirement, still plays 80+ U.S. dates a year, with an occasional European tour. The average fee for Huey Lewis & The News to play a private college-sized show is around US$200,000.
On February 13, 2007, Huey was interviewed on the podcast series "Stuck in the 80s," during which he revealed that the band has written several new songs that they plan to record next year, though he states that, given how much the industry has changed since their last album, he's unsure at this point how they will sell the new material.[6]
During a show at the California State Fair on August 21, 2007, Huey was named Sacramento's "Musician of the Year" by the fair's General Manager and presented with a gold statue of the California state bear.
Huey has also recorded a duet version of "Workin' For A Livin'" with Garth Brooks, which was included in Brooks' 3-Disc set The Ultimate Hits, in late-2007.
Huey Lewis's real name is "Hugh Cregg"
Feeling Alright
Huey Lewis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cause everynight I have the strangest dreams
Imprisoned by the way it could have been
Left here on my own or so it seems
I've got to leave before I start to scream
Someone locked the door and turned the key
Feeling alright
Feeling alright
I don't have to feel alright
I'm feeling good myself
Boy you sure took me for a ride
And even now I sit and wonder why
That when I think of you I stop myself from crying
I just can't waste my time
I must keep tryin
I've got to stop believing all your lies
Cause there's too much to do before I die
Feeling alright
I'm not feeling good myself
Feeling alright
I don't have to feel alright
I'm feeling good myself
Don't you get too lost in all I say
But at the time you know
I really felt that way
But that was then and now you know it's today
Lord I can't escape I guess I'm here to stay
Till someone comes along to take my place
With a different name and a different face
Feeling alright
I'm not feeling good myself
Feeling alright
I don't have to feel alright
I'm feeling good myself
The lyrics of Huey Lewis's song "Feeling Alright" describe a person who feels trapped and stuck in their current situation. They have been having strange dreams every night and feel imprisoned by the way things could have been. They feel like they're on their own and need to leave before they start to scream. The line "someone locked the door and turned the key" adds to the feeling of being trapped and unable to escape. Despite all of this, the person is "feeling alright" but not necessarily "good." They don't need to feel okay but they're still feeling positive about themselves.
The second verse continues the theme of feeling deceived by someone the person was in a relationship with, as they "took me for a ride." However, they've made the decision to stop believing the lies and move on, recognizing that there's too much to do before they die. Moving forward, the singer acknowledges that they can't change the past, but they're hopeful for the future, hoping that someone else will come along with a different name and face to take their place. There's a sense of accepting the current situation while still looking towards something better in the future.
Line by Line Meaning
Seems I've got to have a change of scene
I feel the need for a change in my life.
Cause everynight I have the strangest dreams
I keep having weird dreams every night.
Imprisoned by the way it could have been
I feel trapped by my past and the things that could have happened.
Left here on my own or so it seems
I feel alone and abandoned.
I've got to leave before I start to scream
I need to make a change before I completely lose it.
Someone locked the door and turned the key
I feel trapped and unable to escape from my current situation.
Feeling alright
I'm doing okay.
I'm not feeling good myself
I don't feel great, but I'm not feeling terrible either.
I don't have to feel alright
I don't need to force myself to feel okay.
I'm feeling good myself
I feel good about myself and my decisions.
Boy you sure took me for a ride
You really fooled me and made things difficult.
And even now I sit and wonder why
I still think about why you did what you did.
That when I think of you I stop myself from crying
You still have an emotional hold on me, even though I try to suppress it.
I just can't waste my time
I can't spend any more time thinking about you.
I must keep tryin
I need to keep moving forward and trying to improve my situation.
I've got to stop believing all your lies
I need to stop trusting you and your false promises.
Cause there's too much to do before I die
I have too many goals and ambitions to waste my time on you.
Don't you get too lost in all I say
Don't take everything I say too seriously.
But at the time you know
At the time, I truly meant what I said.
I really felt that way
I had genuine emotions and feelings back then.
But that was then and now you know it's today
Things have changed since then, and I'm in a different place now.
Lord I can't escape I guess I'm here to stay
I feel trapped and unable to get out of my current situation.
Till someone comes along to take my place
Until someone else can take over and make things better.
With a different name and a different face
Someone completely new and different needs to take over.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Dave Mason
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@davidbusse3168
Nobody does it better ! Great voice, Huey !
@MrPinheadri
I agree...
@TheDude68305
@@MrPinheadriI'm sorry but Joe Cocker did it a lot better.
@timsanderson5572
@@TheDude68305 traffic's original version was the best
@kevinkirk4285
Love the sound of a Hammond organ! One of my favorite covers of a great song!
@NoTrashInHeaven
And the horns , the bass, rhythm guitar, the background singers 🎶 👌 funky blues always gets me "feelin alright " 😊
@ChristineSmuniewski
He can cover any song and make it sound great
@NoTrashInHeaven
Funky blues always gets me "feelin alright " 🌞
@juliell2139
Great kick off song to an AWESOME soundtrack album. And I love his Lonely Teardrops, too. I love this one best, too
@JanetRichards-gh6rr
Nice voice, Huey!