Their first hit, “A Fool in Love,” was recorded in 1961 when another singer failed to show up for a session. After several early ‘60s hit R&B singles, including “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine” in 1961, they became major stars in England.
A 1971 cover version of John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary” reached No. 4 on the pop chart. Ike and Tina divorced in 1976.
TIMELINE
November 5, 1931: Ike Turner was born.
November 26, 1939: Tina Turner was born.
March 1, 1951: Sam Phillips records “Rocket 88” with singer Jackie Brenston and Ike Turner’s band. for Chess records. This recording is widely considered the first rock and roll record.
October 17, 1960: Ike and Tina Turner hit #27 on pop and #3 on R&B with the Sue records single “A Fool In Love”.
September 18, 1961: Ike and Tina Turner #14 on pop and #2 on R&B “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine”.
1961: Ike and Tina Turner hit #4 on the R&B chart and #38 (1/27/62) on the pop chart with “Poor Fool”.
July 2, 1962: After getting hurt during a jump, Jimi Hendrix gets an honorable discharge from the Army. Over the next three years, he will play numerous gigs and studio sessions with such R&B stars as Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner and Sam Cooke.
March 27, 1971: Ike & Tina Turner hit #4 with “Proud Mary.”
November 17, 1973: Ike & Tina Turner hit #22 with “Nutbush City Limits”.
(2) As husband and wife, Ike & Tina Turner headed up one of the most potent live acts on the R&B circuit during the '60s and early '70s. Guitarist and bandleader Ike kept his ensemble tight and well-drilled while throwing in his own distinctively twangy plucking; lead vocalist Tina was a ferocious whirlwind of power and energy, a raw sexual dynamo who was impossible to contain when she hit the stage, leading some critics to call her the first female singer to embody the true spirit of rock & roll. In their prime, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue specialized in a hard-driving, funked-up hybrid of soul and rock that, in its best moments, rose to a visceral frenzy that few R&B acts of any era could hope to match. Effusively praised by white rock luminaries like the Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin, Tina was unquestionably the star of the show, with a hugely powerful, raspy voice that ranks among the all-time soul greats. For all their concert presence, the Turners sometimes had problems translating their strong points to record; they cut singles for an endless succession of large and small independent labels throughout their career, and suffered from a shortage of the strong original material that artists with more stable homes (Motown, Atlantic, Stax, etc.) often enjoyed. The couple's well-documented marital difficulties (a mild way of describing Ike's violent, drug-fueled cruelty) eventually dissolved their partnership in the mid-'70s. Tina, of course, went on to become an icon and a symbol of survival after the resurgence of her solo career in the '80s, but it was the years she spent with Ike that made the purely musical part of her legend.
Izear Luster "Ike" Turner, Jr. was born in Clarksdale, MS, in 1931; initially a pianist, he formed his first band in high school and put together the Kings of Rhythm in the late '40s. In 1951, that group cut the pivotal "Rocket 88," a tune often pinpointed as the first ever rock & roll record; however, since sax player Jackie Brenston took the vocal, the song was credited to Brenston & His Delta Cats rather than Turner & the Kings of Rhythm. Not long after, Turner switched from piano to guitar, and he and his band became a prolific session outfit in Memphis, backing various Sun artists and bluesmen during the early '50s. Turner moved the Kings of Rhythm to East St. Louis in the mid-'50s, where they became kingpins of the local R&B circuit. In 1956, he met a teenage, gospel-trained singer from Nutbush, TN, named Anna Mae Bullock, and promised her a chance to sing with his band. That chance kept failing to materialize, until one night Bullock simply grabbed the microphone and started belting. Impressed, Turner made her a part of his revue, changing her name to Tina. After Tina became pregnant by the band's saxophonist, Raymond Hill, she moved into Turner's house, an arrangement that led to their own relationship; the two were married in 1958 and soon had a child of their own.
In late 1959, Turner's band entered the studio to cut a song called "A Fool in Love" for the Sue Records label. The scheduled male vocalist failed to show up for the session, and Tina was pressed into service. Released in 1960, "A Fool in Love" shot to the number two spot on the R&B charts, also making the pop Top 30. Tina was now clearly the focal point of the act, which Turner rechristened the Ike & Tina Turner Revue; with a large, horn-filled ensemble and a group of leggy backup singers dubbed the Ikettes (who complemented Tina's short-skirted, uninhibited gyrating), the Revue eventually developed a reputation for putting on one of the most exciting live shows in R&B. The R&B-chart hits came fast and furious during the early '60s: 1961's "I Idolize You" (number five) and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (number two), 1962's "Poor Fool" (number four) and "Tra La La La La" (number nine). It was an impressive run, but the well went dry over the next several years; Ike supplied much of the band's original material, and although he was responsible for many of the early successes, he simply wasn't a world-class songwriter who could deliver hit-caliber tunes with regularity. Much of the Revue's repertoire consisted of bluesy, chitlin circuit R&B that wasn't exceptionally memorable. Ike & Tina branched out from Sue Records and spent the next few years issuing records on additional labels, including Kent, Modern, and Loma. While they had some undeniable high points and several chart entries, none reached the level of their initial run of Top Ten hits.
In 1966, the Turners worked with legendary producer Phil Spector, who was seeking a way to restore his artistic and commercial standing at the forefront of pop music in the wake of advances by the Beach Boys and Beatles. The powerful instrument that was Tina's voice appealed to Spector's sense of grandeur, and he conceived of a massive-scale production framing that voice that would rank as his greatest masterpiece. Ike already had a reputation for demanding control, and Spector struck his deal accordingly: although the records would be fully credited to Ike & Tina Turner, Ike would not be allowed to enter the studio or alter the finished recordings (in effect, Spector was paying him not to meddle). The centerpiece of Spector's collaboration with Tina was "River Deep - Mountain High," a monumental pop symphony that cost over $22,000 to produce (in 1966, this was a whopping sum for an album, let alone a single). The single represented Spector's so-called Wall of Sound style at its most gloriously excessive, and Tina's was one of the few voices in popular music strong enough to cut through the monolithic orchestral backing. With the high cost and his own slipping stature, Spector was betting the farm on "River Deep - Mountain High," and although it rocketed into the British Top Five and made Tina a star in the U.K., it flopped in America, where its mixture of black and white musical aesthetics was still slightly ahead of its time. A crushed Spector retreated from the music business not long after, and his Philles label yanked the accompanying album of the same name from American release (Spector wound up producing only five of the 12 cuts). Although some critics dismiss "River Deep - Mountain High" as overproduced bombast, many still consider it one of rock's greatest singles; George Harrison famously described it as "a perfect record from start to finish."
After the Spector deal fell through, Ike & Tina returned to their somewhat mercenary recording habits, cutting songs for Modern and Innis, then moving to Minit and Blue Thumb in 1969. That year, they went on the road as the opening act for the Rolling Stones, and Ike slightly retooled the Revue's sound to appeal to white rock audiences in addition to their core black following. In 1970, they signed with Liberty/United Artists and recorded Come Together, which incorporated contemporary rock & roll covers into their repertoire; versions of the Beatles' title track and Sly & the Family Stone's "I Want to Take You Higher" made the R&B Top 30. Released later that year, Workin' Together became the most popular album of their career, making the Top 25 on the strength of a storming reinterpretation of CCR's "Proud Mary." Featuring a notorious spoken intro by Tina, the "nice...and rough" version of "Proud Mary" gave Ike & Tina their first Top Five hit on the pop charts, and returned them to the same heights on the R&B side as well; it also won them a Grammy. The covers gimmick couldn't last forever, though, and their formula soon grew predictable; their last major success was 1973's "Nutbush City Limits," a semi-autobiographical song written by Tina that made the R&B Top 20 and just missed that placing on the pop side. By that point, Tina had grown increasingly uninterested in the duo's well-established act, and was tiring of the largely unchallenging material she continued to perform.
Unfortunately, the music itself wasn't the only factor in Ike & Tina's downturn. As a bandleader, Ike had long been a disciplinarian, but during the '60s he developed severe addictions to alcohol and, especially, cocaine. Wanting to maintain control over the star of his show at any cost, Turner kept his wife in line through an increasingly violent pattern of emotional and physical abuse; often drug-related, his flights of rage could result in severe beatings or burns that pushed Tina to attempt suicide in 1968, according to her autobiography. She continued to endure Ike's dominance through the early '70s, and her performances were clearly weary by the end; finally, she walked out on her husband and generally declined to pursue claims for financial compensation from their work together. Their divorce became official in 1976. After a long period of struggle, Tina re-emerged triumphantly in the '80s as a superstar solo act; Ike, meanwhile, ran his own recording studio for a time, but his drug problems worsened, resulting in several arrests. Sadly, and perhaps fittingly, he was serving prison time when he and his former wife were jointly inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and was unable to attend the ceremony. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
I'm Yours
Ike & Tina Turner Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And my feet trying to find me
I find ways to try to find you
Just to get the chance to remind you
That if you change your mind
And don't leave me behind
I'll be anyway you want me
You're all i breath
And i'm anyway you want me
Your love's got me chained
I don't, i cant see no other man
I don't want no no other romance
I just want you to give me a chance
Cuz you say that you know
That somebody somewhere truly needs you
Well the someone is me
You've got me eatin by the tip of your finger
Do you remember
Here's my lips
You take em, you make em
Do as you wish
You use 'em, abuse 'em
I'll be your witch
Voodoo em, misuse em
I'll be your snitch
You name it i'll tame it
Here's my heart
You can break it apart any way you want to
I'll show lovin like a burnin fire
It takes me higher and higher
Any way you want me (2x)
Sittin here thinkin about the fellas i left
But you i can't forget
It's up to you
To say when we're through
Cuz i'm anyway you want me
What would i give
To have to hold
Im keepin this
To me i see
You close to me
Do what you want
Do keep me please
We like you like
Be like your wife
Do me as you want
All day and night
The lyrics of Ike & Tina Turner's song "I'm Yours" speaks of desperate, all-consuming love where the singer is completely under the spell of the man she desires. The song's chorus repeats the phrase "I'm anyway you want me," conveying a sense of desperation and surrender. The singer is willing to be used and abused by her lover and begs him not to leave her behind. She is chained to his love and cannot see any other man or pursue any other romance. She is entranced by her lover's power over her and is ready to do anything to keep him - even if it means being his witch, snitch, or having her heart broken in the process.
The song speaks to the dynamics of a toxic relationship, the kind of relationship where one person is consumed by love for the other, unaware or unwilling to see the inherent power imbalance that exists. The singer is so desperate to please her lover that she is willing to give up everything, including herself. The song's lyrics are powerful because they reveal how love can become a prison, making the people involved unable to leave or to break free from their emotional chains.
Line by Line Meaning
With my hands locked behind me
Despite being restrained, I am still attempting to find a way to reach you.
And my feet trying to find me
My desire for you is so strong that even my own feet seem to be searching for you.
I find ways to try to find you
I am willing to go to great lengths just to have the opportunity to see you.
Just to get the chance to remind you
I am hoping to remind you that I am here and desperately in love with you.
That if you change your mind
If you should have a change of heart,
And don't leave me behind
And decide not to leave me alone,
I'll be anyway you want me
I will be whatever you desire me to be.
You're all i breath
You are the very essence of my being.
You're all i need
I rely on you completely for my happiness and fulfillment.
And i'm anyway you want me
I am committed to pleasing you no matter what.
Your love's got me chained
You have me completely under your control through the power of your love.
I don't, i cant see no other man
I cannot see myself being with anyone else but you.
I don't want no no other romance
I have no interest in pursuing any other romantic relationships.
I just want you to give me a chance
All I desire is for you to give me a chance to prove my love to you.
Cuz you say that you know
You claim to understand
That somebody somewhere truly needs you
That there is someone out there who needs you deeply.
Well the someone is me
That someone is me - I need you more than anything.
You've got me eatin by the tip of your finger
You have complete control over me and my actions.
Do you remember
Do you recall the power you hold over me?
Here's my lips
I offer you my lips, my very being.
You take em, you make em
Do with them as you please.
Do as you wish
You have complete control over me.
You use 'em, abuse 'em
You can use me or hurt me in any way you choose.
I'll be your witch
I will do anything to please and serve you.
Voodoo em, misuse em
You can use witchcraft or other means to control me.
I'll be your snitch
I will always be loyal to you and reveal any information you seek.
You name it i'll tame it
I will do anything to make you happy, no matter what it may involve.
Here's my heart
My heart is yours.
You can break it apart any way you want to
You can destroy me emotionally if that is your wish.
I'll show lovin like a burnin fire
I will give you all the love I have, as passionately as I am able.
It takes me higher and higher
Your love elevates me and gives me a sense of euphoria.
Sittin here thinkin about the fellas i left
I am thinking about past relationships that do not compare to my love for you.
But you i can't forget
I can never forget you - you are everything to me.
It's up to you
The decision rests solely with you.
To say when we're through
To determine when our relationship will end, if ever.
Cuz i'm anyway you want me
I am committed to making you happy no matter what.
What would i give
I am willing to give everything I have to make you happy.
To have to hold
All I want is to have and hold you.
Im keepin this
My love for you will never diminish or diminish.
To me i see
From my perspective
You close to me
Being close to you is everything to me.
Do what you want
I will do anything you ask or desire.
Do keep me please
Please do not ever leave or abandon me.
We like you like
I like you as much as you like me.
Be like your wife
I desire to be by your side for the rest of my life.
Do me as you want
Treat me how you will, but never abandon me.
All day and night
I am committed to being with you and pleasing you every minute of every day.
Writer(s): P. Reese, C. Lane
Contributed by London S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.