His songs have been performed by a number of other musicians including "After Midnight" and "Cocaine" by Eric Clapton,"Cajun Moon" by Randy Crawford, "Clyde" and "Louisiana Women" by Waylon Jennings, "Magnolia" by Jai, "Bringing It Back" by Kansas, "Call Me the Breeze" and "I Got the Same Old Blues" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, "I'd Like to Love You, Baby" by Tom Petty, "Travelin' Light" and "Ride Me High" by Widespread Panic, "Tijuana" by Harry Manx, "Sensitive Kind" by Carlos Santana, "Cajun Moon" by Herbie Mann with Cissy Houston, and "Same Old Blues" by Captain Beefheart.
Cale was born on December 5, 1938, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He was raised in Tulsa and graduated from Tulsa Central High School in 1956. Along with a number of other young Tulsa musicians, Cale moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, where he first worked as a studio engineer.
The Leathercoated Minds was a 1966-67 psychedelic studio-based band masterminded largely by Snuff Garrett and J J Cale. The band produced one album, A Trip down the Sunset Strip, co-produced by Cale and Garrett
Finding little success as a recording artist, he later returned to Tulsa and was considering giving up the music business until Clapton recorded "After Midnight" in 1970. His first album, Naturally, established his style, described by Los Angeles Times writer Richard Cromelin as a "unique hybrid of blues, folk and jazz, marked by relaxed grooves and Cale's fluid guitar and laconic vocals. His early use of drum machines and his unconventional mixes lend a distinctive and timeless quality to his work and set him apart from the pack of Americana roots-music purists."
Some sources incorrectly give his real name as "Jean-Jacques Cale". In the 2006 documentary, To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with J.J. Cale, Cale talks about Elmer Valentine, co-owner of the Sunset Strip nightclub Whisky à GoGo, who employed him in the mid-1960s, being the one that came up with the "JJ" moniker to avoid confusion with the Velvet Underground's John Cale. Rocky Frisco tells the same version of the story mentioning the other John Cale but without further detail.
His biggest U.S. hit single, Crazy Mama, peaked at #22 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1972. During the 2006 documentary film To Tulsa and Back Cale recounts the story of being offered the opportunity to appear on Dick Clark's American Bandstand to promote the song, which would have moved the song higher on the charts. Cale declined when told he could not bring his band to the taping and would be required to lip-sync the words to the song.
Cale died on Friday, July 26, 2013, at Scripps Hospital in La Jolla, California, after suffering a heart attack.
Nobody But You
J.J. Cale Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nobody but you in my thoughts
Nobody but you in my dreams at night
Without you I am lost, without you I am lost
Can't seem to sleep after the sun goes down
Walking the streets is all I do
If you ever look you'll find me hanging 'round
Without you I am lost
The lyrics of J.J. Cale's Nobody But You portray a deep sense of longing for a special someone. The song expresses how the person is always on the artist's mind in both their waking and sleeping moments. The use of repetition emphasizes the all-consuming nature of the relationship.
In the second verse, the lyrics paint a picture of the artist's restless and lonely nights, highlighting their inability to sleep and constant wandering around the streets. The final line of the verse, "If you ever look you'll find me hanging 'round," suggests that the other person is aware of the artist's presence, which intensifies the sense of desire and yearning.
Overall, the lyrics of Nobody But You showcase the universal feeling of needing someone to fill the void in one's life, and the longing that comes with it. The repeating titular phrase emphasizes the intense focus and desire, drawing the listener into the emotions expressed by the words.
Line by Line Meaning
Nobody but you in my dreams at night
I only dream of you when I sleep at night, no one else occupies my thoughts.
Nobody but you in my thoughts
You are always the subject of my thoughts, occupying my mind throughout the day.
Nobody but you in my dreams at night
I dream of you every night, you are the only one who appears in my dreams.
Without you I am lost, without you I am lost
I am incomplete without you, I cannot function properly without your presence.
Can't seem to sleep after the sun goes down
I have trouble sleeping at night because you are always on my mind.
Walking the streets is all I do
I am constantly wandering the streets, trying to find a way to fill the void that only you can fill.
If you ever look you'll find me hanging 'round
If you ever decide to look for me, you will always find me around you, waiting for your presence.
Nobody but you, nobody but you
No one else can compare to you, you are the only one I want by my side.
Without you I am lost
My life is incomplete and directionless without you, you are my only anchor.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN DAVIES CALE, LOU REED
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind