As well, it nearly took him that long to find his own style. Hiatt began his solo career in 1974, and over the next decade he ran through a number of different styles from rock & roll to new wave-esque pop before he finally settled on a rootsy fusion of rock, country, blues, and folk with his 1987 album 'Bring the Family'. Though the album didn't set the charts on fire, it became his first album to gain some major commercial success, and several of the songs on the record became hits for other artists, including the aforementioned Raitt and Milsap. Following its success, Hiatt became a reliable hit songwriter for other artists, and he developed a strong cult following that continued to gain strength into the mid-90s.
While he was growing up in his hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana, Hiatt played in a number of garage bands. Initially, he was inspired by the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, and the music of those two artists would echo strongly throughout his work. Out of all the bar bands he played with in the late 60s, a group called The White Ducks was the one that received the most attention. Following his high-school graduation, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee at the age of 18, where he landed a job as a songwriter for Tree Publishing.
For the next several years, he wrote and performed at local clubs and hotels. Within a few years, his songs were being recorded by several different artists, including Conway Twitty, Tracy Nelson, and Three Dog Night, who took Hiatt's "Sure as I'm Sittin' Here" to number 16 in the summer of 1974. Eventually, his manager secured him an audition at Epic Records, and the label signed him in 1974, releasing his debut album, Hangin' Around the Observatory, later that year. Despite their critical acclaim, neither Hangin' Around the Observatory nor its 1975 follow-up Overcoats sold many copies, and he was dropped by the label. By the end of the year, Tree Publishing had let him go as well.
Following his failure in Nashville, Hiatt moved out to California. By the summer of 1978 he had settled in Los Angeles, where began playing in clubs, opening for folk musicians including Leo Kottke. With Kottke's assistance, Hiatt hired a new manager, Denny Bruce, who helped him secure a record contract with MCA Records. Slug Line, his first record for MCA, was released in the summer of 1979. Where his first two records were straight-ahead rock & roll and folk-rock, Slug Line was in the new wave vein of angry English singer/songwriters like Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Jackson, as if Hiatt was vying for the role of the American angry young man. The new approach earned some strong reviews, yet it failed to generate any sales. Two Bit Monsters, his second MCA album, faced the same situation. Although it was well-received critically upon its 1980 release, it made no impression on the charts, and the label dropped him.
Apart from working on Two Bit Monsters, Hiatt spent most of 1980 as a member of Ry Cooder's backing band, playing rhythm guitar on the Borderline album and touring with the guitarist. Hiatt stayed with Cooder throughout 1981, signing a new contract with Geffen Records by the end of the year. Produced by Tony Visconti (David Bowie, T. Rex), his Geffen debut All of A Sudden was released in 1982, followed by the Nick Lowe/Scott Matthews & Ron Nagel-produced Riding With the King in 1983. As with his previous records for Epic and MCA, neither of his first two Geffen releases sold well. By this time, Hiatt's personal life was beginning to spin out of control as he was sinking deep into alcoholism. Around the time he completed 1985's Warming Up to the Ice Age, his second wife committed suicide. Following the release of Warming Up to the Ice Age, Hiatt was dropped by Geffen. By the end of 1985, he had entered a rehabilitation program. During 1986, he remarried and signed a new deal with A&M Records.
For his A&M debut, Hiatt assembled a small band comprising his former associates Ry Cooder (guitar), Nick Lowe (bass), and Jim Keltner (drums). Recorded over the course of a handful of days, the resulting album, Bring the Family, had a direct, stripped-down rootsy sound that differed greatly from his earlier albums. Upon its summer 1987 release, Bring the Family received the best reviews of his career and, for once, the reviews began to pay off, as the album turned into a cult hit, peaking at 107 on the U.S. charts; it was his first charting album. Hiatt attempted to record a follow-up with Cooder, Lowe, and Keltner, but the musicians failed to agree on the financial terms for the sessions. Undaunted, he recorded an album with John Doe, David Lindley, and Dave Mattacks, but he scrapped the completed project, deciding that the result was too forced. Hiatt's final attempt at recording the follow-up to Bring the Family was orchestrated by veteran producer Glyn Johns, who had him record with his touring band, the Goners. Despite all of the behind-the-scenes troubles behind its recording, the follow-up album, Slow Turning, actually appeared rather quickly, appearing in the summer of 1988.
Slow Turning, like Bring the Family before it, received nearly unanimous positive reviews and it was fairly well-received commercially, spending 31 weeks on the U.S. charts and peaking at 98. Within the next year, Hiatt successfully toured throughout America and Europe, strengthening his fan base along the way. Inspired by the success of Hiatt's two A&M albums, Geffen released the compilation Y' All Caught? The Ones That Got Away 1979-85 in 1989. That same year, other artists began digging through Hiatt's catalog of songs, most notably Bonnie Raitt, who covered "Thing Called Love" for her multi-platinum comeback album, Nick of Time.
In 1990, Hiatt returned with Stolen Moments, which was nearly as successful as Slow Turning, both critically and commercially. "Bring Back Your Love to Me," an album track from Stolen Moments that was also recorded by Earl Thomas Conley, won BMI's 1991 Country Music Award. By the time "Bring Back Your Love to Me" won that award, it had become a standard practice for artists to cover Hiatt's songs, as artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Ronnie Milsap, Suzy Bogguss, and Iggy Pop all covered his songs in the early '90s. In 1993, Rhino Records released Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, which collected many of the cover versions that were recorded during the '80s and '90s.
During 1991, the group that recorded Bring the Family — Hiatt, Cooder, Lowe, and Keltner — re-formed as a band called Little Village, releasing their eponymous debut in early 1992. Based on the success of Bring the Family and Hiatt's A&M albums, expectations for Little Village were quite high, yet the record and its supporting tour were considered a major disappointment. Later, the individual members would agree that the band was a failure, mainly due to conflicting egos.
Hiatt decided to back away from the superstar nature of Little Village for his next album, 1993's Perfectly Good Guitar. Recorded in just two weeks with a backing band comprised of members of alternative rock bands School of Fish and Wire Train, the album was looser than any record since Bring the Family, but it didn't quite have the staying power of its two predecessors, spending only 11 weeks on the charts and peaking at number 47. The following year, he released his first live album, Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan? Hiatt left A&M Records after the release of the record, signing with Capitol Records the following year.
Walk On, Hiatt's first Capitol album, was recorded during his supporting tour for Perfectly Good Guitar and featured guest appearances by the Jayhawks and Bonnie Raitt. Walk On entered the charts at 48, but slipped off the charts in nine weeks, indicating that his audience had settled into a dedicated cult following. Fittingly, after 1997's Little Head quickly came and went in the marketplace, Hiatt parted ways with Capitol, and his next album, 2000's Crossing Muddy Waters was released on the established independent imprint Vanguard Records. After a second album with Vanguard, The Tiki Bar Is Open, Hiatt alligned himself with another independent label, New West, for the release of his 2003 set Beneath This Gruff Exterior. Master of Disaster, along with CD and DVD versions of Live from Austin, TX followed in 2005.
Same Old Man followed in 2008; then The Open Road in 2010.
Forever Yours
John Hiatt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Looking for a little girl, a little undone
By the progress of man
By the touch of a loving hand
Maybe we touch too much
You and me, baby, I'm not good in a clutch
I'm not gonna sit and cry
I'm forever wondering
[Chorus:]
Forever yours
Forever yours
Forever opening doors
Forever yours
Forever yours
Forever
All this allegiance has me scared
They move in packs, we huddle in pairs
Two in a million one-way fares
Anybody going anywhere?
So this is the modern dance
You and me, baby; this love don't stand a chance
But I'm not gonna sit and cry
Though I'm an unlucky guy
I'm forever wondering
[Chorus]
Yours to have and yours to unfold
Who's to say we're just getting old?
You're the one never done what I told her
This chip on my shoulder is
Getting smaller by the day
Just when I was getting used to getting my way
Everybody has a to pay
When love finally has her say
I guess I better speak up now
You and me, baby; I'm holding on somehow
I'm not gonna sit and cry
No, I'm just a lucky guy
I'm forever wondering, forever wondering
[Chorus]
The song "Forever Yours" by John Hiatt is a poignant commentary on love in modern times. The lyrics describe how difficult it is to find genuine connection in a world that is always moving forward and where people are constantly being touched and manipulated by technology. Hiatt sings about his struggles in finding a little girl who is undone by the progress of man and the touch of a loving hand. He laments that perhaps we touch too much and that he himself is not good in a clutch.
Despite his struggles, Hiatt refuses to give up. He is not going to sit and cry, even though he feels like an unlucky guy. Instead, he is forever wondering and forever yours. This repetition of the phrase "forever yours" throughout the song emphasizes the idea that love, even in the face of the modern world's challenges, is worth fighting for. Hiatt acknowledges that love may not stand a chance in the modern dance of life, but he is still willing to hold on and speak up.
Overall, "Forever Yours" is a beautiful, heartfelt song that speaks to the universal human experience of longing for connection and love. It recognizes the challenges that we face in the modern world but ultimately offers hope that love can overcome even the greatest obstacles.
Line by Line Meaning
These days it's hard to have fun
In recent times, having genuine enjoyment has become increasingly difficult
Looking for a little girl, a little undone
Searching for a girl who is a bit untidy, unrefined, or carefree
By the progress of man
Made complicated and burdensome by the advances of humanity
By the touch of a loving hand
Futher complicated by the effects of romantic love
Maybe we touch too much
Possibly, we touch and interact too frequently
You and me, baby, I'm not good in a clutch
In times of pressure, I am not competent or poised
I'm not gonna sit and cry
I refuse to wallow in self-pity or sorrow
Though I'm an unlucky guy
Even though I am a man wihthout much luck
I'm forever wondering
I am constantly curious and questioning
Forever yours
Eternally committed to you
Forever opening doors
Consistently starting new opportunities and possibilities
All this allegiance has me scared
Being devoted to this union makes me fearful
They move in packs, we huddle in pairs
They spend time with large groups, while we stay close together
Two in a million one-way fares
The journey forward for us is as unlikely as two airplane tickets from a pool of millions
Anybody going anywhere?
Is anyone making any real progress?
So this is the modern dance
This is the current form of social interaction
You and me, baby; this love don't stand a chance
Our love is not likely to succeed
But I'm not gonna sit and cry
But, I am not going to be depressing myself
Yours to have and yours to unfold
Completely yours to hold and develop
Who's to say we're just getting old?
Who knows if we're simply aging?
You're the one never done what I told her
You're the one who never followed my instructions, but I'm optimistic
This chip on my shoulder is
The resentment or grudge I possess
Getting smaller by the day
Becomes smaller gradually
Just when I was getting used to getting my way
At the exact moment that I became accustomed to things going my own way
Everybody has a to pay
Everybody must face the consequences for their actions
When love finally has her say
When love's voice is finally heard and understood
I guess I better speak up now
I suppose that the appropriate thing to do is to express myself now
You and me, baby; I'm holding on somehow
You and I are still together, and I am still able to withstand it
No, I'm just a lucky guy
Actually, I am quite fortunate
I'm forever wondering, forever wondering
I am permanently curious, constantly questioning
Forever yours
I belong to you forever
Forever yours
Yours unconditionally
Forever
Forever
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN HIATT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind