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.
Give It Up
John Hiatt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Like you know what you need
And you run like a train
'Til your mind doesn't strain to believe
And you see what you see
And it's thin as a wire
And it trips you up
Give it up, give it up
Hasn't got you nowhere
Live it up, live it up
There's folks who love you back there
And if I see Sally
I'm gonna tell her you care
With that nasty old habit
And not even a dollar to spare
'Cause she may still wanna help you
For the very last time
'Cause she knows how it works
She knows you have to make up your own mind
Give it up, give it up
That limb is gonna break
Give it up, give it up
Just how much more can you take?
Give it up, give it up
You know you got to do your share
Give it up, give it up
Somebody loves you back there
And the nights get longer
You wish the day didn't come
And the pounding in your head
Says you're hell-bent on killing someone
The pain on your face
It's like a beast in control
And it's feelin' like somethin's
Been torn from that hole in your soul
Give it up, give it up
You got to do your part
Give it up, give it up
All you gotta do is start
Give it up, give it up
While there's someone to save
Give it up, give it up
Before we're cryin' in someone's grave
Give it up, give it up
Before we're cryin' in someone's grave
John Hiatt's song Give It Up is a plea for someone to let go of their destructive behavior and turn their life around before it's too late. The song speaks to a person who is running on impulse and indulging in their desires without thinking of the consequences. The lyrics describe this person as someone who takes what they want without knowing what they truly need, and who can't control their urges.
The message of the song is to give up this kind of reckless behavior and start living for something greater. The chorus urges the person to "give it up" and stop their self-destructive ways before it's too late. It also speaks to the fact that there are people who care about this person and want to see them change.
The song also describes the consequences of not giving up this behavior. The person's life is filled with pain and misery, and they are on the brink of self-destruction. The song warns that if the person doesn't start to change, they will end up in a grave and people will be crying over them.
Overall, Give It Up is a powerful message of hope and change. It urges people to let go of their damaging behaviors and start living for something greater. It's also a reminder that there are people who care about us and want to see us succeed.
Line by Line Meaning
So you take what you want
You take whatever you desire without considering anything else
Like you know what you need
You assume that what you desire is what you actually need
And you run like a train
You rush towards your desires at full speed
'Til your mind doesn't strain to believe
You believe that everything you desire will effortlessly come true
And you see what you see
You choose to see things as you want them to be
And it's thin as a wire
Your perception is fragile and easily breakable
And it trips you up
Your perception leads you to misfortune and failure
Every time you show your naked desire
Every time you act according to your desires, you face negative consequences
Give it up, give it up
Stop chasing your desires
Hasn't got you nowhere
Chasing your desires hasn't led you anywhere positive
Live it up, live it up
Enjoy the present moment with the people who love you
There's folks who love you back there
There are people who care about you and want the best for you
And if I see Sally
If I see Sally (someone who knows you well)
I'm gonna tell her you care
I'll tell her that you still have feelings for her
With that nasty old habit
Despite your bad habits
And not even a dollar to spare
And your poor financial situation
'Cause she may still wanna help you
Because she might still care enough to help you
For the very last time
This might be her final attempt to help you
'Cause she knows how it works
She understands the nature of the situation
She knows you have to make up your own mind
You have to decide for yourself
That limb is gonna break
If you keep going this way, you'll fall
Just how much more can you take?
You can't keep going like this forever
You know you got to do your share
You have to start taking responsibility for your actions
Somebody loves you back there
You have people who truly love you and want to see you succeed
And the nights get longer
The days get harder to bear
You wish the day didn't come
You wish time could stop so you don't have to face reality
And the pounding in your head
Your thoughts overwhelm you
Says you're hell-bent on killing someone
You feel like you're on the edge of violence
The pain on your face
You are suffering
It's like a beast in control
Your pain and emotions have taken over
And it's feelin' like somethin's
It feels like something important is missing
Been torn from that hole in your soul
Your soul is damaged or incomplete
You got to do your part
You have to start taking responsibility for your actions
All you gotta do is start
You can make a change if you start trying
While there's someone to save
While there are still people who care for you and want to help
Before we're cryin' in someone's grave
Before it's too late and someone dies or suffers as a result of your actions
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
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