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.
Tip of My Tongue
John Hiatt Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Is the only thing standin'
Between our lives
And the speed of sound
Some words flew out
And made a crash landin'
No love survived
[Chorus:]
I broke your heart
With the back of my mind
From the tip of my tongue
To the end of the line
I walked away
And you stood there tremblin'
Like a leaf
In the autumn chill
Now this house won't say no
What I'm still rememberin'
Three angry words
And a love that they killed
[Chorus]
[Bridge:]
You couldn't say how much it hurt you
And I couldn't see the damage I'd done
Till I watched the greatest love I've known
All come down to a slip of the tongue
Well, I'd take it back
But time won't let me
No, time just takes
You further away
I watched you pack
A house full of memories
Where did you go
Lord, what did I say?
[Chorus]
The lyrics of John Hiatt's song "Tip Of My Tongue" describe a relationship that has ended due to a slip of the tongue. The empty house refers to the physical space that separates the two individuals, but also to the emotional emptiness left behind after the relationship has ended. The speed of sound refers to the haste with which the relationship crumbled, leaving no trace of the love that once existed between them. The crash landing of the words suggests a sudden and unexpected end to the relationship which has caused irreparable damage.
The chorus of the song highlights the singer's guilt about breaking the heart of his loved one. He knows that the damage caused was not intentional but something that slipped out of his mind like a tip of the tongue. The imagery of the trembling leaf in the autumn chill underlines the vulnerability and frailty of the loved one, left alone after the break-up. The house, which once held many loving memories, is now haunted by the three angry words that destroyed their relationship.
The bridge sings of regret and the inability to undo the damage caused. Both parties are portrayed as equally culpable, with the loved one unable to express the pain caused by the careless words and the singer blind to the damage he had done. The final verse suggests the inevitability of time and its power to take us further away from those we have hurt. The house full of memories may still exist, but the loved one is gone, leaving the singer alone to contemplate the words that slip from our mouths, causing irreparable damage.
Line by Line Meaning
An empty house
The physical structure which was once full of memories has been emptied.
Is the only thing standin'
The house is the only remaining evidence that the couple once lived together.
Between our lives
The house separates the two because the couple has broken up.
And the speed of sound
Their love fell apart as quickly as the speed of sound.
Some words flew out
The anger caused some harsh words to be spoken.
And made a crash landin'
The words had a devastating impact on the relationship and it came crashing down.
No love survived
The relationship failed and the love that was once shared was gone.
Not a trace could be found
There was nothing left to show for the love that was once shared between the two.
I broke your heart
The singer caused the other person emotional pain.
With the back of my mind
The singer wasn't conscious of the hurt he was causing.
From the tip of my tongue
The words spoken had a lasting effect on the relationship.
To the end of the line
The damage caused by the words affected the whole relationship.
I walked away
The singer left the other person alone with the emotional aftermath.
And you stood there tremblin'
The other person was left traumatized and stunned by the events.
Like a leaf
The other person was fragile and vulnerable.
In the autumn chill
The situation was cold and unforgiving, like the autumn weather.
Now this house won't say no
The house is a reminder of past memories the singer cannot escape.
What I'm still rememberin'
The singer can't forget the good times spent in this house.
Three angry words
The relationship was ended by just a few hurtful phrases.
And a love that they killed
The words caused the death of a once beautiful relationship.
You couldn't say how much it hurt you
The other person couldn't express to the singer how hurt they were.
And I couldn't see the damage I'd done
The singer didn't realize how much damage was caused by his words.
Till I watched the greatest love I've known
The singer realized how much he had lost and how much he cared only after losing it.
All come down to a slip of the tongue
The relationship was destroyed by just a few words misspoken.
Well, I'd take it back
The singer wishes he could undo his mistakes.
But time won't let me
Unfortunately, time has a way of moving on and can't be reversed.
No, time just takes
Time can't stop or wait for someone, it just keeps moving on.
You further away
As time passes, they both drift further away from each other.
I watched you pack
The singer vividly remembers the moment the other person left.
A house full of memories
The house was once full of love and happiness.
Where did you go
The singer is left to wonder where the other person went.
Lord, what did I say?
The singer reflects back with regret and begs for answers from a higher power.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN HIATT
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind