He began his career fronting the group Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, managed by Paul Barrett. Also known as the The Sunsets, the 50s-esque rock n roll outfit originaled from Penarth, South Glamorgan. An early break for the band arrived when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones in December 1969. Yet, despite landing a recording contract with the seminal label Parlophone Records the following year, the band found success hard to come by. At least in their native Great Britain, they couldn't quite break through commercially, though they had hit singles in other countries. After seven years of constant touring and recording, Shaky left the band in 1977. He gained a lead role in Jack Good's "Elvis!" musical, which brought him praise from many critics.
Regular TV appearances on the revamped TV show Oh Boy led eventually to his first chart success, a reworked version of a Buck Owens song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens arrangement which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.
In 1979, Shaky signed what was to be his most successful management deal with Freya Miller, and in 1981, he had his first UK number 1 with "This Ole House" and would have 10 more songs reach the top 5, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door", "Oh Julie" and "Merry Christmas Everyone", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops" featured Hank B. Marvin on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee, Roger Taylor, Bonnie Tyler and more recently Tony Joe White on his recordings. In the mid 80s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album Lipstick, Powder and Paint and the Christmas smash "Merry Christmas Everyone".
The hits continued throughout the 1980s, making Stevens the biggest selling artist of the decade, and into the early 1990s. Chart successes also included his album Shaky reaching number 1.
It was in the 1990s, however, that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling requiring a substantial payout to former bandmates The Sunsets. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing and undertook tours that year and the year following. In 2004, things started to look up for Stevens he had a further platinum CD/DVD album in Denmark and a gold album in South Africa.
In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album The Collection, which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video to Tony Christie's and Peter Kay's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett, Jim Bowen, Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television show, Hit Me Baby One More Time. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.
In May 2007, Stevens released a brand new album in Denmark entitled Now Listen.
Make It Right Tonight
Shakin' Stevens Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I can see it in your eyes
All these walls you build around yourself
To keep the hurt away
Keep the tenderness inside
We've gotta find doors
Gotta find an open road to your heart
Come on, baby
CHORUS:
You've gotta be strong
Love is what you make it
I'm hanging on
Love's right here just take it
Whatever is wrong
It won't take long to make it right
We can make it right tonight
We gotta find words to heal these differences
Gotta find some peace of mind
There'll come a day you realize
That after all we're only human
No one's perfect all the time
You gotta hold on
Gotta hold on to your dreams with your heart
It's never too late, baby
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Twenty/twenty vision
Looking back at our mistakes
But when it comes to now you can't see straight
Make this decision
Heaven's here for us take
Baby, heaven won't wait
(REPEAT CHORUS TWICE)
You know whatever is wrong
It won't take long to make it right
We can make it right tonight
The lyrics of Shakin' Stevens's Make It Right Tonight talk about the rebuilding of trust in a relationship that has been shaken by hurt and pain. The singer acknowledges that it will take time to trust again and recognizes the walls that his partner has built around themselves to keep out the pain. He urges his partner to find an open road to their heart and to be strong in their love. He believes that they can make it right tonight and that they can find words to heal their differences.
The chorus of the song is a message of hope and reassurance. The singer tells his partner that love is what they make it and that he is hanging on. He urges his partner to take hold of the love that is right in front of them and to believe that they can make things right. The singer acknowledges that they have made mistakes but that they should not dwell on them. They need to make a decision to take hold of what they have and not wait for heaven to come to them.
In summary, Make It Right Tonight is a song about the pains and challenges of rebuilding trust in a relationship. It acknowledges the walls that people put up to protect themselves from pain and hurt, but urges them to find an open road to their heart. It's a message of hope and reassurance that love is what they make it, and that they can make it right.
Line by Line Meaning
It's gonna take time for us to trust again
Rebuilding our trust will definitely require a lot of time
I can see it in your eyes
I can sense your understandable apprehensions
All these walls you build around yourself
The walls you've built up to shield yourself from more pain
To keep the hurt away
To protect yourself from any further hurt
Keep the tenderness inside
To keep their gentleness and kindness reserved only for the right person
We've gotta find doors
We need to find a way to open and truly get to know each other's hearts
Gotta find an open road to your heart
We need to find a clear path to creating something meaningful between us
Come on, baby
We can make it work if we come together
You've gotta be strong
You've got to work through the painful times and stay strong
Love is what you make it
The kind of love we will share is completely up to us
I'm hanging on
I will be there for you through everything
Love's right here just take it
The love we have for each other is here and waiting for us to take it
Whatever is wrong
No matter what's been happening between us
It won't take long to make it right
We can put what's wrong behind us easily
We can make it right tonight
We can sort all our differences out and enjoy the night together
We gotta find words to heal these differences
We need to communicate and come to an understanding to overcome the problems between us
Gotta find some peace of mind
We both need to calm down and find some clarity before taking the next step
There'll come a day you realize
In due time, you'll come to see
That after all we're only human
That we're all prone to imperfections
No one's perfect all the time
And neither of us are flawless in this scenario
You gotta hold on
You have to maintain your faith in us
Gotta hold on to your dreams with your heart
Hold on to the hopes you have in our relationship
It's never too late, baby
It's never too late to get back to where we used to be
Twenty/twenty vision
Looking back on everything with clarity
Looking back at our mistakes
Reflecting on the errors we made that led us here
But when it comes to now you can't see straight
It's difficult to see past the current situation
Make this decision
Let's both make an active decision to work on our relationship
Heaven's here for us take
Great happiness awaits us if we just put in the effort
Baby, heaven won't wait
But we can't wait too long to start mending what's broken
You know whatever is wrong
Despite the issues we're facing
It won't take long to make it right
We can sort everything out easily as long as we both commit to making it work
We can make it right tonight
We can overcome everything and be together tonight
Contributed by Hunter B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.