Constant touring and background vocal work kept the money coming in, but she remained strong. While in California, Houston met with a series of session musicians, which would lead to an album made for the then-new audiophile market. This album, I've Got The Music In Me, was released by the new Sheffield Lab label. The album would become the label's best seller, and everyone wanted to know who that voice belonged to.
This partnership would lead to both her biggest hit and her signature song, a cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way". Houston's cover version would become a disco staple, in the same vein as "Last Dance" and "Stayin' Alive". Houston continued to record long after her biggest hit, and she still performs to this day. Houston won a Grammy award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for "Don't Leave Me This Way" in 1976, the same year that many industry insiders believed that Diana Ross would/could/should have won for "Love Hangover". Ironically, both songs were Motown records produced by the same production team.
Also in 1977, Houston teamed up with Jerry Butler to record the duets album, Thelma & Jerry, and in November of the same year, she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. It was announced in February that Houston would star as Bessie Smith in a filming of the play Me and Bessie, to be produced by Motown; after an announcement in December that Houston was set to portray Bessie Smith in a biopic to be produced in 1978 by Columbia Pictures, nothing more was heard of the project.
The second single from Any Way You Like It was Houston's rendition of "If It's the Last Thing I Do", a standard written by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn; the track had been recorded and prepped for release as a single in 1973 but was canceled. The impact of "If It's the Last Thing I Do" was far less than that of "Don't Leave Me This Way". With the lead single from her 1978 album The Devil in Me, titled "I'm Here Again", Houston returned to the previous style of "Don't Leave Me This Way" without recapturing the earlier single's success. Houston did enjoy considerable commercial success in 1978 via the inclusion of her track, "Love Masterpiece", on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack album which sold double platinum but her own album release that same year, Ready to Roll, again failed to consolidate the stardom augured by "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album's second single: "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", gradually accrued airplay entering the national charts in March 1979 and ascending as high as #34 (#19 R&B) that June. "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" was issued on a new album by Houston, Ride to the Rainbow, but the track's relative success was not enough to forestall Houston's planned departure from Motown.
Houston continued recording music into the 1980s, beginning with an album titled Breakwater Cat which reunited her with Jimmy Webb who produced her debut 1969 album, Sunshower, and, like their earlier collaboration, was a commercially overlooked critical success. In the December 22, 1984 Billboard magazine interview, Houston admitted to "no real commercial success" since the single "Don't Leave Me This Way" broke on the Pop charts in 1976, indicating that the disco backlash had left her with "no real base of audience support" and that her current album, Qualifying Heat, executive produced by Houston herself, was a concentrated initiative to restore her as a viable chart presence; the album featured three cuts from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - including the single "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and production work from Glen Ballard, Dennis Lambert, Cliff Magness and - in his first known recording work - Lenny Kravitz (then billed as Romeo Blue), who each produced a cut apiece. "You Use to Hold Me So Tight" became Houston's most successful post-70s release with a #13 R&B peak, but its parent album was a comparative failure - charting at #41 - and Houston would not cut another album for six years.
The constant ranking of her '80s releases as moderate or minor R&B hits led Houston to concentrate on alternate exposure. After appearing in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf in 1979 Houston made guest-starring appearances into the mid-1980s in several popular television programs including Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon - a January 1986 appearance that featured her performing "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and Faerie Tale Theatre. Houston also appeared in the 1987 CBS after school special Little Miss Perfect (1987) - as "Prison Singer" - in the 1988 film And God Created Woman.
On the May 19, 1985 NBC broadcast Motown Returns to the Apollo, Houston performed "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" in the guise of Dinah Washington. Houston continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, recording "Keep It Light" for the 1985 film Into the Night and also remade Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" for the 1989 film entitled Lean on Me. Houston also co-wrote and sang back-up on the song "Be Yourself" for Patti LaBelle's 1989 album of the same title.
The fall of 1990 saw the release of Houston's first album in six years, Throw You Down, a long-planned collaboration with producer Richard Perry which briefly extended Houston's career as a minor R&B chart presence. The title song reached #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart. A remix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was released, and once again charted on the Hot Dance Club Play chart at #19 in 1995. Subsequent singles include "I Need Somebody Tonight" and "All of That".
In 1994, Houston participated in an AIDS benefit at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, performing gospel music with Phoebe Snow, Chaka Khan and CeCe Peniston as Sisters of Glory. Intended as a one-off performance troupe, the Sisters of Glory remained together - with the addition of Mavis Staples and Lois Walden, and without Chaka Khan - to perform at Woodstock '94. Houston performed with the Sisters of Glory for the Pope in Vatican City and in 1995, Houston, Phoebe Snow, CeCe Peniston, Lois Walden and Albertina Walker recorded an album titled Good News In Hard Times as the Sisters of Glory.
Houston provided lead vocals on several tracks of guitarist Scott Henderson's 1997 album, Tore Down House, and in 1998 she made cameo appearances in two films: 54, which Houston portrayed herself singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" supposedly at Studio 54, and in Beloved, in which Houston played 'One of The Thirty Women'.
In 2000, Houston toured successfully throughout Australia in the stage musical version of Fame. In 2002, she once again guest-starred on a Scott Henderson album, providing lead vocals for two of the tracks on Well to the Bone. Upon returning to the U.S., Houston toured with Nile Rodgers and Chic, and was among the opening acts of the originally intended finale of Cher's Farewell Tour in Toronto on October 31, 2003. Houston regularly performs at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco.
Her version of "Don't Leave Me This Way" continues to be popular today. In recent years, Houston has been invited to sing this song on dozens of TV shows and specials including NBC's Today Show, ABC's Motown 45 and The Disco Ball...A 30-Year Celebration, and PBS' specials American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love and Soul, Soul Superstars, and Old School Superstars. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was mentioned by VH1 as being among the greatest dance songs in 2000, and was ranked number eighty-six on the channel's countdown of The 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. She won an episode of the NBC show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time with her renditions of her own hit and "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. On September 20, 2004, Houston's rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.
On August 14, 2007, Houston released her first studio album in seventeen years, titled A Woman's Touch. The album was produced by Peitor Angell and features cover versions of songs by male artists such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, and Sting that Houston had been inspired by. The first single from the album was "Brand New Day". On August 20, 2007, Houston's 1984 album, Qualifying Heat, was reissued as an import title in the U.S. with a bonus track.
Houston sang "Don't Leave Me This Way" on American Idol on April 22, 2009, and on America's Got Talent on September 16, 2009. On July 29, 2013, a collaboration between Houston and Los Angeles-based producer Janitor, entitled "Enemy", premiered on Soundcloud. Several tracks followed, culminating in the release of an EP, Forty-Two, in September. This is the first new material from Houston in six years.
Brand New Day
Thelma Houston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You've been hurt in some kind of love affair
And how many times do you swear
You'll never love again?
How many lonely, sleepless nights?
How many lies and how many fights?
And why would you want to put
Love is pain, I hear you say
Love has a cruel and a bitter way
Of paying you back for all the faith
You ever had in your brain
How could it be that what you need the most
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
You never want to feel so sad and lost again
One day you could be looking
Through an old book in rainy weather
You see a picture of him smiling at you
When you was still together
You could be walking down the street
And who should you chance to meet
But that same old smile
That you've been thinking of all day
Turn the clock to zero, honey
Sell the stock, spend all the money
Starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock all the way back
Wonder if you'll take me back
Thinking in a brand new way
Turn the clock to zero, mister
Never never know how much I missed you
Starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day
It can happen to you, just like it happened to me
There's simply no immunity, there's no guarantee
I say love is such a force that if you find yourself in it
And sometimes no reflection is there
But baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Wait a minute, wait a minute
Turn the clock to zero, honey
Sell the stock, spend all the money
Starting up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero, Mac
I'm begging him to take me back
Thinking in a brand new way
Turn the clock to zero, boss
The river's wide, we'll swim across
Started up a brand new day
Turn the clock to zero, buddy
Don't wanna be no fuddy duddy
Starting up a brand new
A brand new, a brand new day
I'm the rhythm in your tune
I'm the sun and you're the moon
I'm a bat and you're the cave
You're the beach and I'm the wave
You're the plow and I'm the land
You're the glove and I'm the hand
I'm the train and you're the station
I'm a flagpole to your nation
Stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up, stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day
I'm the present to your future
You're the wound and I'm the suture
I'm the magnet to your pole
I'm the Devil in your soul
You're the pupil, I'm the teacher
You're the church and I'm the preacher
You're the flower, I'm the rain
You're the tunnel, I'm the train
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day
You're the crop to my rotation
You're the sum of my equation
I'm the answer to your question
If you follow my suggestion
We can turn this ship around
We'll go up instead of down
You're the pan and I'm the handle
You're the flame and I'm the candle
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
Starting up a brand new day
Stand up, stand up all you lovers in the world
We're starting up a brand new day
"Brand New Day" by Thelma Houston is a song that encourages those who have been hurt in love to start over anew. It emphasizes the pain that love can bring and how it can leave one feeling lost and sad. The song acknowledges that love can be both cruel and bitter, but it also insists that love is a force that can be transformative, allowing one to turn the clock to zero and start a brand new day. The lyrics speak of the possibility of seeing an old picture of a former lover, hearing a familiar laugh, or simply remembering how it felt to be in love, and how these memories can inspire one to try again. It reminds us that love is not always easy, but it is worth the risk.
Line by Line Meaning
How many of you people out there
The singer asks how many people out there have been hurt in love.
You've been hurt in some kind of love affair
Acknowledges that most people have experienced hurt in love affairs.
And how many times do you swear
The singer highlights how one might swear they will never love again after being hurt.
You'll never love again?
Asks whether or not someone thinks they will ever love again.
Love is pain, I hear you say
The singer acknowledges that people say love brings pain.
Love has a cruel and a bitter way
Describes the cruel and bitter way that love has been known to manifest.
Of paying you back for all the faith
Hints at how hopes dashed in love feels like a punishment for the love and trust initially put in.
You ever had in your brain
States that this punishment will leave one feeling foolish for all the trust and love they had in their past lover.
How could it be that what you need the most
The singer ponders on how love which we all desire can lead to feeling lost and sad.
Can leave you feeling just like a ghost?
Compares the feeling of not having love to that of being a ghost.
You never wanna feel so sad and lost again
Underlines that feeling lost and sad in love is unbearable.
Turn the clock to zero, honey
The singer suggests starting afresh by setting the clock to zero.
Sell the stock, spend all the money
Encourages taking one's mind off love and investing in oneself by spending money.
Starting up a brand new day
Reassures that after the painful previous relationship, a new beginning will bring better days.
It can happen to you, just like it happened to me
Encouraging others to not give up on love by highlighting her experience and how love can happen.
There's simply no immunity, there's no guarantee
Explains that in love there are no certainties, as anyone is susceptible to falling in or out of love.
I say love is such a force that if you find yourself in it
Asserts that love is a powerful force that can found at the center of an individual's being.
And sometimes no reflection is there
Explains that love is not always met with affection or returned equally.
But baby wait a minute, wait a minute
Asks the listener a moment even as things look bleak and loveless.
Thinkin' in a brand new way
Encourages a shift in perspective or possibly being open to love in new and different ways.
I'm the rhythm in your tune
The singer compares herself to being the rhythm of someone's tune.
I'm the sun and you're the moon
Compares herself to being the sun, while the other person in a love relationship is the moon.
Stand up all you lovers in the world
The singer encourages all lovers to believe in the power of love.
Stand up, stand up and be counted every boy and every girl
Asks every individual to stand up for love and be counted as part of the force of love in the world.
We're starting up a brand new day
Emphasizes that despite the past and its hurtful experiences, there is hope for a new start full of possibility.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: STING
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Bill Seamans
The bass guitar in this song is just epic! One of the best bass riffs of all time!
Glen Wilcox
@Foxbat25good call, i agree. its sweet
Glen Wilcox
@kirkmcgee1nope
Glen Wilcox
amen 💯💯💯💯🥂🥂🥂
Doctor Beer
Agreed!
Foxbat25
The late Henry Davis from the group LTD played bass on this song. One of the first octave bass lines recorded w/that Larry Graham influence. Probably done on a Fender Precision w/Rotosound strings.
Neezabja
One of the greatest voices I've ever heard in pop music.
Glen Wilcox
yes agree, she makes your hair stand up
Henrik Hanström
Yes!! She’s fantastik!
Bob Peterson
Not a big disco fan, but this song is audio butter. So good! Her voice sounds almost desperate and yet powerful at the same time. The bass line is amazing. This is music.