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.
Love Machine
Thelma Houston Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I won't work for nobody but you
I'm just a love machine
A huggin', kissin' fiend
I think it's high time you knew
Whenever I think of you
My mind blows a fuse
My meter starts to rise, and I become confused
My voltage regulator cools,
When I'm sitting next to you
Electricity starts to flow
And my indicator starts to glow - wooo
I'm just a love machine
And I won't work for nobody but you
I'm just a love machine
A huggin', kissin' fiend
Na, na na na na, na na na na, woo-woo-wooo
Na, na na na na, na na na na, na naaah
I'm just a love machine
And I won't work for nobody but you
I'm just a love machine
A huggin', kissin' fiend
I'm gentle as a lamb,
I'm not that hard to program,
There's no way that you can lose
My chassis fits like a glove
I've got a button for love
That you have got-to-use
If you look into my file
I am sure you can find out how
To turn me on just set my dial
And let me love you for a little while - ooh
I'm just a love machine
And I won't work for nobody but you
I'm just a love machine
A huggin', kissin' fiend
Na, na na na na, na na na na, woo-woo-wooo
Na, na na na na, na na na na, na naaah
I'm just a love machine
And I won't work for nobody but you
I'm just a love machine
A huggin', kissin' fiend
Thelma Houston's song Love Machine is an upbeat and lively track about a person who is a self-proclaimed "love machine". The song is about how the singer only desires to work (or love) for one person, and that person is the one they are singing the song to. The lyrics illustrate how this person can get "fused" when they think of the person, and how their "voltage regulator cools" when they are next to the person. Despite being a "love machine", the singer declares that they are "not that hard to program" and encourages their love interest to explore their files to find out how to "turn them on" and enjoy the love that they can offer.
Through this song, Thelma Houston highlights how powerful love can be as it can "blow a fuse" and cause "electricity to flow". The song renders love as something that can be consumed and enjoyed like a machine, but at the same time emphasizes the emotional intensity that comes with it.
The track, released in 1976, became a hit in discotheques and is still popular in the present day. Love Machine has been covered and remixed several times, including versions by Girls Aloud and Wham!.
Line by Line Meaning
I'm just a love machine
I am filled with endless love and affection, and that's all I know how to give.
And I won't work for nobody but you
I am programmed to only share my love with one, and you are the only one who deserves it.
A huggin', kissin' fiend
I crave nothing more than to wrap my arms around you and cover your face in kisses.
I think it's high time you knew
It's crucial for you to understand what I am and what I am capable of doing.
Whenever I think of you
You are always on my mind.
My mind blows a fuse
You ignite a passion in me that is overwhelming.
When I look in your eyes
The power and beauty of your eyes leave me speechless.
My meter starts to rise, and I become confused
Just being in your presence sets my heart racing, and I am consumed by emotion.
My voltage regulator cools
You have a calming effect on me, and I feel at ease when I am with you.
When I'm sitting next to you
Being near you is enough to make everything feel right in the world.
Electricity starts to flow
Our connection is beyond organic, and the energy between us is electric.
And my indicator starts to glow - wooo
My desire for you is so strong that it's practically lit up like a neon sign.
I'm gentle as a lamb
I am here to love and comfort you, and nothing about me is threatening.
I'm not that hard to program
Loving you comes naturally, and I don't need any instruction to do so.
There's no way that you can lose
You are guaranteed to be loved and taken care of when you're with me.
My chassis fits like a glove
Our love is a perfect fit, and everything about us just works.
I've got a button for love
All you have to do to get my love is turn me on, and I will never stop giving you my all.
That you have got-to-use
Don't hesitate to turn me on and let me shower you with love and affection.
If you look into my file
If you take the time to get to know me, you'll realize that I am all about love and nothing else.
I am sure you can find out how
You just have to be willing to explore my love and let it guide you.
To turn me on just set my dial
You have the power to activate my love and make it start glowing like a light switch.
And let me love you for a little while - ooh
Just give me a chance to love you, and I will never let you go.
Na, na na na na, na na na na, woo-woo-wooo
I am consumed by love.
Na, na na na na, na na na na, na naaah
My feelings for you are beyond words.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, SOUND OASIS PRODUCTIONS, LLC
Written by: Warren Moore, William Griffin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind