"You're No Good" is a classic song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. which first charted for Betty Everett in 1963 and in 1975 was a No. 1 hit for Linda Ronstadt. The song is in chromatic-minor.[1]
The original version of "You're No Good" would appear to be that cut by Dee Dee Warwick for Jubilee Records in 1963 with production by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. However the song would first become a hit in November 1963 as recorded by Betty Everett for Vee-Jay Records of Chicago. The single peaked at number fifty-one on the Hot 100, and at number five on "Cashbox's R&B Locations" chart.[2] Vee-Jay's head a&r man Calvin Carter found the song while visiting New York City in search of material for his label's roster and he originally intended to cut "You're No Good" with Dee Clark. Carter recalled: "Then when I went to rehearsal with the tune, it was so negative, I said, 'Hey, guys don't talk negative about girls, because girls are the record buyers. No, I better pass on that.' So I gave the song to Betty Everett." During the playback of Everett's track her labelmates the Dells "were sitting on the wooden platform where the string players would sit....just stomping their feet on this wooden platform to the beat of the song as it was playing back....I told the engineer 'Let's do it again, and let's mike those foot sounds, 'cause it really gave it a hell of a beat.' So we did that, and boom, a hit." - Carter[3]
In the UK the Swinging Blue Jeans had the hit version of "You're No Good" reaching No. 3 in the summer of 1964: this version also charted in France at No. 26 and was successful enough regionally in the US to reach No. 97 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Genya Ravan has indicated she vainly attempted to interest the producer of her 1974 album Goldie Zelkovitz in the idea of a remake of "You're No Good" while Maria Muldaur, discussing in a 1985 interview how she "didn't go out of [her] way to find followup hits" to her 1973-74 breakthrough "Midnight at the Oasis", cited "You're No Good" when explaining: "I've turned down songs that have gone on to be hits for other people because I thought the lyrics were negative or neurotic".[4]
It was Muldaur's friend and professional associate Linda Ronstadt who'd remake "You're No Good" for her Double Platinum career defining Heart Like A Wheel album released November 1974 by Capitol Records; Ronstadt's version benefited from the contribution of Andrew Gold who provided virtually all the track's instrumentation. Capitol was unsure whether to release "You're No Good" or "When Will I Be Loved" as the lead single off Heart Like a Wheel only deciding to release "You're No Good" a week after the album's release; the track ascended to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated 15 February 1975. ("When Will I Be Loved" would be issued as the followup single.)[5] The success of "You're No Good" set a precedent for Ronstadt's single releases which over the next five years would virtually all be remakes of classic rock and roll songs. (The B-side of "You're No Good": "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love With You)" - originally by Hank Williams - was simultaneously a major C&W hit for Ronstadt at No. 2.) "You're No Good" was also a hit for Linda Ronstadt in Australia (No. 15), the Netherlands (No. 17) and New Zealand (No. 24).
Other artists who have covered "You're No Good" include Aswad, Michael Bolton as Michael Bolotin, Ellie Campbell, Elvis Costello, Frankie Rose and the Outs, Jose Feliciano, Keith Hampshire, Jill Johnson, Lulu, Reba McEntire, The Muppets, Rosie & The Originals, Floortje Smit, Ike and Tina Turner, Van Halen (on Van Halen II) and Wild Orchid. And the band Pot Liquor. The 2004 album release California by Wilson Phillips contains a version of "You're No Good" which like the Ronstadt version was produced by Peter Asher but radically reinvents the song. International renderings included the Finnish versions "Olet Paha" a 1964 single release by Eddy and the Boys and "Paha Oot" on the 1975 album Bimbo by Marion Rung.
Season seven of American Idol featured a performance of "You're No Good" by Kristy Lee Cook. Didi Benami performed the song on American Idol season nine.
[edit] References
- ^ Stephenson, Ken (2002). What to Listen for in Rock: A Stylistic Analysis, p.89. ISBN 9780300092394.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942-2004. Record Research. p. 193.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Sarasota Herald Tribune 21 October 1985 p.94
- ^ New York Times 15 November 1974 p.32
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