"If I Can't Have You" - Yvonne Elliman

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Best song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

That's funny, I was just going to say that before I'd read what you wrote.

― Bimble..., Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Great song in the movie and out of it. Did she ever do anything else as good?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:31 (twenty-one years ago)

I kinda prefer the Bee Gees version, actually.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Whoa, that's tough to call.

"If I Can't" is a definite classic, but I'd have to take away points for the slight corniness of the 'whoa-whoa-whoa-wwhhooaa-whoa-u-whoa' part. And also, it just doesn't have those crazy-nice jazz chords like "How Deep Is Your Love" or "More Than A Woman".

I like "More" for it's super-smooth steppers type groove (a la "Step In the Name Of Love"), and sweet melodic flow.

"How Deep" has the awesome chords and, also, melody SoSo sweet.

Arrrrgghhhh! I can't pick.

And that's not even talking about "Stayin Alive" "Night Fever" "Jive Talkin", "Open Sesame" & "You Should Be Dancing".

Impossible to choose. Good one!!

― pheNAM (pheNAM), Thursday, 30 December 2004 06:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd have to take away points for the slight corniness of the 'whoa-whoa-whoa-wwhhooaa-whoa-u-whoa' part.

yeah, that's not in the Bee Gees version. And the guitar sounds a little thicker, their voices more pleading than declaiming as Yvonne does it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"disco inferno"!

"if i can't have you" is also a nice song, though. a pleasant light-FM radio perennial.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 30 December 2004 07:09 (twenty-one years ago)

"K-Jee" is absolutely equal to the classics on SNF. One of the greatest piano loops ever!!!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 30 December 2004 08:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i like the song by tavares, though this is really good too. it's an early entry though in that category of dance music that seems totally indifferent to the emotions ostensibly being revealed by the lyrics. i mean, does anyone hear this and actually think about the words? that's not a problem, but it's worth pointing out that not all disco does this.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

> Did she ever do anything else as good?

Her version of "I Don't Know How to Love Him" was about as good. Her cover of "Hello Stranger," however, was not.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Thursday, 30 December 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Her version of "I Can't Explain" is great.

― Colonel Poo (Colonel Poo), Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:19 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a couple of moments in "If I Can't Have You" where the strings and "ahh-ahh-ahhs" pre-figure the verses when a huge mock-heroic french fuckin' horn sweeps (like an vexed valkyrie exhorting apocalypse) that still gives me the fuck-yeahs!

Classic, obviously.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

alex you are awesome

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Thursday, 30 December 2004 16:57 (twenty-one years ago)

This is indeed a good song, but I think my SNF top pick would be either "more than a woman" or "how deep is your love".

― craggy jones, Thursday, 30 December 2004 17:11 (twenty-one years ago)

check her out in the Jesus Christ Superstar

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Thursday, 30 December 2004 17:14 (twenty-one years ago)

check her out in the Jesus Christ Superstar

I KNEW I'd seen her somewhere else! She's Mary Magdalene, right?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 30 December 2004 22:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Yep. The point when the orchestra breaks in behind her
on the last verse of "Everything's Alright" is the best damn moment of that whole musical.

Whatever happened to her, anyway?

p.s. Oh yeah, I dig "If I Can't Have You" as well...

― Joe (Joe), Friday, 31 December 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

have y'all heard the Bee Gees version? I swear it's so much better.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 31 December 2004 03:34 (twenty-one years ago)

WEIRD. I was just thinking most of these same things not two days ago. It's actually really dark (but elegantly so) for a disco song song. It's just so full of drama, but essentially it's even more desperately sad than Dancing Queen.

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 31 December 2004 04:30 (twenty-one years ago)

-song (le fuck!)

― Kim (Kim), Friday, 31 December 2004 04:35 (twenty-one years ago)

love love love yvonne's fakeout on the chorus just before the orchestra jumps in on the one of the next bar.

― stockholm cindy (Jody Beth Rosen), Friday, 31 December 2004 05:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Hstencil what's the Bee Gees' version on?

― Andrew Blood Thames (Andrew Thames), Friday, 31 December 2004 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

b-side to the "Stayin' Alive" single.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 31 December 2004 05:37 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm having fun trying to "compose" the bee gees' version in my head

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 31 December 2004 07:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i'm combining elements of "don't leave me this way" and "lemons never forget"

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Friday, 31 December 2004 07:11 (twenty-one years ago)

she's making making the rounds recently at vh1ish disco reunion shows

― LSTD (answer) (sexyDancer), Friday, 31 December 2004 07:14 (twenty-one years ago)

The Bee Gees' version can be found on the two-disc greatest hits that came out a couple of years ago. It's pretty good, but I'm partial to Ms. Ellman's version.

― John Fredland (jfredland), Friday, 31 December 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

'If I Can't Have You' had a strong influence on the lyrics to The Pastels 'A Million Tears' I seem to remember, I think Stephen admitted it as much- actually less an influence as a steal

― Andy Hart (AndyHart), Saturday, 1 January 2005 12:34 (twenty-one years ago)

She also sang back-up for Eric Clapton for many years. I think she recently died.

― saltbox and a rubber ball (Speedy Gonzalas), Sunday, 2 January 2005 00:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, I googled, she ain't dead. Somebody did die, but it wasn't her. Maybe it was just a wino.

― saltbox and a rubber ball (Speedy Gonzalas), Sunday, 2 January 2005 00:29 (twenty-one years ago)

five months pass...

"go crazy is what i will do"

― monsanto and yanni (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:08 (twenty years ago)

it's an OK song.. but Ralph MacDonald's "Calypso Breakdown" ROOOOOLZ SNF!

― donut e-g (donut), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:20 (twenty years ago)

Yvonne's version is GREAT. Kim Wylde's version however, is not. Poor Kim, after Kids In America she just kept running out and doing covers of songs people already knew & didn't care that she sang.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 04:14 (twenty years ago)

Her other really good song is "Love pains." (It was certainly good enough for the Pet Shop Boys to choose it for Liza Minnelli to cover.)

― brittle-lemon, Tuesday, 28 June 2005 04:27 (twenty years ago)

i prefer liza's version actually.

― monsanto and yanni (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 04:28 (twenty years ago)

i was going to say what andy hart said above.
actually stephen pastel wrote it down on the back cover to their early singles compilation!

― joan vich (joan vich), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 09:42 (twenty years ago)

Kim Wylde did a version? Wow, never heard that.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

Great song.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

The "whoa-whoa-whoa" part is great! I would love to hear the Bee Gees' version, tho.

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

I probably haven't heard it in a dozen years, but I just replayed the 'whoa-whoa' in my head, and that's good!

"I Don't Know How to Love Him" roolz. (best Lloyd Webber song, not that it's close)

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

Kim Wylde did a version? Wow, never heard that.

It charted in Australia back in like 1993, but I can't remember how high it went. Not very, if memory serves. Her last gasp...

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 16:38 (twenty years ago)

I heard a Kim Wilde track in the Gap yesterday, "Chequered Love," and it was as bad as "Kids in America" is good (which is considerable).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

I've not heard that one, but the title alone brings on a 'bleuch' face. I never really did forgive her for covering The Supremes though. It was 3 minutes that could have been put to better use.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

As my introduction to the Supremes, Kim's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" earns my eternal gratitude.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

Mebbe, but it was so needless. She didn't so much "make it her own" as take the song for a lifeless test drive.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

hate on kim all you want, but "cambodia" roolz, foolz

― monsanto and yanni (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

xpost: Hahahaha! "Lifeless test drive"!!! [wipes tear]

Ugh. "Cambodia" was NOT a favorite.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

(xxpost)

Kim's version was huge here in South Florida; it was right at home with the great freestyle shit on the radio like Company B and Expose. And then came Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now," which is delicious and slatternly.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 20:32 (twenty years ago)

Best song on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.

That would be "Jive Talkin"' - The Bee Gees' best ever post 1970 moment.

As for their work with other acts during the 70s, my favourite would be Samantha Sang's "Emotion". Some of Andy Gibb's singles were also OK.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 21:05 (twenty years ago)

Gasp! "Emotion". Now there's a song.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 22:14 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 26 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

i guess not yeah. i wasn't sure.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 July 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

mariah carey's part syrian tho right?

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 25 July 2005 03:18 (twenty years ago)

so one time in college, my fratboy roommate's friend was in class w/at-the-time girlfriend of jerry seinfeld shoshana lowenstein. she's a rather attractive girl blessed with a large front end. in class the friend, syrus, says "i sure would fuck the shit out of her", and all of a sudden, she turns around and goes, "you'd what?!" he totally didn't realize she was sitting right in front of her. so a few days pass and he sees her on campus and says to her, "i'm soooo soooo sorry. i'm syrus" and she keeps going, "thanks for appologizing, i understand you're serious", and he says, "no i'm syrus" and it keeps going on back and forth like that for hours.

bad story, i'm drunk, syrian made me do it

― The Amazing Jaxon! (jaxon), Monday, 25 July 2005 03:26 (twenty years ago)

best not-good story ever.

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Monday, 25 July 2005 17:46 (twenty years ago)

hstencil, with all due respect, there's something wrong w/ the Bee Gees' version of this song. I haven't A-B'd the two, but I think there's actually a wrong chord in the chorus -- "wrong" in the sense that it kind of sounds like what happens when you're plunking around on a guitar and think you have the chords...but don't.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 03:05 (twenty years ago)

I agree with hstencil. The Bee Gees nailed it.

― SoHoLa (SoHoLa), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 03:19 (twenty years ago)

mariah carey's part syrian tho right?

is she? iirc she's irish, puerto rican, and a quarter black.

― badass porcelain knives (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

mariah carey's part syrian tho right?

I think you're thinking of Paula Abdul. And isn't she part Lebanese?

― Candicissima (candicissima), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 03:48 (twenty years ago)

some kind of middle eastern. but she's jewish too.

― badass porcelain knives (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 04:36 (twenty years ago)

And isn't she part Lebanese?

I've heard those rumors, too.

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 05:00 (twenty years ago)

no way.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Way

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:16 (twenty years ago)

Is this pretty much the only American #1 hit sung an Asian-American?
-- Michael Daddino (epicharmu...), July 24th, 2005 5:55 PM. (epicharmus)

Not an Asian-American but "Ue O Muite" by Kyu Sakamoto is the only US #1 (1963) sung in Japanese.

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

Why do you like Japan so much?

― The Amazing Jaxon! (jaxon), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

Why do you like The Phillipines so much?

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:33 (twenty years ago)

I was just searching for the name of that Kyu Sakamoto song.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

xpost - HAHAH

― The Amazing Jaxon! (jaxon), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

There are a few Pacific-Asian artists who have had number one's, but I'm still searching for any from the continent.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:37 (twenty years ago)

"Tiny Bubbles" only hit #8
The Jets "Make It Real" only hit #4 !!!!

― gygax! (gygax!), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:42 (twenty years ago)

Seriously, hstencil, check it out.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 19:44 (twenty years ago)

dude you do understand THE BEEGEES WROTE THE SONG, right?

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 21:18 (twenty years ago)

Did Ofra Haza's "Galbi" chart well in the U.S. circa 1988?

― donut ferry (donut), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 21:30 (twenty years ago)

As for "If I Can't Have You".. i mean, I don't worship the song, but I can't understand how it could be so irritating. The SNF soundtrack is pretty nice that way.. the "worst" songs are as offensive as water.

I still think that "Calypso Breakdown" and "Jive Talkin'" are the best songs on the soundtrack.

― donut ferry (donut), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 21:32 (twenty years ago)

dude you do understand THE BEEGEES WROTE THE SONG, right?

Of course I do. I'm just saying, something's off with that arrangement harmonically.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Tuesday, 26 July 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

you're crazy.

― hstencil (hstencil), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

no no no no no dude YOU'RE CRAZY

see like, ok, you play the chorus "if i can't have you" backwards vvvveeeerrrrryyyyyyy sssssllllooooowwwwllllyyyyy and it sounds like "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEH YAH NICK KNIFE!"

You also hear an "accidental" playing of the devil's tritone

Moral: DO NOT FUCK WITH ELLIMAN

― donut ferry (donut), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 01:58 (twenty years ago)

This one and the other ones on Side A of SNL seem a bit magical to me in that the structures of the songs seem seemless -- there is a chorus, and a verse, and a little instrumental part, but I never know which is which, and I don't care, since the production is like a silk pillow.

― 57 7th (calstars), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

two years pass...

Great song in the movie and out of it. Did she ever do anything else as good?

"Love Me" is def. a contender

― tremendoid, Monday, 18 February 2008 09:34 (seventeen years ago)

yeah.

Did she sort of pack it after SatFev? She probably had enough money to...

― Mark G, Monday, 18 February 2008 09:51 (seventeen years ago)

well, fresh from her wiki let me answer that for you. She took like 20 years off and had an ep in 04'. I like "Everything Must Change" too, kind of Melissa Manchesteresque hamming over proto-Anita Baker arrangements, oddly involving. She's got some elegance to her.

― tremendoid, Monday, 18 February 2008 10:09 (seventeen years ago)

two weeks pass...

Good god this song is so C.L.A.S.S.I.C.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Do14z5ycic&

― Bimble, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:02 (seventeen years ago)

Also does anyone happen to know how well this might have fared in the charts in European countries?

― Bimble, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:11 (seventeen years ago)

yeah classic. even her lipsyncing is lovely.

― tremendoid, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:13 (seventeen years ago)

Is this pretty much the only American #1 hit sung an Asian-American?
-- Michael Daddino

not really

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU8vOQNvd3c

― gershy, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:32 (seventeen years ago)

also, yvonne rules

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDFRVWMA8wY

― gershy, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:35 (seventeen years ago)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3_2RNf_RaI&NR=1

― tremendoid, Sunday, 9 March 2008 08:50 (seventeen years ago)

Good god, gershy's link of "Can't Find My Way Home"...yikes. Is she in her own private Stairway to Heaven there or what? Bloody brilliant.

― Bimble, Sunday, 9 March 2008 09:52 (seventeen years ago)

Ah! I just realized the opening riff for that reminds me of "Naked Eye" by The Who!!! Must rip it to iPod forthwith!

― Bimble, Sunday, 9 March 2008 09:55 (seventeen years ago)

one year passes...

This song is better than all your grandmother's 78 records. Nominate this one for "best song ever".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Do14z5ycic

― Where's All The Hippies? Fuck off! (Bimble), Friday, 3 July 2009 11:10 (sixteen years ago)

No, I'm serious. I want 3000 page essays on why that song isn't the best thing that ever happened to your life. Dave Segal, don't let me down. Haha.

― Where's All The Hippies? Fuck off! (Bimble), Friday, 3 July 2009 11:13 (sixteen years ago)

one month passes...

I don't know if I could have fulfilled Bimble's request for a 3000 pg. essay on the subject matter but damn this really is one of my favorite songs of all time. <3

― ENBB, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 18:29 (sixteen years ago)

I think I'm the only one in the eorld what truly hates a Yvonne Elliman.

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 18:48 (sixteen years ago)

She does sing v pretty on the verses tho.

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 18:48 (sixteen years ago)

:-( Abbott.

― ENBB, Wednesday, 12 August 2009 18:50 (sixteen years ago)

the French horn is nice on this song, too...it's just Jesus Christ Superstar is one of my fave albums & I hate her character & songs in it SO MUCH (this will probably make you sad too)

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 19:01 (sixteen years ago)

but this has been a beneficial thread insofar as it reminded me to listen to the JCSS OST

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 19:02 (sixteen years ago)

fuck "I Don't Know How to Love Him" and its cloying ersatz longing

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 19:04 (sixteen years ago)

I forgot she had a bit in "What's the Buzz," my self-protection mechanisms must have erased this bummer memory

― cosmic abbigong (Abbott), Wednesday, 12 August 2009 19:05 (sixteen years ago)

two years pass...

French horn is nice on this song, too..

classic brothers gibb touch.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 25 April 2012 01:36 (thirteen years ago)

It's basically a first draft for "Heartbreaker."

― Exile in lolville (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 25 April 2012 01:39 (thirteen years ago)

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