Steve Winwood's "Valerie": C/D?

I'll second the above nod for 'While You See A Chance' too.

GAWD! a bewitching chord sequence in the verse, and, as my man says above, an intoxicating chorus, absolutely exhortatory vocal. I'm a sucker for one-man-band/synth productions, and dig the…what , is it a Korg or an Oberheim? solo is the furthest thing from hideous.

To me, it so far above anything anything else the guy has done, certainly most of Back in the High Life, the horrible Roll With it, and mebbe Traffic too.

More insight, courtesy of the Tubez.

AMG says it's about "drug abuse"...just in the guise of a love song:
Song Review by Matthew Greenwald

Working closely with lyricist Will Jennings for songs on his Talking Back to the Night album, Steve Winwood had found his most sympathetic collaborator since Traffic's Jim Capaldi. On this album, they often took on the subject of drug abuse, and "Valerie" is one of their best in this area. Instead of browbeating, the songwriters used the metaphor of a girl that is lost, and it certainly could be about a generation as well. With some wonderfully buoyant pop and R&B riffs and an exquisite Bacharach-inspired bridge, the song succeeds on all levels.

WikiAnswers makes some suppositions regarding the synthesizers used:

What kind of synthesizer is used on Steve Winwood's song Valerie?

It's probably been a whole collection of synths. According to synthmuseum.com in those days Steve played a Yamaha CS-80, a Minimoog and a Roland Jupiter-4. And I seem to remember that in the original video he was standing behing a Korg Polysix (but that doesn't mean that he actually used that in the studio). In later years he used a Yamaha DX7 for his lead sounds (as can be seen on YouTube). Hope this helps.

This song rules. It's "Jump" for the cocaine Rogaine set

I've heard this song once a day for a month.

I tried to get a "Flamini" chant going once to this tune. Didn't work. Arsenal fans must have bad taste.

Really into this today. The verse is a little bit aimless but as has been noted, all is forgiven when he comes back around to that chorus. Kind of amazing it took that long to get sampled, really.

The '87 version isn't bad, just doesn't really add much and is maybe a little less charming for not being so dinky. I want to compare the '82 version to something like "New Song" to Howard Jones, where the simplicity of the sound gives it a lot more heart. Also "Son Of My Father" by Chicory Tip.

I get this stuck inside my head at least once a week...and the verses are great!

Revive: lather, rinse, repeat...

This just doesn't get old.

valeriiiiiiiiiiii

Verses have grown on me since last post, too.

Upthread I said I liked this song. When I think about it, I guess I do, but my first instinct is to hate it. I don't really understand why.

this song is fuckin awesome imo

TS: this song vs "Freedom Overspill"

this song x1000000

"One and Only Man."

TS: this song vs "Valerie Loves Me"

^^^^^^ irl lol

I was serious!

man i was just listening to this song and thinking how great it would sound rocked up. have any rock bands covered this, ironically or no?

Er, why would you cover it "ironically"?

i don't know. that's what people do with 80's songs, don't they? or they did. i can't keep up.

I only burned my copy of Back in the High Life onto a big archive DVD and took it out of my library a month or two ago. Don't make me put it back in, you bastards.

Well, the finer things keep shining through.

teh way my soul gets lost in u

how is is that this song gets stuck in my head for a week once a year. whew.

Now stuck in my head as well. Actually it was mentioned in a thread yesterday. I think that probably what causes it to get stuck is singing the chorus in a fist pumping way "Valerieeeeeeeeeeee VALERIE! Valerieeeeeeeeeeee VALERIE! DUN DUN DUNDUN DUNDUN!" and then playing those synth brass stabs. Basically the bits that Eric Prydz sampled.

Whole thing is brilliant IMO - can't say enough about the solo.

I don't care if this is challops, but I love the verses more than the chorus: how his voice ascends and descends, enunciating gibberish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RriQt0ebFaw

Also, I prefer the '87 remix, emphatic drums and all.

Wow, 87 video is even more blurry and headache-inducing than 82 video!

The silly boom-wham-boom-wham beat in the remix is kind of growing on me I admit, maybe just for the novelty after only listening to the 82 version for the last couple years.

I love that the Eric Prydz vocals were actually re-recorded by Winwood. Dude still sounds the exact same!

I assumed most of the love herein was for the '87 version!

Double challops!
I prefer the original version. The verse lyrics don't do anything interesting IMO and the chorus could be made awesomer by removing some words, so instead of this:

Valerie, call on me
Call on me, Valerie
Come and see me
I'm the same boy I used to be

replace it with this:

Valerie, call on me
Valerie, call on me
Valerie
I'm the same boy I used to be <<< k-rad line, stops it from becoming another booty call sleaze-fest

The minor bit just before the chorus comes in is a neat trick though.

Also that 87 video has a real 'just browsing thru the Quantel tutorial' feel.

Yeah, I love "I'm the same boy I used to be" - - it's KIND of a booty call line but it also calls in this whole lifelong history that we can guess at it, but at the heart of it is a simple fellow who just really likes Valerie.

The verse chord sequence sounds like a chorus. How I love this track!

GAWD! a bewitching chord sequence in the verse, and, as my man says above, an intoxicating chorus, absolutely exhortatory vocal. I'm a sucker for one-man-band/synth productions, and dig the…what , is it a Korg or an Oberheim?

A Korg. I bought my first keyboard back when I was in school in the 80s, a Korg DSS-1, in part because Steve Winwood endorsed it.

Would anyone here up for a Steve Winwood career-spanning ballot poll? Spencer Davis Group, Traffic, Blind Faith, solo, side projects like Stomu Yamashta's Go, guest appearances (Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed, John Martyn, Marianne Faithfull, Talk Talk, Pall Weller, many others), anything he had a major role in?

He opened for Steely Dan last night at this winery gig. I saw a boomer motorboat his girlfriend during Higher Love. I'm not going anywhere with this, it's just, I don't know, sometimes it's useful to talk about traumatising things.

The act of going down onto a female and making a buzzing sound with you lips.

Example: Bro, last night i moaterboated that girl!
HAHA you motorboating son of a bitch!

Why (and to who) do you find that traumatizing? I'm pretty sure this stuff happened to me whenever I played keyboards on stage. It's not like we can move or go anywhere when we're surrounded by keyboard stands in every direction

I can no longer hear this song without imagining Naruto singing it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0_fOTxiLXE

what a song

a great song

I was gonna start a thread for this but I think it'd be better to ask here:

are there more examples of classic rock folks making wistful synthpop tunes in the '80s to sublimate their angst over past loves and fears of declining sexual relevance? I'm thinking of "Valerie" and also Don Henley - "Boys of Summer." I wanna hear more of that.

("Touch of Grey" not so much)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t_WvnLsXGk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwabCTdaOcI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsyjxL_r1qk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0A7jAVDPJU

I was just going to ILM to see if there was a thread about this song when I realized that I not only started this one but revived it!

I can’t quit this song. Possibly the best meaningless remix in history.

classic

so good!!

and the lyrics sound like English translated into a foreign tongue and re-translated to English.

yes! i think the same of The Outfield’s “Your Love” - the lyrics & delivery has a sort of Eurovision/English Translation Dictionary feel