Happy To Give

[mikemarrs]

i'll never understand why they didn't choose to release this as a single back when this album was released.i like girl can't help it and some of the other singles that were released but its criminal when a song like suzanne is released as a single and this one was never given a shot.probably the most underrated overlooked tune on that album.

[annie89509]

Jon says (in the Time3 liner notes) that this was Steve's pet song. And a few hardcores have mentioned this song as among the band's (and, specifically, SP's) best. But, frankly, as an abashed perryfan, I've wanted to love it but just don't. It's just okay to me...doesn't really seem like much of a song...goes nowhere. And, I really love the ROR album.

[conversationpc]

Jon says (in the Time3 liner notes) that this was Steve's pet song. And a few hardcores have mentioned this song as among the band's (and, specifically, SP's) best. But, frankly, as an abashed perryfan, I've wanted to love it but just don't. It's just okay to me...doesn't really seem like much of a song...goes nowhere. And, I really love the ROR album.

I thought "Eyes of a Woman" was his pet song?

[Ehwmatt]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

[Saint John]

Total garbage.

[lights1961]

Total garbage.

agreed here about happy to give... BLAH...

[steveo777]

That song is a total snoozer, bordering on gay.....just absolute garbage!

[JRNYFan]

You can tell the song has a lot of heart and emotion for Perry. That's probably why he had three cuts of it. He wanted it to be perfect.

[jestor92]

80's cheese song. Off my least favorite Perry era Journey album.

[scarab]

love happy to give, a bright spot on ROR

[RocknRoll]

80's cheese song. Off my least favorite Perry era Journey album.

+1

[annie89509]

Jon says (in the Time3 liner notes) that this was Steve's pet song. And a few hardcores have mentioned this song as among the band's (and, specifically, SP's) best. But, frankly, as an un-abashed perryfan, I've wanted to love it but just don't. It's just okay to me...doesn't really seem like much of a song...goes nowhere. And, I really love the ROR album.

I thought "Eyes of a Woman" was his pet song?

From the TIME3 cd-set booklet:

(p44) THE EYES OF A WOMAN (S Perry-J Cain-N Schon) from “Raised on Radio”
A song that emerged from a jam in the recording studio, the finished instrumental track was recorded within a half-hour. “The song sort of wrote itself,” said Cain. Starting off with a guitar line Schon played simultaneously through his amplifier and a keyboard synthesizer, the tune merely followed Schon’s opening statement, according to Perry, who called the song his favorite from “Raised on Radio.”

(p45) HAPPY TO GIVE (S Perry-J Cain) from “Raised on Radio”
Perry cut this number three times. “He was obsessed by that song,” remembered Cain. “It was his pet song.” Cain also thinks Perry gave the song his finest vocal performance. The track came from a “soundtrack-type” composition Cain had been working on under the influence of Vangelis that Perry nailed with a melody almost immediately on Cain playing it for him. “Of course, it was our lives we were writing about,” said Cain. Never played live by the band, the track turned up years later on the soundtrack to the film “North Shore.”

[Ehwmatt]

Man, both those songs blow so hard. And I don't even dislike RoR as a whole like a lot of people - listen to at least half the album quite often, at least when I'm listening to Journey.

[annie89509]

Man, both those songs blow so hard. And I don't even dislike RoR as a whole like a lot of people - listen to at least half the album quite often, at least when I'm listening to Journey.

Objectively, those 2 were not the strengths
The top songs of this album are:
GCHI
IBAWY
BGTY
WCTNGOF (my all-time fav J song)
Suzanne (most hardcores like, but not me particularly)
ROR (I like this better than Suzanne)

[kgdjpubs]

Man, both those songs blow so hard. And I don't even dislike RoR as a whole like a lot of people - listen to at least half the album quite often, at least when I'm listening to Journey.

Objectively, those 2 were not the strengths
The top songs of this album are:
GCHI
IBAWY
BGTY
WCTNGOF (my all-time fav J song)
Suzanne (most hardcores like, but not me particularly)
ROR (I like this better than Suzanne)

that would basically be the "Journey" portion of the album....the rest is Perry's Soul/Motown album. I'd rate the title track the worst of anything there---mindless enough to listen to, but mindless empty lyrics that even Perry can't salvage.

[Starrider]

Man, both those songs blow so hard. And I don't even dislike RoR as a whole like a lot of people - listen to at least half the album quite often, at least when I'm listening to Journey.

Best post of the thread. Those two songs manage to simultaneously suck and blow.

I agree that there are some pretty good songs on the album, but these two certainly are not in that group.

I would say there are five songs I like, five I have varying levels of dislike for, and one that I go back and forth on, which is the title track.

[Frontiers65]

Damn you people are nuts! Happy to Give is a great song and Perry delivers a great vocal performance!

[froy]

i'll never understand why they didn't choose to release this as a single back when this album was released.i like girl can't help it and some of the other singles that were released but its criminal when a song like suzanne is released as a single and this one was never given a shot.probably the most underrated overlooked tune on that album.

HUGE mistake I always knew it..

[froy]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

[Ehwmatt]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

[Saint John]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

I'm guessing that he meant, "nope," there's no hook in HTG. I'll bet he's agreeing with you. It takes awhile to get used to Froy's posting style!

[Michigan Girl]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

I'm guessing that he meant, "nope," there's no hook in HTG. I'll bet he's agreeing with you. It takes awhile to get used to Froy's posting style!

He's saying there is absolutely no truth to what Matty says ^^^here ...

[Rockindeano]

"Songs" like Happy are what IMO led to the decline of popularity of Journey in rock. That was about it for me. That song has gay all over it...I mean come the fuck on already. Happy to Give? And you guys are in a rock band? Why the Hell didn't Neal say "no" to this piece of shit?

[Saint John]

And you guys are in a rock band? Why the Hell didn't Neal say "no" to this piece of shit?

Because the divorce of 1998 would have come in 1986 instead (and should have). Herbie was right. Should have canned that fuck in 1984. Looking back, I don't think Herbie ever made one bad business decision. Hell, he turned Roxette into a band just as successful as Journey, only they had a quarter of the talent. 19 top 40 hits in the U.K, 4 #1's in the U.S. and two #2's. And they did all of this in 2 albums. But someone else thought they knew what direction was best for Journey. What a stroke!

[Jana]

"Songs" like Happy are what IMO led to the decline of popularity of Journey in rock. That was about it for me. That song has gay all over it...I mean come the fuck on already. Happy to Give? And you guys are in a rock band? Why the Hell didn't Neal say "no" to this piece of shit?

He had given up, by then, on this album with having much say.

This is a girl's song. We love it because Steve sounds awesome and it's sweet.

[portland]

"Songs" like Happy are what IMO led to the decline of popularity of Journey in rock. That was about it for me. That song has gay all over it...I mean come the fuck on already. Happy to Give? And you guys are in a rock band? Why the Hell didn't Neal say "no" to this piece of shit?

He had given up, by then, on this album with having much say.

This is a girl's song. We love it because Steve sounds awesome and it's sweet.

Jana are you feeling OK?? Fever? Chills?

[Jana]

"Songs" like Happy are what IMO led to the decline of popularity of Journey in rock. That was about it for me. That song has gay all over it...I mean come the fuck on already. Happy to Give? And you guys are in a rock band? Why the Hell didn't Neal say "no" to this piece of shit?

He had given up, by then, on this album with having much say.

This is a girl's song. We love it because Steve sounds awesome and it's sweet.

Jana are you feeling OK?? Fever? Chills?

What? LOL I've always loved most the songs on ROR, and absolutely loved Steve's vocals on all. Just hated the poppy dated sound on some of the songs with the instruments the way sometimes they were used for the melody. It could have been an outstanding album had it not been a dictatorship regarding decisions.

[annie89509]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

I'm guessing that he meant, "nope," there's no hook in HTG. I'll bet he's agreeing with you. It takes awhile to get used to Froy's posting style!

He's saying there is absolutely no truth to what Matty says ^^^here ...

Right...Froy is one of those hardcore fans that I was referring to who ranks HTG as one of Journey's (and SP's) finest songs. Don't know exactly why (he never elaborates), but Froy is an old-timer on messageboards, and he knows his stuff.

[froy]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

If you think Suzanne is better than Happy To Give you need your head examined Its the best song on ROR hands down.

[Michigan Girl]

Song's never done much for me... Suzanne is much better. There's absolutely no hook in Happy to Give.

NOPE

Nope what dipshit?

I'm guessing that he meant, "nope," there's no hook in HTG. I'll bet he's agreeing with you. It takes awhile to get used to Froy's posting style!

He's saying there is absolutely no truth to what Matty says ^^^here ...

Right...Froy is one of those hardcore fans that I was referring to who ranks HTG as one of Journey's (and SP's) finest songs. Don't know exactly why (he never elaborates), but Froy is an old-timer on messageboards, and he knows his stuff.

Really?! Seems like he would've learned to quote!!