Songfacts ~ Oh Sherrie

[Laydee]

I came across this today and found it interesting.


Oh Sherrie by Steve Perry

This was the first single from the first of 2 solo albums from Journey lead singer Steve Perry. The song is about his real life girlfriend at the time, Sherrie Swafford, who also appeared in the video.

Perry co-wrote this with the Nashville songwriter and Randy Goodrum, along with his drummer Craig Krampf and keyboard player Bill Cuomo. Goodrum tells the story: "I'd gotten to know him and Sherrie, not really well, but I had a general idea of what they were like as people. I sensed a certain amount of drama in their relationship, to put it mildly. I like to find a premise and go with that, rather than a hook. And as long as I know what the point of the song, or the mission of the song is, then the lyrics usually just fall into place. So I focused in on that, it was me saying, 'Here is a relationship the way I perceive it between two people.' And when Steve gave me a scratch tape that had him singing what I call a 'la-la' track, which is when the singer just sort of sings nonsense, and non-words, I listened to his vocals, and listened to some of the vowels that sounded good on high notes, and some of the ones that sounded good in the middle. That's another little trade secret that I do when I get a scratch vocal. And I fashioned the lyrics around their relationship. And then, of course, I took it back to Steve, and showed him what I'd done. We made changes and tweaks here and there, and it ended up being the basic lyrics for 'Oh Sherrie.'"

Goodrum talks about the song's intro: "Bill Cuomo did that. The way I understand it, he sequenced that on a multi-tumbrel sequencer, plugged it into the console and recorded it. And there it was. It was programmed and used as the intro and the ending."

Perry surrounded himself with very talented musicians and songwriters for the Street Talk album, including guitarist Waddy Wachtel and drummer Larrie Londin. Goodrum played keyboards on the album and co-wrote 8 of the songs, including "Foolish Heart." He was surprised when Perry called him to work on the album, but very pleased with the results. Says Goodrum: "I think he was a real fan of 'Bluer Than Blue' and 'You Needed Me,' and some stuff I'd done before that. That whole album was a surprise, as if you were to walk down the street and see a $20 bill blow by. I thought maybe he'd made a mistake asking me to write with him, because maybe he was thinking of Randy Goodrich or something. Why would a rocker want to write with a guy who writes the kind of songs I've had hits with, which were mostly poignant ballads?"

1984 was a big year for lead singers of popular bands to release solo albums. Tommy Shaw of Styx and Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac also had solo efforts. (thanks, Dawn - Highlands Ranch, CO)


http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3591

[moangel58]

Very good find Laydee

[Babyblue]

Layde thanks, that was a really special read.

[escapefan]

Thanks have never read that before.

[SP Fan in Oregon]

I just so happened to run across Randy Goodrum just two days ago when one of his buddies
sent me a friend request on myspace. So, here is Randy's picture.

[journeygirl]

Another good read, thanks for the post.