1974 - Tina Turns the Country on!
Tina Turns the Country On! is the debut solo album by Tina Turner, released in 1974 on the United Artists label in the U.S. The album was recorded while Turner still was a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue.
The album sees Turner - covering songs previously recorded by among others Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Olivia Newton-John, James Taylor and Dolly Parton. While it garnered her with a Grammy Nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female in 1974 it was not a commercial success and did not chart.
Tina Turns the Country On! remains unreleased on CD. The album should not be confused with budget CD compilations such as Tina Turner Sings Country, Soul Deep, Country My Way, Good Hearted Woman, Country In My Soul, Stand By Your Man, Country Classics, You Ain't Woman Enough To Take My Man, The Country Side of Tina Turner etc. which feature material from the archives of Bolic Sound Studios.
Producer: Tom Thacker
Label: United Artists
Side A
1.Bayou Song
LP: Tina turns the country on! - 1974
Just another Louisiana morning
Bayou rain falling without warning
Babies crying
Windows dirty
I can't see out them
Sitting and smoking and thinking about it
Lord Im so tired
I've been out working in the long cold night,
Im too tired to eat, to hungry to fight
Working for the man as hard as I can,
trying to make a living in this bayou land
Good lord what kind of life is this for my baby
It's bad enough I gotta suffer it myself
Take our love
takes us from this bayou country
Let the bayou bog starve by itself
Just another Lousiana afternoon
Drinking homemade liquor 2 ounce smooth
Till ya hanging
Dont talk much cause the pain is crazy
times are hard, things are hazy
Lord im so tired
To make it in this town you gotta work all over
When I get home I start all over
Half dead by the end of the night
But its what I gotta do to get my man a good life
Good lord what kind of life is this for my baby
Its bad enough I gotta suffer it myself
Take our love
takes us from this bayou country
Let the bayou bog starve by itself
Let the bayou bog drink itself to hell
2.Help me make it through the night - Kris Kristofferson - 2:48
LP: Tina turns te country on! (originally from Kris Kristofferson)- 1974
Take the ribbon from your hair
Shake it loose and let it fall
Layin' soft against your skin
Like the shadow on the wall
Come and lay down by my side
Till the early mornin' light
All I'm takin' is your time
Help me make it through the night
I don't care what's right or wrong
I won't try to understand
Let the devil take tomorrow
Lord, tonight I need a friend
Yesterday is dead and gone
And tomorrow's out of sight
And it's sad to be alone
Help me make it through the night
Yesterday is dead and gone
And tomorrow's out of sight
And it's sad to be alone
Help me make it through the night
I don't want to be alone
Help me make it through the night
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from Bob Dylan) - 1974
Throw my ticket out the window
Throw my suitcase out there too
Throw my troubles out the door
I don't need them any more
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.
I should have left this town this morning
But it was more than I could do
Oh, your love comes on so strong
And I've waited all day long
For tonight when I'll be staying here with you.
Is it really any wonder
The love that a stranger might receive
You cast your spell and I went under
I find it so difficult to leave.
I can hear that whistle blowin'
I see that stationmaster, too
If there's a poor boy on the street
Then let him have my seat
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.
Throw my ticket out the window
Throw my suitcase out there too
Throw my troubles out the door
I don't need them any more
'Cause tonight I'll be staying here with you.
4.If you love me (let me know)
LP: Tina Turns the country on! (originally from Olivia Newton-John) - 1975
You came when I was happy in your sunshine
I grew to love you more each passing day
Before too long I'd filled my world around you
Yeah and I prayed you loved enough of me to stay
If you love me let me know
If you don't let me go
I can't take another minute of the day without you near
If you love me let it be
If you don't set me free
Take the chains away that keep me loving you
The arms that open wide to hold me closer
The hands that run their fingers through my hair
The smile that says hello it's good to see you
Any time I turn around and find you there
It's this and so much more that makes me love you
What else can I do to make you see
You know you'll have whatever's mine to give you
Yeah but a love affair for one it can never be
If you love me let me know
If you don't let me go
I can't take another minute of the day without you near
If you love me let it be
If you don't set me free
Take the chains away that keep me loving you
Take the chains away that keep me loving you
5.He belongs to me
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from Bob Dylan) - 1974
He's got everything he needs
He's an artist, he don't look back
He's got everything he needs
He's an artist, he don't look back
He can take the dark out of nighttime
And paint the daytime black.
You will start out standing
Proud to steal him anything he sees
You will start out standing
Proud to steal him anything he sees
But you will wind up peeking through a keyhole
on your knees.
He never stumbles
He's got no place to fall
He never stumbles
He's got no place to fall
He's nobody's child
The Law can't touch her at all.
He wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles just before he speaks
He wears an Egyptian ring
That sparkles before he speaks
The man is a hypnotist collector
You are a walking antique.
He belongs to me.
Bow down to him on Sunday
Salute him when his birthday comes
Bow down to him on Sunday
Salute him when his birthday comes
For Halloween buy him a trumpet
And for Christmas, buy him a dog.
He's got everything he needs
He's an artist, he don't look back
He's got everything he needs
He's an artist, he don't look back
Side B
1.Don't talk now - James Taylor - 2:58
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from James Taylor) - 1974
Where I've been, you don't know. And what I've
got, baby, it don't show.
Now, I won't try to teach you how, don't talk now.
Don't talk roads, don't talk sand. Don't talk dust, don't talk no man.
Don't talk rules, don't talk vows, don't talk now.
I don't wanna hear the same old song,
and too many rights still make her wrong, baby.
I know she can't hurt me less by talking more,
she can't make good what was bad before.
No, It's too late now for me to lie and I can't make a second try.
I just came on back baby got to say good bye, good bye.
Don't talk now, don't talk now. Don't talk now, don't talk now.
2.Long long time
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from Linda Ronstadt) - 1970
Love will abide, take things in stride
Sounds like good advice, but there's no one at my side
But time washes clean, love's wounds unseen
That's what somebody told me, but I don't know what it means.
Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time
Caught in my fears
Blinking back the tears
I can't say it was you that hurt me when you never let me near
And I never drew one response from you
No no not once
All the while you fell all over girls you never knew
Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I know I am gonna love you for a long long time
Wait for the day
For they tell me you'll go away
Knowing that you warned me of the price I'd have to pay
Life's full of flaws
Sometimes I wonder Who knows the cause?
Living in the memory of a love that never was
Cause I've done everything I know cause I want to make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time
Cause I've done everything I know to try and make you mine
And I think I'm gonna love you for a long long time.
3.I'm movin' on - Hank Snow - 2:37
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from Hank Snow) - 1974
That big eight-wheeler rollin' down the track
Means your true-lovin' mamma ain't comin' back
'Cause I'm movin' on, I'll soon be gone
You were flyin' too high, for my little old sky
So I'm movin' on
That big loud whistle as it blew and blew
Said hello Alabama, I'm comin' through
Cause I'm movin' on, oh hear my song
You had the laugh on me, and I've set you free
And I'm movin' on
Mister Engineer, take that throttle in hand
This rattler's the fastest in the southern land
Cause I'm movin' on, keep rollin' on
You gonna ease my mind, put me there on time
Cause I'm movin' on
I got the move on
I got to roll on
I got the move on
I got to roll on
You're playing too high for my little sky
That's why I'm movin'on
I've told you baby, from time to time
But you just wouldn't listen or pay me no mind
That's why I'm movin' on, I'm rollin' on
You've broken your vow, and it's all over now
And I'm movin' on
But someday baby when you've had your play
You're gonna want your mamma but your mamma gonna say
You better movin' on, you stayed away too long
I'm through with you, too bad you're blue
I'm movin' on
I got the move on
I got to roll on
I got the move on
I got to roll on
You're playing too high for my little sky
That's why I'm movin'on
I got the roll on
I got the groove on
4.There will always be music - Dolly Parton - 4:10
LP: Tina turns the country on! (originally from Dolly Parton) - 1974
Rain makes rhytmic sounds when it's falling
There's music in a new born baby's cry
There's music all around and there is no sweeter sound
For that's the way a man expresses life
As the farmer works the fields he sings a song
The songbirds in the trees sing along
And the wind makes melodies as it whistles through the trees
Man's burdens are made lighter with a song
There will always be music
as long as there's a story to be told
There will always be music
cause music is the voice of the soul
There will always be music
A mother sings as she rocks her babies
Children sing the noted nursery rhymes
The old church bell rings for the Sunday morning singing
Music is as old as the time
In heaven there's a choir of angels singing
We often heard about God's angel band
Music will live on when men on earth are gone
There will always be music in the promised land
There will always be music
as long as there's a story to be told
There will always be music
cause music is the voice of the soul
There will always be music
There will always be music
as long as there's a story to be told
I tell you music is the voice of the soul
There will always be music
There will always be music
Music is the voice of the soul
as long as there's a story to be told
There will always be music
There will always be music
5. The Love That Lights Our Way - Fred Karlin - 3:15
Length: 35:15 min.
Tina Turner Country…Music?
By Gabe Crawford
There is barely any debate among music critics and listeners wheather or not Tina Turner is an impeccable artist. She has a style that cannot be replicated and a legacy that is sealed into society’s consciousness. Find me one person that doesn’t know when to shake their head during "Proud Mary" and I’d be shocked.
There is more music that often goes unnoticed from her career between being a solo superstar with the album Private Dancer and her tenure with the Ike and Tina Turner Review. Between the years of 1974, a year before she divorced Ike, and 1984, the year "What’s Love Got To Do With It" went number one, Tina recorded multiple albums to little success.
The first of these albums was "Tina Turns The Country On!" This album finds Tina at her first solo experiment. When looking at music history and the history of Tina’s style, the choice to release an album of country and western covers does not seem like the obvious next step in her career. Yet this album speaks volumes of where Tina was at in 1974 and also widens her breadth as a vocal artist.
This album comes right at the end of Ike and Tina Turner’s marriage. Their popularity had waned in the 70’s due to Ike’s frequent drug use, which resulted in missed and postponed shows. Tina was beginning to build her nerve through inspiration she had found through Buddhism which was the budding of her independence.
That’s the diamond in the rough when it comes to Tina’s first solo album: independence. For the first time, she was given the most freedom on how she was going to conduct herself as a muscian.
"Tina Turns The Country On!" is completely…country. Tina knows country because she was brought up in Tennessee, but I don’t think anybody was expecting her to sing it. Each song is a cover of a country hit with a new arrangement and that arrangement was…country.
Tina Turner, the queen of rock and roll R&B, now had twang.
I could see Tina doing a twist off of Ray Charles successes from his early 1960’s country themed albums, but I didn’t expect a performance I would have readily seen on The Wilburn Brothers Show or The Johnny Cash Show. I was expecting a blended mix of early R&B and country, but instead she fit in perfectly right next to Loretta Lynn.
There are three levels of Tina within the album and with each level she becomes more…Tina. I call the first level "Mid-Tina." This level finds Tina singing with the roughness we have all grown to love, but mixed with smooth twang. We find this on the songs "Bayou Song, "If You Love Me Let Me Know," and "Don’t Talk Now."
Next we venture into "Tina Turned Up." This is the Tina we generally find in her earlier recordings with Ike Turner. These elements are found in songs such as Bob Dylan’s "Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You" and Hank Snow’s "I’m Moving On."
Lastly, we have "Tina Turned Down." In this level, Tina demonstrates her chops for delivering straightforward and easy masterpieces. This level contains all my favorite songs from this album. First she sings a vulnerable and rousing rendition of Kris Kristofferson’s "Help Me Make It Through The Night." Her voice is as smooth and liquid as melted butter. Her performance of this song finds her vocals in their most purest form. It is like they come from a child.
Then there is the hopeful Dolly Parton cover "There’ll Always Be Music." I could easily see a choir erupting behind Tina at any moment during this recording. Her genuine love of unadulterated music is on complete view. She then closes out the album with "The Love That Light’s Our Way." This song eludes to the concrete truth that love will always prevail and lead the way, a sentiment that was muddled for Tina at this time. Her vocals in this song will convince anybody, that truth and love always prevails, something she still believed deep down.
This album begins to encapsulate the independent artistry of Tina Turner. It shows that she was not only a musical interpreter that crossed genres, but one that can reach the furthest of human emotions in the same fell swoop. She takes country music, flips it on its head, reconstructs it, and sings it her way, but she was still under a jail cell.
Her later solo efforts were to be completely independent of Ike Turner in all regards. This album shows that all you need sometimes is to let someone shake their own tail-feather and to never restrict someone to be a private dancer. This artistry within Tina was nearly untapped and it was time for the world to hear it.
It was time for Tina to be Tina.
1974 - Tina Turns the Country On!
1975 - Acid Queen
1978 - Rough
1979 - Love Explosion
1984 - Private Dancer
1986 - Break every rule
1989 - Foreign Affair
1993 - What's love got to do with it
1996 - Wildest Dreams
1999 - Twenty Four Seven
Source: Wikipedia
