Having played a couple of sets of boozy songs I thought I’d make the change to beverages this week, I’m still in drinking mode, but without the alcohol. You can still get a kick out of this week’s subject, though, as I’m playing you some coffee songs. I would have widened the beverages link to include tea as well, but it appears that coffee is a much more popular choice when it comes to songwriting!
This first one wasn’t a big hit here but I always liked it, and I take any chance to play the great vocals of Paul Carrack:
Mike + the Mechanics released Another Cup of Coffee on their fifth album, Beggar on a Beach of Gold, which came out in March 1995 and peaked at #9 in the UK, picking up a Gold disc along the way. It was their first album not to make the US charts, and they haven’t been successful there since, though their five subsequent albums have all made the UK charts. It’s a sad little song about a woman whose husband has left her, and all she can think to do in the vacuum he has left behind is to pour herself another cup of coffee. This was the third single taken from the album, in August of that year: it only made #51 here in the UK and didn’t fare much better anywhere else, which I’ve always found puzzling. It is a gentle little song about an experience many will have shared, and the video – featuring Stephanie Buttle – is a perfect fit for it. I hoped to find an answer to another question that I’ve always had about it, and was pleased to see that Songfacts had an interview with Gregg Masuak, who directed the video. They asked him what Paul Carrack was wearing on his head and Gregg answered “No fucking clue.” So there you have it, I’m none the wiser!
My second choice this week is another from a British band I’ve enjoyed for many years:
Black Coffee In Bed was the first single from Sweets From a Stranger, the fifth album by Squeeze. Both the album and the single were released in April 1982, though the single led the way by three weeks. In common with the first song today, this one also managed no higher than #51 in the UK chart and its only other placing was at #26 in the US Mainstream Rock Chart, which is based on radio airplay. The album fared better, peaking at #20 in the UK and #32 in the US. Chris Difford, who wrote this one, describes it as a ‘song of loss and regret” – I promise you I’m not in that kind of mood, despite appearances to the contrary from these first two tunes! Backing vocals were provided by Paul Young, finding somewhere to lay his hat, and Elvis Costello, though neither appears in the video.
The slightly downbeat feel is continuing with this next one. You may well recognise this as a Bob Dylan song, but there have been many cover versions, and I’m going with one by a singer I really rate:
Frazey Ford included her version of One More Cup Of Coffee on her first solo album Obadiah, which came out in July 2010. She is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress, who had previously been in the band The Be Good Tanyas. There are elements of folk, rock, country and soul in her music and her voice is incredible. She has only made three albums so far – the most recent in 2020 – but I have them all and really enjoy them.
I mentioned the dreaded ‘c’ word then, didn’t I. Knowing that some of you turn up your noses at country music I’m going for it anyway with this next one, another wistful little song:
Go on, admit it, that’s a lovely little song, isn’t it. Trisha Yearwood included her version of Just A Cup Of Coffee as a previously unreleased track on her Greatest Hits album, released in September 2007: it got to #22 on the main US Albums chart and #2 on the Country listing. The song was written by Stephanie Davis, who has written songs for a number of others, including Garth Brooks, Trisha’s husband, and she was for a time a member of Garth’s touring band. Her own version was on her self-titled debut album, released in August 1993, and it is also very good. You’ll find it here if you want to try it.
Having given you a set thus far of gentler songs I thought I’d crank things up for the finale. I’ll admit that this one is a bit of a cheat: it has ‘Expresso’ in its title, rather than ‘Espresso,’ and it isn’t about coffee. But what the heck – it’s great:
Expresso Love was a track on Dire Straits third album, Making Movies, which was released in October 1980, peaking at #4 in the UK and #19 in the US. It has been certified Platinum in the US, for sales of more than 1m, and double Platinum in the UK, at over 600k sales. I received it that year as a Christmas present, after dropping some none too subtle hints, and have loved it ever since: it is an amazing album, and as it starts with Tunnel Of Love followed by Romeo And Juliet you can probably tell why I think that! And who cares if this one isn’t about coffee anyway?
That’s all for today. I have some more lined up for this theme so may well do it again, and if anyone would like to suggest some songs about tea I’d be grateful: I’m finding it hard to find more than a few that I would want to play!
See you again soon. Have a great week, and remember….
Take It Easy 