"Walking in My Shoes" is a song released as the second single from the 1993 eighth studio album “Songs of Faith and Devotion”.
"Walking in My Shoes" is about understanding and empathy. The singer is telling the listener to try to understand them before passing judgment on their actions. They emphasize that the listener should understand what they have been through before making any conclusions or seeking any absolution. The chorus encourages the listener to literally "walk in the singer's shoes" and keep the same appointments they kept, as a way of understanding what they went through. The song delves into the complexities of the human experience and the importance of compassion.
Alan Wilder told about this song: “It was constructed using an unusual method for us, i.e. jamming together. Martin played the guitar, I played bass and we ran a rhythm machine, this was just to get the basic feel for the track, and after much trial and error, the chorus bass line and guitar pattern fell into place. From that point onwards, Flood and I began to construct the various drum loops, the string arrangements, the main riff, which combined a piano and harpsichord through a distorted guitar amp, and all the other bits and pieces. By contrast, the bass line for the verses was much more problematic and in fact didn't get written until the very last moment. The piano part at the beginning was put through a guitar processor, which distorted it and made it more edgy. We added a harpsichord sample on top of that."
Martin Gore in a 1998 interview: “If I really had to stick my neck out and choose my all time favourite song, it would probably be "Walking In My Shoes". I think it has a great melody—the words and the subject matter really complement each other perfectly. The instrumentation is also interesting.”
On the other hand, producer Mark Ellis known as Flood thought the following about the song: I'm being honest, the track that I was most disappointed by—I mean, I say "most disappointed"—but it was "Walking In My Shoes", because I never felt that the recorded version lived up to the way I imagined the song could be. I know I'm probably the only person in the universe who thinks like that, but I felt that the original demo—the potential wasn't realized, so.
David Fricke from Melody Maker wrote, "'Walking in My Shoes' is better neo-Bowie than we've heard in some time, a long-distance "Heroes" knockoff via the group's own "Enjoy the Silence" complete with hints of Robert Fripp's skysaw guitar."
"I Want to Know What Love Is" és una balada escrita pel guitarrista Mick Jones, llançada el novembre de 1984 com a senzill principal del cinquè àlbum de Foreigner, "Agent Provocateur". La cançó és el major èxit del grup fins ara, i segueix sent una de les cançons més conegudes de la banda i un dels èxits de ràdio més perdurables. La cançó també es va publicar com a maxisingle amb una durada de 6:23. Aquesta versió conté una introducció una mica més llarga i un final de veu i cors més estès.
Jones parla d'aquesta cançó: "'I Want To Know What Love Is' va començar com una cosa més personal. Havia passat per varies relacions que van fracassar, i encara buscava algú amb qui realment pogués perdurar. Això va agafar vida pròpia i es va convertir en un sentiment més universal a través de la cançó. Vaig ajustar-ho tot durant la gravació i vaig decidir acabar posant-hi un cor de gospel. I de sobte em vaig adonar que havia escrit una cançó espiritual, gairebé una cançó de gospel. A vegades, sents que no hi tens res a veure, de veritat. Només l'estàs posant en un paper o inventant una melodia que tregui el significat de la cançó, que porti l’emoció a la cançó". La relació de Jones que va inspirar la cançó va ser amb la seva aleshores futura esposa Ann Dexter-Jones, mare del actualment reconegut productor Mark Ronson, fill del seu primer matrimoni.
La majoria de les cançons de Foreigner van ser coescrites per Jones i el cantant principal Lou Gramm, però aquesta va ser una composició en solitari de Jones, i una cançó que no va ser rebuda amb entusiasme per Gramm, qui pensava que podria empènyer la banda a un territori de música adult contemporany, lluny de la seva base rockera. Jones va parlar a la revista Billboard sobre les reserves de Lou Gramm sobre aquesta cançó: "Si mireu tota la nostra història, cada àlbum tenia un parell de balades. Crec que Lou va emetre la seva opinió al respecte en aquell moment, i això és el que va portar la gent a buscar un motiu per justificar les nostres diferències. Però no em pot passar pel cap de cap manera que tenir una cançó número 1 a tot el món sigui una cosa perjudicial per a una banda".
El New Jersey Mass Choir es va incorporar per cantar els cors, convertint-se en el primer cor de gospel a aparèixer en un èxit pop número 1. Mick Jones sabia que volia un cor a la cançó i va trobar el New Jersey Mass Choir amb una mica de serendipia: tenien el mateix advocat. Segons Jones, els primers intents del cor de cantar la seva part a l'estudi no van tenir la màgia necessària, però després es van reunir en cercle, van dir l'oració del Senyor i ho van clavar a la següent presa.
FOREIGNER - I WANT TO KNOW WHAT LOVE IS
Released : November 30, 1984
Charted: UK: #1 (3 weeks) US: #1 (2 weeks)
"I Want to Know What Love Is" is a power ballad wrote by guitarist Mick Jones, released in November 1984 as the lead single from Foreigner’s fifth album, “Agent Provocateur”. The song is the group's biggest hit to date, and remains one of the band's best-known songs and most enduring radio hits. The song was also issued as a 12-inch single with a longer running time of 6:23. This version contains a slightly longer intro and an extended vocal chorus/fadeout ending.
Jones talks about this song: "'I Want To Know What Love Is' started off on more of a personal level. I'd been through a lot of relationships that eventually failed, and still searching for something that could really endure. And that sort of took a life of its own as well. It became more of a universal feeling. I adjusted that during the recording of it, and ended up putting a gospel choir on it. And you know, realized suddenly that I'd written almost a spiritual song, almost a gospel song. Sometimes, you feel like you had nothing to do with it, really. You're just putting it down on paper, or coming up with a melody that will bring the meaning of the song out, bring the emotion out in the song." Jones' relationship that sparked the song was with his then future wife Ann Dexter-Jones, mother of producer Mark Ronson, son of her first matrimony.
Most of Foreigner's songs were co-written by Jones and their lead singer Lou Gramm, but this was a solo composition for Jones, and a song that was not met with enthusiasm by Gramm, who felt it might push the band into adult contemporary territory and away from their rock base. Jones spoke to Billboard magazine about Lou Gramm's reservations over this song: "If you look at our whole history, each album had a couple of ballads on it. I think that Lou aired his opinion about it at the time, and that's what led to people jumping on it as a reason for our differences. But I can never really think that having a worldwide #1 song would be detrimental to a band."
The New Jersey Mass Choir was brought in to sing the backing vocals, becoming the first gospel choir to appear on a #1 pop hit. Mick Jones knew he wanted a choir on the song and found the New Jersey Mass Choir through a bit of serendipity: they had the same lawyer. According to Jones, the choir's first attempts to sing their part in the studio didn't have the magic, but then they gathered in a circle, said the Lord's Prayer, and nailed it on the next take.
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FOREIGNER - FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME
Released : March 1977
Charted: UK: #39 US: #4
This was Foreigner's debut release and their first hit in both the US and UK, despite originally flopping on its initial British release. Mick Jones, who is the British founder of Foreigner (named for the bi-nationality of the band - the other members were American), wrote the song himself.
Jones told: "'Feels Like The First Time' was written about a bit of a change in my life. I was coming out of a previous marriage with somebody I'd met in France. I'd gone back to England and then finally made the journey to America while I was in the band Spooky Tooth. And to me it was this challenge of really going for a new start in my life. And that just came naturally out of the blue. People probably thought, Well, this is a song that he's written specifically for this album. In hindsight I guess that's a natural feeling, but to me it was signifying a new start. I'd met somebody, I got re-married and moved with her to America, and that was the song that described that experience."
This was the first song penned by Mick Jones that he ever heard played on the radio. He described his feelings to Lords of Metal on hearing it for the first time: "I was driving to Long Island to go to the sea when this song came on. I was on the bridge and in my mirror you could see the big city. On the radio they said, there is a new band and they have a great song which we will play now and that was my song. I turned the car window down and I started to drive very fast. I will never forget that moment!"
This was song that got Foreigner a record deal in America. They were known as Trigger when they sent a tape with this track to Atlantic Records, which was home to Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and Yes. A young executive named John Kalodner liked the song, saw them perform, and signed them to a deal. Kalodner would later become famous for signing Aerosmith to Geffen Records in the '80s and engineering their comeback.
Billboard called "Feels Like the First Time" "tasteful, high energy rock" with "a direct, happy, love lyric." Billboard called the guitars "booming" and Gramm's lead vocal "intense but controlled." Cash Box said that "the heavy rock feeling is there at the bottom, but glittering backing vocals and keyboard work add the patina necessary to soothe top 40" and also commented on the "spine-tingling guitar chords" that open the song.”
FOREIGNER - JUKE BOX HERO
Released : October 2, 1981 (UK) January 27, 1982 (US)
Charted: UK: #48 US: #26
"Juke Box Hero" is a song by British-American rock band Foreigner written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones and released as the album “4” third single. It first entered the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in July 1981 and eventually reached #3 on that chart. Lou Gramm told that it is one of his favorite songs to perform, but also the hardest to sing live.
The song focuses on a boy unable to purchase a ticket to a sold-out rock concert. Listening from outside, he hears "one guitar" and has an epiphany, leading him to buy a guitar and learn to play it. He realizes that with the guitar he has a chance to achieve musical stardom. The song then goes on to describe the struggle he has to stay on top of the music charts, which makes him a "Juke Box Hero". He eventually encounters another fan outside the stage door at one of his concerts, who reminds him of himself and how it all began.
Jones said: "That stemmed from an experience that we had, I think it was in Cincinnati. We'd gone to the arena for a sound check, and it was pouring down rain, and there were a bunch of fans waiting at the door when we went in. When we came back for the show later on, all that was left was one lonely fan, a young guy waiting out there in the rain, soaked to the skin. I thought, well, he's waiting like five hours here, maybe we'll take him in and give him a glimpse of what happens backstage at a show. And this kid was just mesmerized with everything. I saw this look in his eyes, and I thought, he's seeing this for the first time, he's having this experience. And I just imagined what was going through his mind. And I'd been toying with this title, 'Juke Box Hero,' I thought it was almost a satire on what we did and how it was perceived from an audience level, and public. That's how it originated."
Before he was a singer, Lou Gramm was a drummer. The menacing beat at the beginning of the song that builds to combustion is his influence: he says that when he writes songs, he starts with the beat and looks for interesting rhythms.
In 2018, Foreigner launched Jukebox Hero, the musical, at some theaters in Canada with hopes of bringing the show to Broadway. Sixteen Foreigner songs are used in the production, which is set in a Pennsylvania factory town where one of their own becomes a rock star.
FOREIGNER - URGENT
Released : June 22, 1981
Charted: UK: #54 US: #4
"Urgent" is a song by the British-American rock band Foreigner. Written by the Foreigner songwriting team of Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, this was the first single from “4”, one of the best-selling albums of the '80s. Before recording this album, two members of the group left, trimming the band from six members to four. This, along with the fact that it was their fourth album, explains the title.
The group wanted a "Junior Walker-style" sax solo for this record. When they took a break from recording, one of the members read in New York newspaper The Village Voice that Walker was performing that night mere blocks from the recording studio. Walker accepted their offer to play, and the recording of the sax solo was swift and without a hitch. With an R&B sound, the song was a musical departure for the band; many listeners didn't recognize it as Foreigner when they first heard it. "A few people were trapped into liking it before they found out who it was," Jones told Sounds.
Foreigner's guitarist Mick Jones produced the album with Mutt Lange, who is known as a very meticulous producer with a tremendous work ethic. Jones told: "We locked horns at the beginning, both pretty strong-minded about what we wanted to achieve, and we gradually discovered that it was the same thing. He drew a lot out of me. He was the first person that insisted on listening to every single idea I had on every single cassette tape, or any ideas I had anywhere, down on paper or lyrically, phonetically, instrumentally. He pulled songs like 'Urgent' out of that, and contributed a lot to 'Juke Box Hero.' It ended up being a great relationship."
Billboard said that "Guitars and keyboards supply the rhythmic punch on this tasty rocker." Billboard reviewer Gary Graff rated "Urgent" to be Foreigner's all-time greatest song, particularly praising Dolby's synthesizer and Walker's saxophone but also saying that the song "would have been killer" even without the sax solo.
