Like The Way I Do

Album

Melissa Etheridge

Label

Island Records

Genre

Rock

Media Type

45s

Duration

5:25

Composer(s)

Melissa Etheridge

Entered Chart

Feb 18, 1995

Peak Date

Mar 11, 1995

Released

1988

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Island 854238

B-Side

"Like the Way I Do" (live)

This incendiary rocker was inspired by the same relationship Etheridge wrote about in her song "Bring Me Some Water." When her lover took up with another woman, it lit a fire under Etheridge, and in this song she makes it clear that this other woman will never be able to match up to Melissa. At the suggestion of her label, Island Records, Etheridge didn't reveal that she was gay until 1993, so most listeners assumed that in early songs like this one, she was singing about a man. Etheridge was always careful about identifying genders in her songs, so they could be interpreted to be about either a man or a woman. At track from Etheridge's first album, "Like the Way I Do" was her second song to chart, making #28 on the Billboard Modern Rock chart in December 1988 ("Bring Me Some Water" was the first). It was a slow climb for Etheridge, but it worked in her favor, giving her time to develop her live shows and gradually build a following. The album came out in May 1988, and later that year many rock stations added this song and "Water" to their playlists, providing a rare female voice amid the likes of Guns N' Roses and Tom Petty. Etheridge made a lot of promotional appearance at these stations, winning over fans and program directors in baby steps. In our 2015 interview with Melissa Etheridge, she cited this as her favorite song. "That song is just a monster to play and I love how people love it," she said. This song was re-released in 1995, making #42 on the US Hot 100. In 1996, Etheridge performed this on Sesame Street as "Like the Way U Do." In this version, the song is a tribute to the letter U. The video was directed by Anthony Van Den Ende, the same guy who brought us the A Flock of Seagulls classic "I Ran (So Far Away)."

Is it so hard to satisfy your senses
You found out you love me you have to climb some fences
Scratching and crawling along the floor to touch you
And just when it feels right you say you found someone to hold you
Does she like I do?

Baby tell me does she love you like the way I love you?
Does she stimulate you, attract and captivate you?
Tell me does she miss you, existing just to kiss you, like the way I do?
Tell me does she want you, infatuate and haunt you?
She know just how to shock you, electrify and rock you?
Does she inject you, seduce you and affect you like the way I do?
Like the way I do

Can I survive all the implications?
Even if I tried, could you be less than an addiction?
Don't you think I know, there's so many others
Who would beg, steal and lie, fight, kill and die
Just to hold you, hold you like I do

Baby tell me does she love you like the way I love you?
Does she stimulate you, attract and captivate you?
Tell me does she miss you, existing just to kiss you, like the way I do?
Tell me does she want you, infatuate and haunt you?
Does she know just how to shock you, electrify and rock you?
Does she inject you, seduce you and affect you like the way I do?

Oh, nobody loves you like the way I do
Nobody wants you like the way I do
Nobody needs you like the way I do
Nobody aches, nobody aches just to hold you like the way I do
No, no, no

Tell me does she love you like the way I love you?
Does she stimulate you, attract and captivate you?
Baby, baby, tell me does she miss you, existing just to kiss you, like the way I do?
No, tell me does she want you, infatuate and haunt you?
Does she know just how to shock you, electrify and rock you?
Does she inject you, seduce you and affect you, baby, like the way I do?
No, like the way I do, oh oh yeah