Put Your Records On

Album

Corinne Bailey Rae

Label

Capitol Records

Genre

Dance-pop

Composer(s)

Corinne Bailey RaeJ;ohn Beck'Steve Chrisanthou

Entered Chart

Jul 15, 2006

Peak Date

Oct 7, 2006

Released

20 February 2006

Recorded

Studio The Idle

Catalog #

Capitol Digital

B-Side

"Since I've Been Loving You"

In this peaceful song, Corinne Bailey Rae casts worry aside, because life is better spent with your hair down, listening to records. She wrote the song with John Beck (Tasmin Archer's "Sleeping Satellite") and Steve Chrisanthou. The song's opening line, "Three little birds sat on my window/And they tell me I don't need to worry," is a reference to Bob Marley & The Wailers' 1980 hit single "Three Little Birds." This was Bailey Rae's breakthrough hit. She recalled to Billboard magazine: "It was a shock to me. I thought it was going to be much more of an underground record because it was underproduced. I wasn't expecting that reaction at all." Don't you let those other boys fool you Gotta love that Afro hairdo The lyric is a message to Bailey-Rae's younger self to embrace her natural hair. When she was a teenager, the trend was for straight tresses and the singer feared being out of step if she didn't follow the fashion. "There was this idea that if you had curly hair, you were making this big statement," Bailey Rae explained to Red magazine. "But if you have curly, afro, textured hair, that's just how it is naturally. You're not trying to make yourself bigger, this is just the room you take up." A cover by Salt Lake City-based singer Ritt Momney entered the singles charts worldwide in the 2020 fall. It peaked at #30 in the US and #25 in the UK. Ritt Momney was a Salt Lake City based garage band, taking their name from a tongue-in-cheek spoonerism on Utah politician Mitt Romney. The other members left, leaving Jack Rutter to keep the moniker for his solo project. Feeling depressed after the coronavirus pandemic started shutting everything down, Rutter wanted something uplifting and recalled his mom playing "Put Your Records On" in the car when he was a child. So he recorded a cover in the basement of his parents' home. Rutter explained to NME: "If someone asked 'what's the most positive and helpful song you could think of right now?' I felt it would always be that song. It reminds me of the simpler time of riding in your mum's car and going to soccer practice or whatever. It's definitely always stuck with me." Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song You go ahead, let your hair down Corinne Bailey Rae noted to Genius that when she was a child, her favorite song was Mariah Carey's "Vision Of Love." She added: "I found that as a young person, music was a really amazing way to find confidence and to find self-expression. You could always find that song that's like, 'That's just me. That person knows exactly how I feel.' Certain pop songs. I feel like I just put on music and feel like invincible and super confident and bold and let the music sort of carry you. To me, that's what my favorite song is doing. It would turn me from being someone that was shy or self conscious or uncomfortable into a feeling really sort of bold and confident while that song is on, you kind of live in the song."

Three little birds sat on my window
And they told me I don't need to worry
Summer came like cinnamon, so sweet
Little girls, double-dutch on the concrete

Maybe sometimes we got it wrong, but it's all right
The more things seems to change, the more they stay the same
Ooh, don't you hesitate

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans
I hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow

Blue as the sky, sunburnt and lonely
Sipping tea in the bar by the road side
(Just relax, just relax)
Don't you let those other boys fool you
Gotta love that Afro hairdo

Maybe sometimes we feel afraid, but it's all right
The more you stay the same, the more they seem to change
Don't you think it's strange?

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans
I hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
You're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow

Just more than I could take
Pity for pity's sake
Some nights kept me awake
I thought that I was stronger
When you gonna realize that you don't even have to try any longer?
Do what you want to

Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans
I hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song
You go ahead, let your hair down
Sapphire and faded jeans
I hope you get your dreams
Just go ahead, let your hair down
Ooh, you're gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow