"Just don't give away our sound" - Jamie Starr

I love the energy of this song in both versions.
Made it feel like something exciting was about to happen.

The female expression and the masculine expression

The Minneapolis Sound and the direction Jimmy & Terry too was exciting

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On · Cherrelle Fragile ℗ A Tabu Records

Release; ℗ 1984 UMG Recordings, Inc.

Released on: 1984-01-01

Producer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Jimmy Jam Producer,

Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Terry Lewis

Studio Personnel,

Recording Engineer: Steve Wiese

Studio Personnel, Recording Engineer, Mixer: Taavi Mote Composer

Lyricist: James Harris

Composer Lyricist: Terry Lewis

https://youtu.be/f1i_RJOCXVA

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On - YouTube

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (Special Remix)

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean... - YouTube

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On - YouTube

What about Robert Palmer?

OldFriends4Sale said:

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On · Cherrelle Fragile ℗ A Tabu Records

Release; ℗ 1984 UMG Recordings, Inc.

Released on: 1984-01-01

Producer, Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Jimmy Jam Producer,

Associated Performer, Co- Arranger: Terry Lewis

Studio Personnel,

Recording Engineer: Steve Wiese

Studio Personnel, Recording Engineer, Mixer: Taavi Mote Composer

Lyricist: James Harris

Composer Lyricist: Terry Lewis

https://youtu.be/f1i_RJOCXVA

I Didn't Mean To Turn You On - YouTube

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (Special Remix)

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean... - YouTube

.

the orginal/album version is good.. but the "special remix" version is the 1 that I play 95% of the time..

& I love that part towards the end where they play the music "backwards"

This is my favorite Jam and Lewis track what a groove! Takes me right back to the spring/summer of '84.

official music video

Cherrelle - I Didn't Mean... - YouTube

I like the King Kong theme

MickyDolenz said:

What about Robert Palmer?

He's going to be in this too

Robert Palmer - I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (Extended Dance Mix)

Extended Dance Mix from a 12" of "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On". The pic is from the Japanese "best of" LP "Robert Palmer: File 1986".

Robert Palmer - I Didn't ... - YouTube

https://youtu.be/Fh_S8EJnRv0

SoulAlive said:

I didn’t really like the Robert Palmer remake.It just seems silly for a man to be singing these lyrics

lol I always thought it was a cool male version / female version, very 80s and something I could easily see Prince singing lol he actually had lyrics like that

easily a conversation from a man to a woman

Jimmy: And yeah, that’s one of my favorite Terry Lewis baselines ever on that song. That’s funky. But yeah, we started doing that and then we started getting things even expanded because we started doing things like “The Heat of Heat” for Patti Austin. We did, of course, Alexander O’Neal and Cherrelle “Saturday Love” and those records. So yeah, I mean, we met Clarence Avant that was SOS band and then Cherrelle, and then, you know, we did “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” with Cherrelle. So yeah, things ramped up really quickly, but it was interesting because there was a columnist in Minneapolis named John Breen who was, did kind of our first kind of interview.

Jimmy: And the other thing too that was important was that we were working with Cherrelle on the first Cherrelle record and we were in LA and you know, the studio costs were crazy. And that was the other thing there, she felt a lot of pressure because she’d been a background singer, not so much a lead singer and we felt like if we could get her in a comfortable environment that would be great. So going to Minneapolis, we started working in this little studio in a basement of a house, but it was just this very little studio, but there was no pressure of, oh, we got to get stuff done. And I remember the very first record when we walked into that studio. The very first record we did was ‘Didn’t Mean To Turn You On.

Jimmy Jam And Terry Lewis...adio Facts

SoulAlive said:

I didn’t really like the Robert Palmer remake.It just seems silly for a man to be singing these lyrics

MickyDolenz said:

What about Robert Palmer?

Frankly, I sort of prefer Palmer's version. There's a syncopated funkiness to it that gives it a new flavor. The original is pure Jam/Lewis production (which I just don't think is that Prince-like, honestly). But Palmer's is cheeky with a bit of braggadocio thrown in for good measure.

It's sorta meant to be ironic. "Oh, sorry, did your panties drop when I walked by? Sorry 'bout it!"

It's hard to imagine a man turning down a one-night stand I think the song works better coming from a woman's point of view

OldFriends4Sale said:

SoulAlive said:

I didn’t really like the Robert Palmer remake.It just seems silly for a man to be singing these lyrics

lol I always thought it was a cool male version / female version,

It is just an amazing song, I love both versions a lot, but prefer the Cherrelle version with all of it's synthesizer/drummachine madness!

Is Mariah's remake using hte same orginal tracks as Cherelle's? They sound exactly the same to me.

Robert Palmer performed this on Letterman or some show like that and the live version had more of the Jam & Lewis sounding synths.

GaryMF said:

Is Mariah's remake using hte same orginal tracks as Cherelle's? They sound exactly the same to me.

She did sing over the original track. She's listed as a producer likely because of the vocal arrangements.

if she was ugly? unattractive? he found out something about her?

if he finds out she's crazy, will try to get pregnant, set him up etc

SoulAlive said:

It's hard to imagine a man turning down a one-night stand I think the song works better coming from a woman's point of view

OldFriends4Sale said:

lol I always thought it was a cool male version / female version,

Man I need the multi tracks for this tune. My goodness it deserves a 10 minute opus.

paisleypark4 said:

Man I need the multi tracks for this tune. My goodness it deserves a 10 minute opus.

Yeah. I tried to learn this for my band and it sounds like it's really the same synth riff over and over and over, but somehow they make it sound so much more complex with the layering of all the synths etc.

That is such an 80s album cover lol everything was fun even when it was dark lol

GaryMF said:

paisleypark4 said:

Man I need the multi tracks for this tune. My goodness it deserves a 10 minute opus.

Yeah. I tried to learn this for my band and it sounds like it's really the same synth riff over and over and over, but somehow they make it sound so much more complex with the layering of all the synths etc.

The synth bass line is everything. It seems there are at least 4 different synth patterns going on. How far did you get learning the song?

paisleypark4 said:

GaryMF said:

Yeah. I tried to learn this for my band and it sounds like it's really the same synth riff over and over and over, but somehow they make it sound so much more complex with the layering of all the synths etc.

The synth bass line is everything. It seems there are at least 4 different synth patterns going on. How far did you get learning the song?

i just did the main riff, i dont remember the chords now but it was like da, da, DUH-duh, duh, DUH, duh. (if that makes sense). there's another since that plays like a "curly-cue" line at the last synth chord each time but i don't think i tried to do that one

TrivialPursuit said:

MickyDolenz said:

What about Robert Palmer?

Frankly, I sort of prefer Palmer's version. There's a syncopated funkiness to it that gives it a new flavor. The original is pure Jam/Lewis production (which I just don't think is that Prince-like, honestly). But Palmer's is cheeky with a bit of braggadocio thrown in for good measure.

I personally love Robert Palmer's version with the duet with B. J. Nelson.

GaryMF said:

paisleypark4 said:

The synth bass line is everything. It seems there are at least 4 different synth patterns going on. How far did you get learning the song?

i just did the main riff, i dont remember the chords now but it was like da, da, DUH-duh, duh, DUH, duh. (if that makes sense). there's another since that plays like a "curly-cue" line at the last synth chord each time but i don't think i tried to do that one

That is the main part so good enough yeah. There is a jazz version I heard by the Smooth Jazz that pretty much just follows that successfully. They did all her songs jazz style actually.

paisleypark4 said:

GaryMF said:

i just did the main riff, i dont remember the chords now but it was like da, da, DUH-duh, duh, DUH, duh. (if that makes sense). there's another since that plays like a "curly-cue" line at the last synth chord each time but i don't think i tried to do that one

That is the main part so good enough yeah. There is a jazz version I heard by the Smooth Jazz that pretty much just follows that successfully. They did all her songs jazz style actually.

interesting will have to chekc it out. I haven't been playing with band since Covid but maybe here was like a change to a differen chord right at the chorus or pre-chorus but using the same riff pattern, and I think I would also do that line the guitar does as single notes that kinda follows the melody for "Didn't meant to turn you o-o-on'"

SoulAlive said:

I didn’t really like the Robert Palmer remake.It just seems silly for a man to be singing these lyrics

The hell it does. I've had plenty of bastards tell me the same mess that's in those lyrics at the end of the night.

vainandy said:

SoulAlive said:

I didn’t really like the Robert Palmer remake.It just seems silly for a man to be singing these lyrics

The hell it does. I've had plenty of bastards tell me the same mess that's in those lyrics at the end of the night.

Cherrelle's voice wasn't very strong but her first two Jam & Lewis produced albums were packed full of great songs that really worked well with her voice. Not sure why they didn't stick with her for her third and final Tabu album. That flopped big time.

I like both Cherrelle and Robert's versions. They both brought a different energy to the song. But Cherrelle is definately the more superior version. I never cared for Mariah's version. I think I would have liked it more if she hadn't have used the original Cherrelle track.