Valerie

Album: Talking Back To The Night (1982)
Charted: 19 9
Play Video
  • So wild standing there
    With her hands in her hair
    I can't help remember
    Just where she touched me
    There's still no face
    Here in her place

    So cool, she was like
    Jazz on a summer's day
    Music, high and sweet
    Then she just blew away
    Now she can't be that warm
    With the wind in her arms

    Valerie, call on me
    Call on me, Valerie
    Come and see me
    I'm the same boy I used to be

    Love songs fill the night
    But they don't tell it all
    Not how lovers cry out
    Just like they're dying
    Her cries hang there, in time, somewhere

    Someday, some good wind
    May blow her back to me
    Some night I may hear
    Her like she used to be
    No, it can't be that warm
    With the wind in her arms

    Valerie, call on me
    Call on me, Valerie
    Come and see me
    I'm the same boy I used to be

    So cool, she was like
    Jazz on a summer's day
    Music, high and sweet
    Then she just blew away
    Now she can't be that warm
    With the wind in her arms

    Valerie, call on me
    Call on me, Valerie
    Come and see me
    I'm the same boy I used to be

    I'm the same boy I used to be Writer/s: Steve Winwood, Will Jennings
    Publisher: BMG Rights Management, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 11

  • Mwal from SydneyThis song featured in miami vice
    ...so poignant
    Just ahead of all the rest
  • Eighties Has Been from The WestAnd it turned out to be Valerie Carter
  • Carla from ArkansasWill Jennings wrote this about Valerie Carter, the same woman Jackson Browne sings about in “That Girl Could Sing”.
  • David from Orlando, FlThough I enjoy a lot of Steve Winwood's music, especially from his solo run of success in the 1980's, Valerie stands out, specifically the original 1982 song. The chorus is catchy yet simultaneously poignant while Steve's high-wire passion holds a jazzy tune together in a tight formation. I also enjoy the music video for the original version with special wind effects (in animation form), Steve playing keyboard much of the time, and an actress/model portraying the title character. I really though she effectively captured the complex emotions of Valerie - beautiful, young, innocent, naïve, and plagued by mysterious troubling problems. Kudos as well to lyricist Will Jennings for his witty word usage which blended with Steve's music to deliver song magic time and again during the Winwood solo heyday. According to Wikipedia, Will reportedly based Valerie on singer/songwriter Valerie Carter, whose promising career was plagued be drugs, though she has since graduated from a drug program. Though more people may have enjoyed the remix version in 1987 (along with its updated video), I personally prefer the simpler tune and video that started its running history.
  • Steve from Torrance, CaOne of the greatest musical evocations of summer ever written, this is the song that made me a Steve Winwood fan. More than just a song about a long lost love, it's also about nostalgia, sentimentalism, and a longing for the past to return. Before they became weighed down with the burden of celebrity, hipness, and self-consciousness, Will Jennings' lyrics were much more abstract and open to interpretation, like these. It's hard to hear this song without also thinking of the wonderful artwork (credit: Tony Wright) of the Talking Back to the Night album. Love that Mini-Moog! In memory of Valerie Boyens Armstrong
  • Claire from Miller's, MdI personally know a Valerie and her name is spelt the same way as the song:)
  • Larry from Coral Springs, FlThis song has a great sound and beat. Everytime i hear the name..i think of my fave actress
  • Ben from Gosford, AustraliaSteve Winwood has a sexy voice. 'Nuff said.
  • Dave from Cardiff, WalesAlthough the song only reached No.51 in the UK ion 1982, in 1987 it was re-released and peaked at No.19. Steve Winwood also had solo Top 20 hits in the UK with "While You See A Chance" and "Night Train", while in the mid-1960s he had 12 UK Top 30 hits as lead singer of The Spencer Davis Group (two of which, "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me" topped the charts in the UK in 1965). After leaving The Spencer Davis Group in the late 1960s, Stevie went on to form the critically acclaimed blues-rock band Traffic, who were hugely successful in Britain in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and, alongside his solo career, with whom Stevie continued to record on-and-off until 1996
  • Mark from Ascension Island,so. AtlanticGreat song, I like all of Winwoods songs though...Thanks
  • Alan from Singapore, Singapore"Call On Me" was a smash dance track hit in 2004 by Sweden's Eric Prydz. He sampled some lines from "Valerie". It seems that when Steve Winwood heard the remix he thought it was so good, he not only gave his permission to use the samples, he even re-recorded his vocals especially for the track.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

How The Beatles Crafted Killer Choruses

How The Beatles Crafted Killer ChorusesSong Writing

The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And Hell

Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Heaven And HellSongwriter Interviews

Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.

16 Songs With a Heartbeat

16 Songs With a HeartbeatSong Writing

We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.

Psychedelic Lyrics

Psychedelic LyricsMusic Quiz

Whoa man! Do you know which band came up with these cosmic lyrics?

Carl Sturken

Carl SturkenSongwriter Interviews

Hitmaker Carl Sturken on writing and producing for Rihanna, 'N Sync, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Donny Osmond, Shakira and Karyn White.

Prince

PrinceFact or Fiction

Prince is shrouded in mystery, making him an excellent candidate for Fact or Fiction. Is he really a Scientologist? Does he own an exotic animal?