Messin' With My Mind

Album: Phoenix (1975)
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Songfacts®:

  • Labelle had a massive hit in 1974 with "Lady Marmalade," but never made it back to the Top-40. Like "Marmalade," "Messin' With My Mind" featured a rollicking arrangement by Allen Toussaint, who also played piano on the tracks. The song has plenty of attitude, with the ladies warning the guy that he's going to get comeuppance for his mind games.

    The song was written by Nona Hendryx, who was in the trio with Patti LaBelle and Sarah Dash. It was rare for members of girl groups to write their own songs, but their management encouraged Hendryx to try it, and she ended up being the group's primary songwriter. She told us: "They believed that artists should and could do that. They asked us if any of us could write, and I said, 'Well, I write poetry.' And they said, 'Well, why don't you try putting it to music?' And that's where it began.

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