Don't Cry Out Loud

Album: Don't Cry Out Loud (1978)
Charted: 10
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Songfacts®:

  • "Don't Cry Out Loud" was written by Peter Allen and Carole Bayer Sager, who were staff writers at Metromedia Records. The first recording was in 1976 by an R&B vocal trio called The Moments under the title "We Don't Cry Out Loud." Peter Allen made the song part of his live set and included it on his 1977 live album It Is Time For Peter Allen.

    These versions had spartan arrangements and were somewhat restrained vocally, giving the song an intimate feel. That's what Melissa Manchester thought she's be getting when she recorded the song in 1978, but to her surprise, the arrangement, by Barry Fasman, was loud an orchestral, requiring her to sing with all her might.

    "There were 50 musicians playing this gigantic, anthemic version of this song, and it was so shocking to my system and not at all what I had in my head," she told Songfacts. "My performance was fueled by frustration."

    Manchester's frustration-fueled version was a hit, going to #10 in America and hanging around on playlists for decades.
  • The song uses the circus as a metaphor for disappointment - it comes to down, puts on a spectacle, then packs up and leaves town. The lead character in the song gets some advice from the singer on how to deal with it: hide your feelings and don't let anyone see you cry.

    This probably isn't the best way to manage psychologically, especially in the context of the times, when the women's movement was encouraging ladies to speak out and let their feelings be known. The irony is that Carole Bayer Sager, who wrote the lyric, and Melissa Manchester, who sang the hit version of the song, were both part of the women's movement and made great strides for female singers and songwriters at this time.

    Bayer Sager, in her autobiography They're Playing Our Song, said she isn't too keen on the lyrics she wrote about hiding feelings and putting on a brave face. "For years after, when I would hear it, I would question if that was how I really felt," she explained. "I mean, didn't I believe in sharing my feelings? Letting people know how I really feel?"

    As for Manchester, she formed a different interpretation of the song after years performing it.

    "It took me a very long time, but I saw that audiences were responding to it so deeply, and I thought, OK, slow down. Why are people responding to this?" she said in her Songfacts interview. "In the end, the central idea of the song is that one has to learn how to cope. That's what the mature soul has to do in life. And if you don't learn how to cope, you become a victim. You blame everybody else, you take no responsibility. There's a menu of immature responses that we have in life, but the central truth is, for a mature mind, one has to learn how to cope and you don't always get your way. But at least you know you tried."
  • In the UK the hit version was by former Vinegar Joe vocalist Elkie Brooks, which peaked at #12 in 1978.
  • Other hits that Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen wrote include the Oscar-winning "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," an American chart topper for Christopher Cross in 1981. Allen was an Australian singer-songwriter who was married to Liza Minnelli for a few years. After the song became a hit for Melissa Manchester, he re-recorded it on his fourth studio album, I Could Have Been a Sailor. In 1977 his song "I Go To Rio" shot to #1 on the Australian chart thanks to its promotional video, which demonstrated the growing influence of the music video as a marketing tool. In 1992 he died of an AIDS-related throat cancer.
  • Manchester received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for this song. She lost that one to Dionne Warwick ("I'll Never Love This Way Again") but won the award three years later for "You Should Hear How She Talks About You."
  • Carole Bayer Sager and Melissa Manchester were a writing team for a few years. Their songs include Manchester's hit "Midnight Blue" and Captain & Tennille's "Come In From The Rain."
  • This was used on Schitt's Creek in the 2016 episode "The Motel Guest." After a fight with his wife, Roland moves into the room next to Johnny and Moira, and keeps them up all night by blasting the song on repeat.
  • This was used in the movies Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999) and Intolerable Cruelty (2003). Juno Temple and Jeremy Dozier also sang it in the 2010 movie Dirty Girl.

Comments: 7

  • Dave from Modesto, CaI think this song says things can go well but remember anything can crash at any time. Instead of feeling as if you have failed look how far you have come and move on. I'm not saying its easy; just that its what you should do.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn February 3rd 1979, Melissa Manchester performed "Don't Cry Out Loud" on the ABC-TV program 'American Bandstand'...
    At the time the song was at #24 on Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart; and seven weeks later on March 25th, 1979 it peaked at #10 {for 1 week} and spent 23 weeks on the Top 100...
    It reached #9 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, and also #9 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles chart...
    Ms. Manchester will celebrate her 64th birthday in twelve days on February 15th {2015}.
  • Charles from Charlotte, NcManchester was discovered by Barry Manilow and Bette Midler. Manilow was Midler's musical arranger for many years.
  • Sara from Silver Spring, MdThe song is also on the album I Could Have Been a Sailor recorded around the same time as Melissa Manchester's version of the Peter Allen song. The reason he wasn't big as a singer was that his songs were made famous by other singers then himself. Rita Coolidge recorded a song called "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love" which Allen also sang on I Could Have Been a Sailor after doing a single (?) version of "Don't Cry Out Loud".
  • Doug from Oakland, CaThe Moments did this great song in 1976 on the album,Moments With You.
  • Onnie from High Point, NcArtist: Melissa Manchester (peak Billboard position # 10 in 1978-79)
    Words by Carol Bayer Sager and Music by Peter Allen
  • Sara from Silver Spring, MdPeter Allen recorded this first in 1976. It was used in the Australian musical "The Boy From Oz"
    which starred Hugh Jackman as Peter Allen.
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