From EXTENSIONS
Written by David Foster, Jay Graydon & Steve Kipner
If there’d ever be a contest with the songs that should have been a #1 hit, “Nothin’ You Can Do About It” would win hands down. This is the new quality pop that Foster and Graydon were showing to the world at the end of the seventies, unbelievable melodies with intricate rhythms and challenging chord changes, difficult and simple at the same time. This song was a very good vehicle for Man Tran’s acrobatic vocals and is one of the highlights of a milestone album, “Extensions”. The title exemplifies its goal: Janis Siegel, Alan Paul, Tim Hauser and Cheryl Bentyne wanted to stretch in different directions, jazz, pop, fusion, new wave, under the brilliant guidance of Jay Graydon.
This record is one of Graydon’s best works ever, check out the cover of Weather Report’s “Birdland” with lyrics by Jon Handricks, the accappella beauty of Tom Waits’ “Foreign Affair”, the new wave of “Coo Coo U”, the pop/funk of “Twilight Tone” or the latin rhythms of Spyro Gyra’s “The Shaker Song”. It’s great, great stuff, real music played and arranged by real world class musicians with the four singers blending wonderfully on top of the many different musical landscapes that Jay Graydon, David Foster and their partners provided them with.
“Nothin’ You Can Do About It” remains Foster’s own favorite song even today. You can find another extraordinary version of it on “Airplay” with the Seawind horns and Jerry Hey giving one of their best performances ever (you can listen to it on the “Foster Music Poll” page on this website). Another good cover was made, in 1982, by Leslie Smith on his very good “Heartache” album produced by Peter Bunetta and Rick Chudacoff.
Listen
[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/nothin.mp3|titles=Nothin’ You Can Do About It”|artists=Manhattan Transfer]
All Vocals: Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, Cheryl Bentyne & Tim Hauser
Piano & Synth: David Foster
Guitar & Synths: Jay Graydon
Drums: Ralph Humphrey
Bass: David Hungate
Synth Solo: Greg Mathieson
Synths: Ian Underwood
Arranged by David Foster & Jay Graydon
Produced by Jay Graydon
Lyrics
It has begun, there’s nothing in the world to stop it now
it’s in control, we might as well just try to stop the wind
So give up, give in, you lose
Love will always win, start surrendering
stop resisting
Nothin’ you can do about it, it’s too strong to be denied
nothin’ you can do about it, relax enjoy the ride
Destiny…we are He intented us to be
can’t you see we’re all a part of some eternal plain
So give up, give in, you lose
Love will always win, start surrendering
stop resisting
Nothin’ you can do about it, it’s too strong to be denied
nothin’ you can do about it, relax enjoy the ride
Don’t you try to understand it, leave it as a mystery
it’s bigger than the both of us, we’re each other’s history
Nothin’ you can do about it, it’s too strong to be denied
nothin’ you can do about it, relax enjoy the ride
Don’t you try to understand it, leave it as a mystery
it’s bigger than the both of us, we’re each other’s history