The majestic You Nearly Did Me In started off as a song entitled Weary Anger but ultimately featured the members of Queen on backing vocals: Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor. It was all happenstance; Trudi, Ian's wife, met Queen on a flight to New York and invited them to Electric Lady studio that night. Unbelievably, they sat and waited for an hour before Hunter knew they were there waiting and wanting to help. Freddie asked: "Is there anything we can do?" Instead of using backing girl vocals as arranged to sing the boys stepped in. Roger took the really high lines and increasingly sang higher. Mott The Hoople and Queen had a long history together and Ian thought the band was fabulous and wonderful. Hunter said Freddie was sorely missed.
The first verse is about the lost children of the night and then the chorus builds up to the repeated lines of you nearly did me in. The crescendo comes with the immortal lines:
What ever happened to dignity
What ever happened to integrity
What ever happened to honesty
Well I'll tell you something baby - I feel the pain just like the seaThe song is a standout of the LP portraying a stark American landscape amidst the horrors of addiction.
There is an early version of the song called Weary Anger on the reissues of the original LP.
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You Nearly Did Me In
(Ian Hunter)
See lonely shadows - silver needles
Abandoned in the evening war
Lost children of the night - come catch the candle bright
I hear a hollow sound - falling to the ground - she's lost before she's found
Sad broken angels takin' rainbows
Out on the street for all to see
If we are the chosen few - what ever happened to
All those things we knew, if this is being free - I'd rather search for me
CHORUS
You nearly did, you nearly did, you nearly did
You nearly did me in, you nearly did me in
And I need some place to hide - my weary anger down
Out on some misty distant highway
Feel like I though a million miles
Is my search nearly done - I think I see someone
I get the urge to run on blindly through the rain,
and I fool myself again
CHORUS
What ever happened to dignity
What ever happened to integrity
What ever happened to honesty
Well I'll tell you something baby - I feel the pain just like the sea
CHORUS
| Weary Anger | 5:45 | An early version of You Nearly Did Me In is on the 2006 and 2016 (box set) reissues of All American Alien Boy. |
Highlight of the album is Irene Wilde (which Ian maintains is a true story), and You Nearly Did Me In (which features Queen's Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor on backing vocals).
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