Most artists need to scratch and claw for their big breakthrough. Maxine Nightingale had one served up to her, and even then, she wasn’t sure if it was the right vehicle to maximize her talents.
Videos by American Songwriter
Luckily, she eventually bought into “Right Where We Started From.” The 1975 single, thanks to her thrilling vocal, soared into the U.S. Top 5 and brought Nightingale the worldwide exposure she had already started to receive in her native UK.
Nightingale Soars
Born in Wembley, England, Maxine Nightingale possessed a powerhouse singing voice from an early age, one that made it obvious she should pursue music professionally. She wasn’t even out of her teens when she first started recording singles in the UK, although these didn’t amount to much.
Undaunted, she shifted her focus to the stage. In the early’70s, she could be found in the casts of several iconic musicals of the era, such as Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, and Godspell. The attention she received for these efforts brought her back onto the radar of the pop music world.
She sang backup on a session by an artist named Al Matthews, which put her into the orbit of the duo of J. Vincent Edwards and Pierre Tubbs. Edwards and Tubbs were trying to make a name as a songwriting/producing duo. When they heard Nightingale, they believed they had found an artist with oodles of hit potential.
Getting it “Right”
The problem was convincing Nightingale the song they had written was a standout. Edwards and Tubbs wrote “Right Back Where We Started From” in the few minutes it took on a trip to the hospital to attend to Tubbs’ wife, who was going into labor. But Nightingale was less than impressed with the retro Motown vibe the duo were trying to achieve with the song.
As a result, she initially asked if she could record the song under a pseudonym. Thinking “Right Back Where We Started From” lacked commercial prospects, she also suggested she be paid a small fee up front for her performance rather than wait for any royalties that might show up down the line.
Luckily, she was talked out of both of those ideas. Then again, without her all-in performance it’s hard to imagine the song would have done as well as it did. It became a Top-10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, has enjoyed several hit cover versions, and constantly shows up in the soundtracks of TV shows and movies.
What is “Right Back Where We Started From” About?
The focus of “Right Back Where We Started From” is right there in the title, as the narrator insists any damage done to her relationship is reparable with a little bit of a reset. Love can be good, love can be strong, she insists. The key: We gotta get right back to where we started from.
She admits there have been some hiccups: And if you get hurt / By the little things I say. But she’s confident they can be overcome: I can put that smile back on your face. In the end, theirs is a connection that can’t be harmed: A love like ours / Can never fade away /Y ou know it’s only just begun.
With its handclaps and soaring strings, the recording of “Right Back Where We Started From” sustains an irrepressibly buoyant vibe so that you certainly believe in the positivity of the lyrics. Maxine Nightingale does the rest, giving her everything to a song whose worth was far from immediately apparent to her.
Photo by GAB Archive/Redferns
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.