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The Story Behind How INXS’ Ended Up Recording This 1993 Single with Ray Charles
Months after releasing their eighth album, Welcome to Wherever You Are, instead of touring the album, INXS relocated to the Isle of Capri in Italy to record their ninth release, Full Moon, Dirty Heart. Breaking from the album-tour cycle, following the band’s X tour, and giving singer Michael Hutchence time to recover from a severe head injury he suffered in August 1992, Full Moon, Dirty Heart was a rawer rock album for the band.
Hutchence and Andrew Farriss already started writing songs for Full Moon, then rehearsed at Hutchence’s home in the south of France, before heading to Capri. Recorded between November 1999 and February 1993, Full Moon, Dirty Heart features the title track, a duet with the Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde.
Another track on Full Moon, Dirty Heart also ended up as an unexpected duet with Ray Charles.
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Meeting Ray Charles in Paris
While the band was recording additional overdubs for the album in Paris in 1993, they learned that Ray Charles was recording in a room nearby. At first, the band thought it was unlikely that Charles would want to sing on a track, but they sent him a copy of a song anyway.
Initially, Farriss and Hutchence wrote two songs meant as duets, “Full Moon, Dirty Hearts” and “Make Your Peace,” but sent Charles another, “Please (You Got That…), instead. He was impressed by the track and agreed to collaborate with the band, and they later recorded it with Charles at his Los Angeles studio.
“To our surprise, Ray said he liked the song, but the key was way out of his range,” remembered Andrew Farriss in the liner notes of their 2001 compilation, Shine Like It Does: The Anthology (1979–1997). “We were running out of time, so instead of re-recording it, we switched songs and suggested he listen to ‘Please…’ instead. He immediately warmed to this one, and Michael and he shared the vocal parts.”
Guitarist Tim Farriss also recalled a funny moment he shared with Charles while recording. “We’re jamming away, in the third take, and Mr. Charles – he was always Mr. Charles to me – doesn’t have much patience for that stuff,” said Farris. “He wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Then, all of a sudden, Michael runs off to have a piss. While I’m standing there, Mr. Charles comes over, puts his hand on my shoulder, and goes ‘Michael, I love the way you’re singing this thing. It’s so cool.’”
Farriss continued, “It was really heavy to have to say, ‘Uh, Mr. Charles, I’m not Michael.’ But then he laughed his head off. He thought it was really funny.”
During recording, Hutchence also respectfully offered some singing advice to Charles, so he could capture that INXS tone on the track. “Mr. Charles,” said Hutchence. “It [the melody] goes like this.” Hutchence sang the line, and Charles tried to mirror it. “‘Sir [Michael],’” said Charles. “I know I will eventually get it right.”
Live on Letterman and Outtakes
The band filmed a music video for the song with Charles in New York City, directed by Matt Mahurin (Metallica, R.E.M., Tom Waits), and also performed “Please (You Got That…) with him on The Late Show with David Letterman.
In 2019, a studio outtake from the recording of “Please (You Got That…) was released on the compilation, Mystify: A Musical Journey with Michael Hutchence, co-produced by the band’s longtime producer Chris Murphy. The outtake features candid, in-studio banter between the band and Charles, and the album accompanied the 2019 Hutchence documentary, Mystify, directed by the band’s longtime collaborator Richard Lowenstein.
Photo: Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
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